Guantanamo Bay @ MindSay

By Gerry J. Gilmore

American Forces Press Service

March 7, 2008 - The nearly 300 captured enemy combatants being held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility are provided respect and the best quality of life available under the circumstances, the commander of the detention task force said today. The facility follows strict U.S. military and international standards that ensure each detainee is treated humanely and with respect, Navy Rear Adm. Mark H. Buzby, commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo, said during a conference call with reporters.

"We like to think that we meet or exceed those standards, in terms of what we provide them and the distance that we go to ensure that their (living) conditions are as humane as possible, given the fact that they are being incarcerated," Buzby said. He has commanded the task force's 2,100 U.S. servicemembers and civilians since May.

The detention center's staff constantly is seeking ways to improve detainees' quality of life, Buzby said. Some detainees in good standing, he noted, may elect to take literacy classes in their own language or learn English.

Offering incentives to detainees in exchange for good behavior makes sense, Buzby explained. "If you give them things that they enjoy or like, if they misbehave, those are privileges they can lose."

The detention facility now houses about 275 detainees, Buzby said. About 500 detainees, he noted, have been released or transferred from Guantanamo since the facility was opened in 2002.

Nearly 200 detainees being held at Guantanamo today are terrorists, including al Qaeda operatives, who constitute an ever-present danger to the facility's guard force, Buzby noted.

"We're getting down to the hard core now," Buzby pointed out.

Guantanamo's guard force must always be alert and vigilant, Buzby said, because the incarcerated jihadists "will take every opportunity they can to exploit any bit of weakness."

Holding former enemy combatants at Guantanamo keeps them off the battlefield, Buzby said. And, ongoing interrogation sessions with inmates continue to produce valuable intelligence, he added.

Interrogations of detainees at Guantanamo are conducted by highly trained intelligence personnel who adhere to Army regulations that strictly forbid torture, Buzby said.

Developing a rapport with detainees is the most successful technique for obtaining information at Guantanamo, he said. "We get so much dependable information from just sitting down and having a conversation and treating them like human beings in a businesslike manner," he said.

Buzby said he is proud of his troops and civilian employees, noting they are successfully performing a very difficult, challenging mission. "They are just magnificent people. It really makes it a pleasure to command such a fantastic group," he said.

By Fred W. Baker III

American Forces Press Service

March 26, 2007 – A terrorism suspect who admitted to helping to kill 13 civilians, including two children, in a 2002 car bombing in Eastern Africa is in U.S. custody and has been transferred as a "dangerous terror suspect" to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a Defense Department official announced today.

Abdul Malik was handed over to U.S. officials by Kenyan authorities and was held for a "short time" before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay over the weekend, a senior defense official said, speaking on background.

Malik was screened by U.S. law enforcement officials while held in custody, the official said. He admitted to participating in the 2002 attack at the Mombasa Paradise Hotel, in which an explosives-filled sport utility vehicle crashed into the hotel lobby, killing 13 and injuring 80. He also has admitted to involvement in the attempted shootdown of an Israeli Boeing 757 civilian airliner carrying 271 passengers, near Mombasa, the official said.

Malik was picked up in Eastern Africa. Prior to the transfer, Malik was not in CIA custody, the official said.

The official said he did not know how long Malik was held in Kenyan custody prior to the transfer.

The next step is for the United States to determine his combatant status. As with all the detainees in Guantanamo, Malik will undergo a combatant status review tribunal, where he will be given the opportunity to review an unclassified summary of the evidence against him and contest his enemy combatant status.

Fourteen high-value detainees were transferred in September to Guantanamo Bay. Before that, the last time an al Qaeda terrorist was moved to the facility was in September 2004.

Malik was transferred to the Guantanamo Bay facility because he represents a significant threat and to prevent future attacks against innocent civilians, the official said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross will be granted access to Malik. About 385 detainees are being held at Guantanamo Bay.

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Abdul Malik, who was captured as a result of our ongoing conflict against Al Qaida, has admitted to being involved in terrorist attacks in East Africa.

Malik has admitted to participation in the 2002 Paradise Hotel attack in Mombasa, Kenya, in which an explosive-filled SUV was crashed into the hotel lobby, killing 13 and injuring 80. He also has admitted to involvement in the attempted shootdown of an Israeli Boeing 757 civilian airliner carrying 271 passengers, near Mombasa.

The capture of Malik exemplifies the genuine threat that the United States and other countries face throughout the world in the war on terrorism. Due to the significant threat this terror suspect represents, he has been transferred to Guantanamo. The detainees being held at Guantanamo have provided information essential to our ability to understand better how Al Qaeda operates, and thus to prevent future attacks against innocent civilians.

As with all the detainees in Guantanamo, Malik will undergo a combatant status review tribunal, where he will be given the opportunity to review an unclassified summary of the evidence against him and contest his enemy combatant status. The International Committee of the Red Cross will be granted access to this detainee. With today's transfer there are approximately 385 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

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By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

March 19, 2007 – A detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has admitted to helping orchestrate the bombings of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1998 and the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000.  The Defense Department today released the transcript of Walid Muhammad Salih bin Attash's combat status review tribunal hearing, held March 12 at the detention facility. The tribunal was an administrative hearing to determine only if Attash could be designated an enemy combatant.

Attash is one of 14 high-value detainees who were transferred Sept. 6, 2006, to Guantanamo Bay from CIA custody. The CSRT hearings for these detainees are not open to media because of national security concerns, DoD officials said.

After hearing allegations against him, including his involvement in the Aug. 7, 1998, embassy bombing and the Oct. 12, 2000, attack on the USS Cole, Attash said he carried out "many roles" in the attacks.

Speaking through an interpreter, Attash said he met in Karachi, Pakistan, with the operator who carried out the embassy attack just hours beforehand.

"I was the link between Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Sheikh Abu Hafs al Masi, and the cell chief in Nairobi," Attash said. "I was the link that was available in Pakistan."

In that capacity, Attash said he supplied the terror cell "with whatever documents they need(ed), from fake stamps to visas, whatever, sending them from Afghanistan to Pakistan and individuals, cell members."

The attack, conducted almost simultaneously with an attack on the U.S. embassy in Tanzania, left 213 people in Nairobi dead, including 12 Americans, and more than 4,500 wounded.

Attash heard evidence against him charging that he facilitated and participated in close-combat training in the Lowgar training camp in Afghanistan in late 1999. Graduates of the class reportedly met with bin Laden, who lectured about the operational details of the East Africa bombings.

The following year, Attash is alleged to have helped plan and carry out the attack on the USS Cole during a refueling stop in the Yemeni port of Aden. Seventeen U.S. sailors were killed and 39 others wounded.

Attash said he helped plan the attack, purchased the boat and explosives used, and recruited the people who conducted it. He said he was in Kandahar with bin Laden during the actual attack.

The detainee challenged details in the allegations against him, such as the allegation that a phone number stored in another captured terrorists' cell phone directory was also in his; he claimed he had no phone. But overall, he agreed to the allegations.

The "facts of the operations are correct, and his involvements are correct, but the details are not correct," the interpreter said.

Attash said he did not wish to correct the details.

The U.S. government established the CSRT process at Guantanamo Bay as a result of a June 2004 Supreme Court decision in the case of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a former driver for Osama bin Laden who challenged his detention at Guantanamo Bay. Between July 2004 and March 2005, DoD conducted 558 CSRTs at Guantanamo Bay. At the time, 38 detainees were determined to no longer meet the definition of enemy combatant, and 520 detainees were found to be enemy combatants.

Attash's tribunal followed the March 10 proceedings for Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, who admitted to masterminding the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks as well as the World Trade Center bombing in 1993.

Proceedings also were held March 9 for Abu Faraj al-Libi, an alleged senior al Qaeda member, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who is said to have helped Muhammad plan the Sept. 11 attacks. Neither of the two elected to be present for their tribunals.

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The Department of Defense announced today the completion of the second round of annual administrative review boards (ARB) conducted for enemy combatants detained at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The ARB is a review process which provides an opportunity for the detainee to appear before and present information to a three-member board of military officers. The outcome, which is based primarily on current threat assessment and intelligence value of each detainee, can be to release, to transfer to the control of another country, or to continue to detain the detainee at Guantanamo for another year.

All hearings for the second round were conducted from Jan. 30, 2006, to Dec. 6, 2006, at Guantanamo Bay. Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England, the designated civilian official (DCO) for the ARB process, has now made final decisions on all 328 board recommendations consisting of 55 (17 percent) transfers and 273 continued detentions. Transfer decisions by the DCO lead to negotiations by the Department of Defense and the State Department to repatriate detainees to their home country.

More detainees have been released or transferred than remain in Guantanamo, underscoring the fact that the United States has put in place processes to assess each individual and make a determination about whether they may be released or transferred during the course of ongoing hostilities. This process is discretionary, administrative and is not required by the Geneva Convention or by U.S. or international law.

In 2006, 111 detainees were either released or transferred from Guantanamo resulting in a cumulative total of approximately 390 releases and transfers since 2002. The number of detainees currently at Guantanamo is approximately 385, of which more than 80 have been designated for release or transfer, pending discussions with other nations or pending resolution of litigation in U.S. courts.

All of the detainees remaining at Guantanamo are enemy combatants and represent a threat to the United States and our allies. Although individuals in the U.S. and in the international community have called for closing Guantanamo, no one has suggested a viable option to deal with these dangerous men. Guantanamo remains the most secure and efficient environment to process and contain these individuals. The ARB process represents an effective way for the U.S. Government to achieve a balance between the risk posed by these detained enemy fighters and the U.S. Government's desire to not hold these individuals any longer than necessary. The rigor of the ARB process helps mitigate the risk that a released/transferred detainee will return to the fight and the Global War on Terror.

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