ABSTRACT
Almost as soon as the United States began its military campaign in Afghanistan, a dilemma arose about what to do with the prisoners that had been captured on the battlefi eld or turned over to U.S. forces as part of a bounty policy.2 Security was an issue, as Afghanistan was an active war zone. In the end, the decision was made that the U.S. base near the southeastern tip of Cuba would serve as an interim holding facility until it could be determined what would be done with the prisoners. Guantánamo Bay, U.S. Naval Station GTMO (commonly referred to as “Gitmo”), was not ideal; it had neither housing infrastructure nor the personnel to support the infl ux of hundreds of prisoners. It also bears the distinction of being the only U.S. base occupying space in a hostile country with which the U.S. has no diplomatic relations.3 But Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared it to be the “least worst place” for the detainees.4 The fi rst of the “detainees”5 arrived on January 11, 2002, at Camp X-Ray, where they were “housed in open-air cages with concrete fl oors” until more permanent facilities could be constructed.6 By April 2002, construction was completed on a 410-bed facility called Camp Delta, and the numbers of detainees rapidly increased, peaking at 680 in 2003.
