US Sends Al-Qaeda Prisoners to Cuba

Security forces at this US Navy base in an isolated southeastern corner of Cuba trained on Thursday for the arrival of the first group of al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners, who are expected to reach here on Friday for an indefinite detention in unwelcoming conditions.

The first batch of 20 of the more than 300 ``detainees'' now being held in Afghanistan, left Kandahar, Afghanistan in an Air Force C-17 cargo plane on Thursday at about 11 a.m. EST (1600 GMT), according to a military spokesman in Washington. They are the first captives in the U.S.-led war on terrorism to be shipped away from the region.

The base is on Cuban territory and is a bone of contention between the United States and its longtime foe, Cuba's Communist government.

A spokesman for the U.S. Joint Task Force which is running the operation was unable to give an exact time of arrival.

``They'll be here when they're here,'' said Army Lt. Col. Bill Costello.

The first task for the military once the detainees are escorted from the plane is to get them from the base airfield, which lies on one shore of the bay, to the temporary holding facility known as ``Camp X-Ray,'' on the other side.

There, they will be penned in small cells with open chain-link walls, a concrete floor and wooden roof, surrounded by two fences topped with razor wire.

The only concession to comfort is a mat and they will spend most of their time separated, other than for meals, showers and a short daily recreation period, according to security officers.

Some of the guards of a movement that severely repressed women in Afghanistan will be female.

The detainees have not been granted prisoner-of-war status, but they will be treated humanely during their Caribbean sojourn, military officials said.

As the Stars and Stripes fluttered over the prison compound, military police and Marines practiced tactics and techniques for handling detainees described by task force commander Marine Brig. Gen. Michael Lehnert as ``hardcore.''

(China Daily January 11, 2002)