Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba — Fourteen battle-scarred detainees from the war in Afghanistan arrived on stretchers Monday at this U.S. base as new questions arose about the treatment and legal status of its inmates.
In Los Angeles, a federal judge agreed to hear a petition from U.S. civil rights advocates, including former Atty. Gen. Ramsey Clark, challenging the detentions of the al-Qaida and Taliban fighters at the Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Taliban and al-Qaida detainees sit in a holding area under the watchful eyes of military police at Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.
The petition demands that the U.S. government bring the suspects before a court and define the charges against them. It alleges that the prisoners are being held in violation of the Geneva Convention and the U.S. Constitution.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair sought to defuse press allegations of torture with a report that three British detainees have no complaints about their treatment at the remote U.S. outpost.
The Netherlands demanded the United States recognize the detainees as prisoners of war with rights under the Geneva Conventions.
"In the fight (against terrorism) we need to uphold our norms and values," said Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Jozias van Aartsen. "That applies to prisoners, too."
Restraints 'appropriate'
The military C-141 cargo plane that arrived Monday was the sixth flight bringing detainees from the U.S. base at Kandahar in Afghanistan. One by one, the 14 prisoners were carried from the aircraft on stretchers by four Marines in yellow latex gloves and turquoise surgical masks.
The Marines lowered the stretchers to the ground and seemed to frisk the captives before carrying them to a bus. The detainees wore blacked-out goggles and orange jumpsuits, and appeared to have their arms strapped to their bodies.
"They were restrained in a manner appropriate, in a way that would not aggravate their medical conditions," said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Brendan McPherson.
U.S. officials say the restraints are needed because some captives have threatened to kill their American guards.
McPherson said all the new arrivals were suffering war wounds but were in stable condition following postoperative orthopedic care at the Kandahar base and more medical attention during the 8,000-mile flight.
The force of religion
The latest arrivals brought the total at the camp to 158. The figure includes 34 prisoners that arrived Sunday. Like those flown in Monday, they were put in the temporary cells a concrete slab divided by chain-link fences and topped by a corrugated metal roof.
A new green-and-white sign written in Arabic points in the direction of Mecca, which the prisoners face as they make their Islamic prayers.
Prison guards said leaders are emerging among the detainees. According to The Miami Herald, one tried to use a prayer period to rally prisoners.
A soldier observed the prisoner, a beefy, one-legged man, chanting in Arabic what a linguist translated as "Be strong. Allah will save us," the newspaper reported Monday. It quoted one guard, Pvt. Jeremiah Rose, as saying they told him to pray.
Guards say the prisoners mainly eat, pray and meditate in their open-air cells. They are shackled to go to the latrines, which have no doors or shower stalls.
Temperatures have soared over 90 degrees in recent days, and detainees have been seen mopping their brows in the Caribbean humidity.
Camp officials said a Muslim cleric from the U.S. Navy will arrive today to discuss religious issues.
Navy crews on Monday were flattening land with a bulldozer to erect an air-conditioned, tented field hospital for injured prisoners. It will have 20 beds, an X-ray machine and two operating tables said Lt. Jon Scott of Little Creek, Va.
The Herald reported that the most prominent inmate appears to be the former Taliban army chief of staff, Mullah Fazel Mazloom, though U.S. commanders have refused to identify inmates.
The inmates have typically been brought to Cuba in shackles and handcuffs, wearing blacked-out goggles, ear muffs and surgical masks to keep them from biting.
Provocative pictures?
Pictures of previous arrivals in similar conditions, with some kneeling on the ground, generated protest in Britain. The Mail on Sunday tabloid ran a front-page photograph under the headline "Tortured."
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Monday it considers the detainees prisoners of war, and that the photographs violate a Geneva Convention that says they "should be protected from public curiosity."
"Such pictures should not be disseminated. They could have a strong impact on the family and the Muslim community worldwide," spokesman Darcy Christen said in Geneva.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the accusations came from people with no knowledge of the detention conditions. He said he had "no doubt" the detainees were being treated humanely.
But more British newspapers went on the attack Monday. The Daily Mirror ran a front-page editorial saying the treatment was "barbarism that is backed by our government."
The paper also said President Bush "is close to achieving the impossible losing the sympathy of the civilized world" for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
Human rights groups are pressing for the detainees to be given prisoner-of-war status under the Geneva Conventions, which would mean they would be tried under the same procedures as U.S. soldiers through court-martial or civilian courts, not military tribunals.
Rumsfeld indicated the detainees likely would be tried by "military commissions" at Guantanamo. On a base that is not on U.S. soil, that would deny detainees the right of appeal in a U.S. court.
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