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US lawmakers tour Guantanamo prison
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-26 14:18
American lawmakers on Saturday toured the U.S. prison for suspected
terrorists for the first time since recent harsh condemnation of Guantanamo
detainees' treatment have renewed demands that the camp close.
U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee prepares
to board an airplane to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Saturday. | "Guantanamo has become a lightning
rod," said Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a Democrat from California.
She was one of 16 members of the House Armed Services Committee who were on a
one-day fact-finding trip. A Senate delegation also was to visit the prison
Saturday.
Lawmakers from both parties fear that the prison at the U.S. Navy base has
become an image problem because of claims that U.S. interrogators abuse and
torture inmates.
The chairman of the House committee, Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter, said such
criticism amounted to "wild accusations."
Hunter blamed "propagandists" for spreading "rumor and innuendo" to hurt the
U.S. He said the congressional visit was meant to show "the facts" about
operations at the prison.
On a sweltering morning, lawmakers landed on an airstrip on one side of the
base before crossing the water in an admiral's barge to reach the prison's five
detainee camps. Commanders then gave them a classified briefing in a room
normally used for status hearings for detainees.
A few reporters and photographers accompanied the lawmakers. Military escorts
controlled what the journalists could see and hear.
At a briefing for reporters, commanders stressed the "safe and humane custody
and control of detainees" and pointed out the differences between their facility
and Abu Ghraib in Iraq.
Col. John Hadjis, chief of staff for Joint Task Force Guantanamo, said U.S.
troops at Guantanamo were "honorable people doing an honorable mission in an
honorable way."
On a tour of one camp occupied by detainees considered "high value" for
providing intelligence, journalists did not see any prisoners and watched as
troops passed meals through small cells on one block.
The sound of visitors clearly upset the detainees. They shouted non-English
words and pounding on closed doors, while journalists entered an interrogation
room. It was empty except for a set of handcuffs, a folding chair, a small table
and two padded office chairs.
'Well-fed' and 'living in the tropics'
Under mounting criticism about the
prison, the White House and Pentagon have defended almost daily the conditions
and treatment of detainees.
At a recent news conference, President Bush went so far as to invite
journalists to see the prison and see that the allegations were false. Since the
prison opened, the Pentagon says about 400 news organizations have toured it. It
usually takes a few months to get in because of short staffing and many
requests.
Human rights investigators for the United Nations urged the U.S. last week to
allow them inside to inspect the facility. They cited "persistent and credible"
reports of "serious allegations of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading
treatment of detainees" as well as arbitrary detentions and violations of
rights.
In response, Vice President Dick Cheney told CNN that the detainees are well
treated, well fed and "living in the tropics." (Full story)
The prison opened in January 2002 to house foreigners believed to be linked
to the ousted Taliban in Afghanistan or al Qaeda.
Bush declared the detainees "enemy combatants," affording them fewer rights
than prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. Some detainees have been
held for three years without being charged with any crimes, even though the U.S.
Supreme Court has ruled they have some rights.
An FBI report last year cited cases of aggressive interrogation techniques
and detainee mistreatment.
Condemnation of Guantanamo intensified this spring after Newsweek magazine
published -- and later retracted -- a story that claimed interrogators flushed
the Muslim holy book down a toilet.
The Bush administration blamed the report for deadly demonstrations in
Afghanistan and protests throughout the Middle East. A Pentagon investigation
later disclosed five instances of U.S. guards' mishandling the Quran.
Amnesty International then branded Guantanamo "the gulag of our time,"
compared it with the Soviet work camps where thousands of people perished, and
alleged a pattern of mistreatment similar to that at Abu Ghraib.
White House officials say there are no plans to close the facility because
the detainees are too dangerous to release, while the fight against terrorism
continues.
About 520 prisoners are held at Guantanamo. Already, $110 million has been
spent on construction at the base. The prison costs about $95 million a year to
operate.
The Pentagon says that not including Saturday's trip, 11 senators and 77
representatives have toured the prison.
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