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Telegraph man is first British reporter inside Camp Delta By David Rennie in Guantanamo Bay (Filed: 24/05/2003) http://tinyurl.com/cjzd It is not horror that crushes your spirits when you enter the cells at Camp Delta. Instead, it is an absolute sense of defeat, of being hopelessly caught in a great steel machine, remorseless in its efficiency and patience. Just a moment inside a maximum security cell - newly vacated for repairs - is enough to bring on despair. The hundreds of terrorist suspects brought to Camp Delta, on its scrubby hillside at the eastern tip of Cuba, were men seething with dreams, fuelled by visions of conquest and hate. Camp Delta, newly built to replace the temporary facility of Camp X-Ray, is designed to smother such dreams, reducing the world to a steel cage, 8ft by 6ft 8in. It is not a place of visible humiliation or cruelty. Some of its key facilities, from medical care to the food, are exactly the same as those provided to the guard force of US military police. The call to prayer is piped through the cells five times a day, and each inmate has a copy of the Koran, prayer beads and holy oil. But from the Stars and Stripes flags nailed to the camp's watchtowers, to the female troops who help patrol its cell blocks (outraging many inmates), it is intended to assert the final victory of the United States. The Guantanamo Bay camp was, until very recently, shrouded in secrecy. The Pentagon will not confirm the nationalities of its 680 detainees, though it is known that nine are from Britain. But the camp is clearly here to stay. American military commanders have drawn up plans for a permanent terrorists' prison at the site, including a possible execution chamber. Special military tribunals that could pass death sentences are expected to begin sitting this year, with defence lawyers asked to secure "secret-grade" security clearance. Commanders in Guantanamo stressed that it is up to senior Bush administration officials in Washington to take final decisions on where the tribunals, or commissions, will be held, and to decide where convicted terrorists will be punished. Maj Gen Geoffrey Miller heads the Joint Task Force (JTF) in charge of suspects from Afghanistan and across the globe. He said: "We have laid out a very extensive plan should long-term detention and imprisonment be given to JTF Guantanamo." Camp Delta opened last year on a rocky shoreline overlooking the Caribbean, and is still expanding. However, its steel mesh cages require refurbishment every few months, because of corrosion in the salty, humid air. Building a Death Row at Guantanamo "is one of the plans", said Gen Miller. The special tribunals will involve no juries and there will be no appeals to higher courts, only reviews of verdicts by the defence secretary, and ultimately, the president. For security reasons, only American lawyers will be allowed to act for the Guantanamo detainees, all of whom are foreigners. Some 42 countries are represented at Camp Delta. Allies of the United States, including Britain, have pushed for an end to the legal limbo for their citizens, who are not considered to be on American soil, but have no redress to Cuban courts. pg, nyc _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk