Halliburton to build new prison at Guantánamo

The controversy over the US-run detention center at Guantánamo Bay is set to be reignited with confirmation by the Pentagon that a new, permanent prison will open in the Cuban enclave in the next few weeks. Camp 6, a state-of-the-art maximum-security jail built by a Halliburton subsidiary, will be able to hold 200 prisoners. Commander Robert Durand, a spokesperson for Joint Task Force Guantánamo, said the $30 million, two-story block was due to open at the end of September. He added: "Camp 6 is designed to improve the quality of life for the detainees and provide greater protection for the people working in the facility." This development will refuel the controversy about the jail, which still holds 450 prisoners from the "war on terror." Campaigners pointed to Bush's claim earlier this summer that he would "like to close" Guantánamo. Just weeks after he made his comments in June, the Supreme Court ruled that the administration's system for trying prisoners using military tribunals breached United States and international law. At the time, some campaigners predicted the decision marked the beginning of the end of Guantánamo Bay. Since then, however, the Bush administration has signaled its intention to introduce new legislation that would circumvent the court's ruling. The revelation that Camp 6 is poised to open is proof that it intends to keep using the prison. Amnesty International's UK campaigns director, Tim Hancock, said: "This appears to make a mockery of President Bush's statements about the need to close down Guantánamo Bay. In addition to strongly urging the president to step in to prevent any extension to this already notorious prison camp, we call on him to speed up the process of closing Guantánamo and of ensuring that all detainees are allowed fair trials or released to safe countries." Zachary Katz-Nelson, senior counsel with the group Reprieve, which represents 36 Guantánamo prisoners, argued that public opinion and the courts would ultimately force the US to close the camp down. "If Bush had the choice, he would not shut it, and the men [held there] would never see the light of day, and neither would their stories come out," he said. "The reality is that the world knows too much. He has to shut it down." The new facility is reported to be modeled on a jail in Michigan. Commander Durand said Camp 6 will have better recreation and exercise amenities for detainees and integrated medical care. Other facilities at the US naval base on Cuba include Camps 1, 2, 3 and 5, which are maximum-security, single-cell blocks; Camp 4, which is a medium-security, communal living prison; and Camp Iguana, also medium security, which houses detainees cleared for release and awaiting transfer. Of all the prisoners ever held at Guantánamo since it was established in January 2002, only 10 have been formally charged. An investigation earlier this year by New Jersey's Seton Hall University showed that, based on the military's own documents, 55 percent of prisoners are not alleged to have committed any hostile acts against the US, and 40 percent are not accused of affiliation with al-Qaida. The same documents suggested that only eight percent of prisoners are accused of fighting for a terrorist group, and that 86 percent were captured by the Northern Alliance or Pakistani authorities "at a time when the US offered large bounties for the capture of suspected terrorists." Speaking in the Rose Garden in June following the suicide of three prisoners, Bush said: "I'd like to close Guantánamo, but I also recognize that we're holding some people that are darn dangerous, and that we better have a plan to deal with them in our courts."