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American Morning

At Guantanamo Bay, as Number of Prisoners Continues to Grow, So Does International Outcry Surrounding Their Treatment

Aired January 21, 2002 - 09:11   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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We go now to the Afghan detainees in the war against terrorism. At the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba this morning, the total number of war detainees being held at Camp X-ray is now 144, after 34 arrived from Afghanistan just yesterday. And as the number of prisoners continues to grow, so does the international outcry surrounding their treatment.

CNN's Bob Franken is at the Naval Station in Cuba and joins us now by videophone.

Bob, what's the latest?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest, as you pointed out, is the population now at 144. Ultimately, they say that there will be accommodated Camp X-ray by as many as 600 by doubling up in some of the cells, which could possibly intensify human rights complaint.

What was different about the arrival of some of the detainees yesterday is many had medical conditions. They were described as walking wounded. There was one, broken arm. Among them, several who had wounds at one time or another that had been untreated after they had gotten them in combat. While they were all processed into the facility, many can expect immediate medical care, and we are told that as more arrive, there will be a trend toward dealing with some of the medical conditions.

By the way, that is one of the responses that the officials give here, when they respond to the charges of inhumane treatment, saying they are probably, many of them, getting the best medical care of their lives, comparable to that that is offered to members of the U.S. armed services.

Nevertheless, those human rights complaints continue, particularly with the publication of official photographs, showing detainees on their knees in their orange jumpsuits with blacked-out (ph) gobbles and facemasks in the camps, being heavily guarded. Officials here have been stung by that. Their response, however, is that it was taken out of context, that those pictures show arrivals immediately after they had come to camp, immediately when security -- before the processing was so important. They were still dressed as they had been in the planes, where the masks and the goggles served security purposes. Nevertheless, there is outcry over that. There are Red Cross officials who are at Camp X-ray, who are involved in an investigation that has been going on since the weekend. We have no idea how long they are going to stay, or what they are going to report. Officials who are connected with the camp say that they are going to listen to the suggestions, and as much as security allows, put them in practice, but security is the watchword. We are told over and over these detainees are the worst. They are the ones that have sworn to do whatever it takes to fill Americans, and so that the first order of the day to make sure that that does not happen -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Bob Franken, you also have a special on tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, live from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. So we will hear more of you -- more from you later tonight.

Thanks very much, Bob.

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