In spite of the tight military control over press reporting, some more facts about the prisoners' treatment have emerged. In a March 16 article entitled "An Uneasy Routine at Cuba Prison Camp," New York Times writer Katharine Seelye reported that officials are using golf carts to transport prisoners several hundred feet to the "interrogation huts...because it was quicker and because the prisoners' leg shackles were rubbing their ankles raw when they had to walk there." As happened to prisoners on chain gangs in the United States, the leg irons tear through the skin down to the bone of those forced to walk and work with shackles on.

The prison camp, where those who have been kidnapped and taken to Cuba are kept in eight foot by eight foot chain-link outdoor cages, is run by Brig. Gen. Michael Lehnert of the U.S. Marines. Officials have developed a system of small privileges--a book, reading glasses, warm tea--dispensed so they can be taken away to punish and discipline the prisoners who have been allowed no other amenities, including even a roof over their heads. The prisoners are allowed out of the cells twice a week for exercise periods of 15 minutes.

Seelye reported that journalists are allowed no foot access to the facility and are prohibited from interviewing the prisoners. They base their observations on trips through the camp in a van. Lehnert told reporters on March 15 that if the prisoners' yelling became a "problem," they would be allowed even less access. Then he turned and blamed the reporters, saying the Marines "may end up moving you back so that you can no longer provide the catalyst for them to do those things."

"Military officials say the prisoners are enormously frustrated and angry because their future is so uncertain," wrote Seelye. "The Bush administration has given no indication of what it intends to do with them after they are interrogated, has set no timetable for the questioning, and has not lodged any charges against them."  
 
'Victims of circumstance'
In February, U.S. secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld said that the prisoners might be held "during the period of the conflict so that they can't go back and kill more people." While Lehnert asserted to reporters that most of the prisoners were "high ranking Taliban" or members of al Qaeda, the deputy commander of the prison, Lt. Col. William Cline, blithely admitted that some were probably "victims of circumstance" and innocent.

The U.S. government is using its holding of the prisoners to expand the buildings and infrastructure of the naval base that it occupies, in spite of objections by the Cuban government. U.S. forces have begun construction of permanent facilities able to hold 2,000 prisoners. This has aroused particular concern among the prisoners, some of whom have thrown gravel at the guards.

Raising a rare voice of protest among forces within the United States, the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights placed Washington's conduct before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a little-known body of the Organization of American States. On March 13 the commission called on Washington to hold hearings to determine whether the Guantánamo inmates qualify as prisoners of war.

The families of one Australian and two British citizens held at the camp have filed lawsuits in a Washington District Court, alleging violation of the constitutional rights of the three men as well as those of the 297 other inmates. "There are few principles more firmly established in our law than the prohibition on indefinite detention," said Joseph Margulies, the lawyer for David Hicks, a 26-year-old Australian citizen.

Clive Smith, the lawyer retained by the parents of the two British captives, said that "the argument that people held in Guantánamo Bay have no rights means [the government] could just take out a gun and shoot them."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department has announced that it will seek the death penalty in its prosecution of French-born Zacarias Moussaoui, who is accused of preparing to join the other hijackers in the September 11 attacks. The department's case will rest on circumstantial evidence and Moussaoui's statements and political beliefs.

The Wall Street Journal described the move as "an unprecedented effort to secure the federal death penalty against a defendant on conspiracy charges alone.... Never before in modern legal history have state or federal prosecutors sought the death penalty in a case in which the defendant is charged with merely conspiring to commit murder rather than actually helping carry it out."

"The burden of proof for conspiracy is much lower than with other crimes," pointed out the big-business daily.
 
 
Related articles:
Release Guantánamo prisoners
Fidel Castro speaks in defense of 'the five Cuban heroes imprisoned by the empire'  
 
 
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