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CNN Live At Daybreak

Guantanamo Prepares for Afghan Detainees

Aired January 07, 2002 - 05:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: More now on housing Taliban and al Qaeda detainees at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba.

CNN's Bob Constantini is at the Pentagon with news about the preparations for their arrival -- good morning to you, Bob.

BOB CONSTANTINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Carol.

As Taliban and al Qaeda fighters continue to surrender or are captured, the U.S. wants to make sure they are as far away from Afghanistan as possible. The naval base at Guantanamo on the island of Cuba is apparently where they are headed.

Now, some 1,000 U.S. soldiers are being deployed to handle detainees from Afghanistan and bring them to Guantanamo. At Fort Hood in Texas, dozens of military police packed up on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mission so far is we're going to be going to Central Command AOR to pick up some detainees and bring them back to Cuba, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And a little bit about what does it feel like to be going on a mission like this, to know you're actually now going to be part of the effort? How does it make you feel?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm fortunate to be picked for this mission and we're very excited to go get the job done, sir.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONSTANTINI: Construction experts are going directly to Guantanamo to start building a new detention facility there. The plan is to make it big enough to hold as many as 2,000 prisoners. At the moment, the U.S. only has control of just over 300. The base, as you'll see on a map, is isolated by the Caribbean Sea and unfriendly Cuba, which is why military leaders are sending the detainees there.

Now, this new mission could swell the overall population at Guantanamo by about two times what it is now and within a few weeks -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Bob, we understand U.S. air strikes have started up again in eastern Afghanistan. Can you tell us more about them?

CONSTANTINI: Well, these relentless air strikes in eastern Afghanistan, they've been going on for almost 24 hours now, are said to be in part targeting a known terrorist camp where some al Qaeda fighters have in the past trained, apparently with Osama bin Laden. Now, this is going near the town, the border town of Pakistan of Miram Sha (ph) and U.S. F-16 fighter jets as well as B-52 bombers and helicopters, which are ferrying in special forces, are taking part in this bombing mission and U.S. officials believe that they need to continue to soften up these al Qaeda positions and hopefully take some more of these people prisoner -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Enough said.

Thank you. Bob Constantini reporting live for us from the Pentagon this morning.

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