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thedrifter
10-16-03, 10:09 AM
Marines' Mission No Longer A Standoff
Miami Herald
October 16, 2003


Gone are the days of A Few Good Men, when a couple of thousand U.S. Marines guarded this base against a Soviet backed Cuban invasion.

Only about 120 Marines now guard the base and its sprawling prison camp for some 660 suspected Taliban and al Qaeda suspects on the southeastern tip of Cuba.


Today, the threat from Cuba is "very low," according to Cpl. Guy Pensyl, communications officer of the Marine company based here, briefing reporters on a press tour Wednesday.

"The mission is mainly to make sure that nobody tries to go into Cuba and to make sure no one gets into the base," Pensyl said.

In describing the mission of the Marines who serve in the watchtowers along the 17.4 miles of fence line around this 45-square-mile base, Pensyl said, "It's pretty much just a peace thing, to keep the peace."

That's a far cry from the tense standoff depicted in the 1992 Hollywood hit movie with Tom Cruise, Demi Moore and Jack Nicholson.

For the Cuban soldiers of the Frontier Brigade on the other side of the fence line, their mission, he said, is to make sure no one crosses the fence onto the base.

The U.S. side of the base was de-mined in 1999, by order of President Bill Clinton, then the Pentagon downsized the Marine force to a company in 2001. On Wednesday, the Marines were armed with assault rifles and mortars they had brought with them from Camp Lejeune, N.C., for training purposes.

The Marines -- including some veterans of the war in Afghanistan meant to capture Osama bin Laden and topple the Taliban -- guard the fence line from seven of the 15 watchtowers, Pensyl said.

They also help intercept Cuban migrants seeking to reach the U.S. base and assist in repatriation efforts of those sent back to Cuban authorities if their bids for asylum are rejected. Several went back last week, the Marines said.

"It's an agreement with them. Pretty much any of the Cuban asylum seekers that come over, we send back," Pensyl said. "There are a few cases that get asylum here. But most of the cases are prisoners and military, and we send them back. We have an agreement with them -- if they get any Taliban, they send them back."

Soon after the United States decided to bring prisoners here from the war in Afghanistan in January 2002, senior military officers briefed their Cuban counterparts on the coming detention center, base officials said. Cuban armed forces chief Raul Castro said at that time that any prisoner who escaped would be returned to U.S. authorities.

While the Marines are singularly tasked with security from the Cubans, there are an estimated 3,500 troops, sailors, Coast Guard and intelligence agents on the base altogether, working at the Navy airstrip and harbor and the prison project.

The Army's inspector general, Lt. Gen. Paul T. Mikolashek, toured the base Wednesday in what a prison spokeswoman described as a routine visit.

His visit comes as an assessment team is also on the base, dispatched by the U.S. Southern Command in Miami, to help commanders tighten security since the arrests of two translators and an Army chaplain.

Sempers,

Roger
:marine: