Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Gitmo Will Receive Detainees Soon

Aired January 11, 2002 - 05:00   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: Let's get right to it with a check of the latest developments in the anti-terror war.

The first group of Taliban and al Qaeda detainees is on the way to the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The 20 detainees were hooded, sedated and chained in their seats for the 8,000 mile trip. About 15 minutes after the flight took off, the U.S. base at Afghanistan's Kandahar Airport briefly came under small arms fire. There were no U.S. causalities.

The detainees should reach Guantanamo later this morning. Until a detention center can be built there, the prisoners will be held in covered outdoor cages. They'll sleep on mats, on concrete floors and will face more questions about the workings of al Qaeda.

Alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid may have had links to the terrorist network run by Osama bin Laden. That is the word from one U.S. official. European investigators say Reid belongs to a previously unknown terror group. Sources also say they believe someone else constructed Reid's shoe bomb and remains at large.

Now more on the detainees on that first flight.

We turn to CNN's Bob Constantini, who is live at the Pentagon this morning -- good morning, Bob.

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

The 8,000 mile journey from Kandahar to Guantanamo is likely nearing its end. We can't tell you much because officials are keeping information about the flight under tight wraps. However, if all goes according to plan, the flight should be arriving at the U.S. naval base on the island of Cuba as early as 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time. That's about three hours from now.

News crews will not be allowed to photograph the arrival, though they can watch it. Construction crews on the base spent Thursday finishing makeshift outdoor cells of wood, metal and chain link fencing. The first flight it just 20 prisoners out of hundreds of al Qaeda and Taliban detainees being held in Kandahar. And the commander of U.S. forces in the region told CNN's "NEWSNIGHT WITH AARON BROWN" larger flights might be coming.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEN. TOMMY FRANKS, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: What we'll do is we'll begin with smaller numbers and be sure that we have this process working just like we want it to work and then we'll increase the numbers. So we started with a small size.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONSTANTINI: Amnesty International has expressed concern about how the prisoners are being treated. They were flown out of the U.S. base at Kandahar, reportedly sedated with their heads covered and all chained to their seats. The transfer was to include a stop at an undisclosed location to put the detainees on another, larger plane.

U.S. officials consider the prisoners extremely dangerous, willing to sacrifice themselves to kill Americans.

And about 15 minutes after the detainees left Kandahar, the base there came under small arms fire. Marines returned it with reports of no casualties. Officials are investigating how snipers could have penetrated a perimeter set up there. They say they have no reason to believe that the gunfire had anything specifically to do with the transfer flight, which was done under tight secrecy -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So for now the detainees are going to be kept in cages and they're going to sleep on mats on the floor. Why didn't U.S. officials wait until they had actual prisons built at Guantanamo Bay?

CONSTANTINI: Well, they believe at this point that they can get some information out of some of these prisoners and they're trying to bring them slowly here. They also don't like the idea of having so many in one spot in Kandahar, where the situation might be a little less secure. So they feel that if they keep them under tight guard at Guantanamo, they'll be able to handle the situation better -- Carol.

COSTELLO: You mentioned tight guard, they are being held under tight guard. Guantanamo Bay is not Alcatraz, but it could be even more difficult to escape than that former federal prison.

As CNN national correspondent Bob Franken reports, the detainees' new home may not be the rock, but it's definitely a hard place.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Security forces are swarming over an area that was a refugee detention center in the 1990s. And now construction goes on at a furious pace in this corner of Guantanamo Bay in preparation for the al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners, detainees to use the official term, who are on their way very soon, described by one military spokesman as really nasty guys.

BRIG. GENERAL MICHAEL LEHNERT, DETENTION TASK FORCE: Our job here is to take these terrorists out of the fight by locking them up.

FRANKEN: Taking them here from the other side of the world, locking them up in small outdoor cubicles surrounded by chain link fence. Officials prefer to call them outdoor cells instead of cages. COL. TERRY CARRICO, HEAD OF SECURITY: They're exposed to the environment to a degree and they'll have an overhead cover on the cells themselves. But the side and the walls that we would consider walls are open to the environment.

FRANKEN (on camera): And if it rains?

CARRICO: If it rains, they'll probably get a little wet.

FRANKEN (voice over): Guantanamo Bay is ready for 100 detainees now. Ultimately the plans call for a capacity of 2,000. And ultimately this temporary camp will be replaced by a permanent building. How long will the detainees be detained here? No one here says he knows.

Why Guantanamo Bay? Even though tensions have subsided, there are two fences between the base and Cuba, and a minefield.

CAPT. BOB BUEHN, GUANTANAMO BAY BASE COMMANDER: The remoteness, the isolation, this part of Cuba is the least populated part of the country and yet we are still in the same time zone as Washington.

FRANKEN: The prison camp will be lighted after dark and surrounded by massive security. Some of the guards will be women.

(on camera): This will be humane, says the man in charge, but you will not want to be here. What does that mean? Said another top security official, there will be no freedom of movement, no chance to escape over the barbed wire fence.

Bob Franken, CNN, Guantanamo Bay.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com