thedrifter
06-28-08, 12:33 PM
Navy to keep Guantanamo base if prison closes
By ANDREW O. SELSKY
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — No matter what happens to America's offshore military prison, this much is clear: This Navy base will remain open for years to come, and so probably will the McDonald's, the Taco Bell and the golf course.
"We're not going anywhere anytime soon," declared Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey M. Johnston, who gets upset when people equate the closing of the detention center for suspected al-Qaida and Taliban figures with a shutdown of this 45-square-mile base.
The U.S. maintained this base long before the first detainees arrived in January 2002. U.S. Marines took Guantanamo Bay in 1898 in the Spanish-American War in a battle chronicled by author and correspondent Stephen Crane.
"With a thousand rifles rattling; with the field-guns booming in your ears; with the diabolic Colt automatics clacking ... and, last, with Mauser bullets sneering always in the air a few inches over one's head ... it is extremely doubtful if any one who was there will be able to forget it easily," wrote the author of "The Red Badge of Courage."
Photographs displayed in the newly refurbished airport terminal trace some of Guantanamo's more recent history — when it hosted tens of thousands of Haitian migrants, some of whom camped out on the golf course, in the 1990s; when access to Cuba's water pipeline was severed during the Cold War and a desalination plant was brought in.
The base, which boasts a deep harbor and strategic location along the Windward Passage, now supports operations against drug trafficking and illegal migrants.
Johnston, Guantanamo's public works officer who requisitions the $4,085 annual payments to Cuba to lease the base, described the military as a perfect tenant.
"We don't bother the landlord. We don't (complain) when things go wrong. We pay our rent on time," Johnston said.
The Castro government disagrees. Cuban officials regularly refer to the U.S. military prison here as a "torture camp" and demand that the base be returned to Cuba. In a statement on its Web site, Cuba's Foreign Ministry calls for the "unconditional withdrawal" of U.S. forces and says that instead of using force, Cuba will "wait patiently for justice to come, sooner or later."
Cuba doesn't cash the rent checks but cannot evict the Americans because the treaty granting the base remains in effect unless both Cuba and the U.S. abrogate it or the U.S. abandons Guantanamo.
Some neighborhoods here resemble a 1950s U.S. suburb. The detention center and watchtowers are out of sight, beyond the hills. Crime is low.
"It's like an Eisenhower-era town: You can leave your door unlocked, no one uses bike locks, and you even have the Communist enemy to stare down," Johnston said.
The agreement with Cuba says that no company may maintain a commercial enterprise at Guantanamo, which would seem to call into question the fast-food franchises that have sprung up. But Lt. Cmdr. Brendan Burke, who handles base legal affairs, insists they are allowed because the Navy operates the eateries and "there is no private citizen getting rich."
In the past year, a Taco Bell and an Irish pub have opened. There is also a Subway.
Since 2001, the base population has tripled to at least 7,500 as the military prison has grown. It would invariably shrink if the detention center is closed.
As for the future, the military has considered "in a very, very preliminary way" basing Marines at Guantanamo for rapid deployment elsewhere, said Navy Capt. Mark Leary, Guantanamo's commanding officer. Even if democratic change comes to Cuba, the Navy would probably still want to stay here, he said.
"I think there's a good reason we've been here for 110 years," Leary said. "I don't think we would abandon this place."
Johnston said that if democracy comes to Cuba, the base could pump money into its economy as the gates opened and Cubans did contracting work. But Cuba would have to remove its vast minefields around the base, Johnston noted.
"The Cubans don't know where their mines are," Johnston said. "You can hear them cook off in brush fires. Demining will be a huge undertaking if U.S.-Cuban relations are restored."
Associated Press Writer Ben Fox in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.
Ellie
By ANDREW O. SELSKY
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — No matter what happens to America's offshore military prison, this much is clear: This Navy base will remain open for years to come, and so probably will the McDonald's, the Taco Bell and the golf course.
"We're not going anywhere anytime soon," declared Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey M. Johnston, who gets upset when people equate the closing of the detention center for suspected al-Qaida and Taliban figures with a shutdown of this 45-square-mile base.
The U.S. maintained this base long before the first detainees arrived in January 2002. U.S. Marines took Guantanamo Bay in 1898 in the Spanish-American War in a battle chronicled by author and correspondent Stephen Crane.
"With a thousand rifles rattling; with the field-guns booming in your ears; with the diabolic Colt automatics clacking ... and, last, with Mauser bullets sneering always in the air a few inches over one's head ... it is extremely doubtful if any one who was there will be able to forget it easily," wrote the author of "The Red Badge of Courage."
Photographs displayed in the newly refurbished airport terminal trace some of Guantanamo's more recent history — when it hosted tens of thousands of Haitian migrants, some of whom camped out on the golf course, in the 1990s; when access to Cuba's water pipeline was severed during the Cold War and a desalination plant was brought in.
The base, which boasts a deep harbor and strategic location along the Windward Passage, now supports operations against drug trafficking and illegal migrants.
Johnston, Guantanamo's public works officer who requisitions the $4,085 annual payments to Cuba to lease the base, described the military as a perfect tenant.
"We don't bother the landlord. We don't (complain) when things go wrong. We pay our rent on time," Johnston said.
The Castro government disagrees. Cuban officials regularly refer to the U.S. military prison here as a "torture camp" and demand that the base be returned to Cuba. In a statement on its Web site, Cuba's Foreign Ministry calls for the "unconditional withdrawal" of U.S. forces and says that instead of using force, Cuba will "wait patiently for justice to come, sooner or later."
Cuba doesn't cash the rent checks but cannot evict the Americans because the treaty granting the base remains in effect unless both Cuba and the U.S. abrogate it or the U.S. abandons Guantanamo.
Some neighborhoods here resemble a 1950s U.S. suburb. The detention center and watchtowers are out of sight, beyond the hills. Crime is low.
"It's like an Eisenhower-era town: You can leave your door unlocked, no one uses bike locks, and you even have the Communist enemy to stare down," Johnston said.
The agreement with Cuba says that no company may maintain a commercial enterprise at Guantanamo, which would seem to call into question the fast-food franchises that have sprung up. But Lt. Cmdr. Brendan Burke, who handles base legal affairs, insists they are allowed because the Navy operates the eateries and "there is no private citizen getting rich."
In the past year, a Taco Bell and an Irish pub have opened. There is also a Subway.
Since 2001, the base population has tripled to at least 7,500 as the military prison has grown. It would invariably shrink if the detention center is closed.
As for the future, the military has considered "in a very, very preliminary way" basing Marines at Guantanamo for rapid deployment elsewhere, said Navy Capt. Mark Leary, Guantanamo's commanding officer. Even if democratic change comes to Cuba, the Navy would probably still want to stay here, he said.
"I think there's a good reason we've been here for 110 years," Leary said. "I don't think we would abandon this place."
Johnston said that if democracy comes to Cuba, the base could pump money into its economy as the gates opened and Cubans did contracting work. But Cuba would have to remove its vast minefields around the base, Johnston noted.
"The Cubans don't know where their mines are," Johnston said. "You can hear them cook off in brush fires. Demining will be a huge undertaking if U.S.-Cuban relations are restored."
Associated Press Writer Ben Fox in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.
Ellie