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CNN Live At Daybreak

ICRC Now Has More Detainees to Ask About Humane Treatment in Cuba

Aired January 18, 2002 - 05:07   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: A delegation from the International Red Cross is at the U.S. Navy Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to determine whether al Qaeda and Taliban detainees are being treated humanely.

As CNN National Correspondent Bob Franken reports, there are now more detainees to question.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Reporters were kept over 100 yards away from Camp X-Ray, but the cameras could see from a distance the tell-tale orange jumpsuits of the detainees through the many layers of prison fence. The International Red Cross officials are supposed to see the detainees close up and talk to them amid charges their treatment is less than humane.

URS BOEGLI, ICRC, WASHINGTON, D.C.: We will look at treatment, at conditions and we will share that supporting part for the press. We will share our findings confidentially with the detaining authorities.

BRIG. GEN. MICHAEL LEHNERT, U.S. MARINE CORPS: I want to reemphasize something. We are committed to treating the detainees in a humane manner consistent with international laws.

FRANKEN: But the effort to provide humane treatment, even the medical treatment, is superceded by one other concern -- security.

GNY. SGT. MARC COUDRIET, PRISON GUARD, U.S. ARMY: Two MPs with the provider, as he's being examined. There are more in the camp protecting the medical camp as a whole. And the detainees are brought in singularly.

FRANKEN: Still, another 30 arrive. The population is now 110. Each detainee spends almost all of his day in these outdoor cubicles, eight by eight feet. The military revised the previous description of eight by six. Critics have been calling them cages, even kennels. Still, according to the guards, even minor incidents have been few and far between.

COL. TERRY CARRICO, U.S. ARMY: They've been very cooperative. A couple of incidences have occurred, minor outbursts. It's mainly due to them being scared.

FRANKEN: But even here, the prisoners seem to settle into their routine, barely reacting to their captors, even though some of the guards are women.

PFC TINA COSTA, U.S. ARMY: Before they got here, I thought that the detainees would be a lot more intense than they actually were. They were actually a lot calmer than I expected them to be. And I did expect to get treated extremely differently, but it's been the complete opposite.

FRANKEN: By the end of the month, there will be 320 cells here and officers say they could put two in each, if they have to.

CARRICO: I don't think these are very nice people. They're bad individuals and we are, we have developed a system of positive control, multi-layered security, as we can point out to you, to ensure that we maintain the control of the detainees and to ensure that nobody escapes from Camp X-Ray.

COSTA: Sometimes I'll be standing, you know, doing my guard and I look around and I'm like, "wow, what's going through their mind?" Sometimes I wonder if they regret their decisions and sometimes I wonder if they even care.

FRANKEN (on camera): By all accounts, the calm adds to the tension. As one security person put it about the constant potential for trouble, you're always thinking what if.

Bob Franken, CNN, outside Camp X-Ray, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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