U.S. Building New Camp at Guantanamo Bay

The U.S. military will build a fifth camp at Guantanamo Bay to hold and interrogate detainees from its war against terror, the military said Sunday in another signal its mission here will be a long-term one.

Camp V will make room for 100 more detainees, increasing the capacity at the remote naval base in eastern Cuba to 1,100, Lt. Col. Pamela Hart said.

Since the detention center first opened in January 2002, it has grown from open-air, chain-link cells that some likened to animal cages to trailer-style quarters where detainees have a metal bed, a sink and toilets that flush.

It holds about 660 men from 42 countries detained for alleged links to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terror network or the ousted Afghan Taliban regime that sheltered it. They include three youths – ages 13-15 – whom the military says it probably will recommend for release soon.

Hart, a spokeswoman for the detention mission, said the new camp also will hold more interrogation rooms.

Asked about the growing permanence of the camp, Hart said, “We will be here as long as the war on terrorism continues.”

The construction of the new camp was first reported by The Miami Herald on Sunday.

The new interrogation facilities, in addition to increasing capacity for more detainees, will replace trailers that were used on Camp Delta’s perimeter, Hart said.

Construction began recently and is expected to be finished sometime next year, officials said.

Several months ago, the military rewarded about 120 prisoners deemed to have provided good intelligence by moving them to a new medium-security wing where they get more exercise, books and other liberties.

Meanwhile, preparations continue for possible military tribunals, with a courthouse and permanent detention center for any convicts. The tribunals also have power to impose the death sentence but officials say they have not built an execution chamber, though they have plans for every possible outcome.

Human rights groups and countries of detained nationals have criticized the United States for refusing to designate the detainees as prisoners of war under international conventions.

The chief of the detention mission, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, has said the prisoners are treated humanely and in line with the conventions except they are denied access to lawyers, denied access to U.S. courts and are being held indefinitely without charges.

About 65 prisoners have been released or transferred since the mission began.