On Defensive, General Says Prisoners Get Mats, Even Bagels
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

Brig. Gen. Michael Lehnert, in charge of detainees from Afghanistan at Guantánamo Bay, said on Wednesday that the prisoners received a bucket for use as an emergency toilet.

GUANTÁNAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba, Jan. 16 — Smarting a bit from criticism by international human rights groups, United States troops here who received 30 new prisoners from the war on terrorism in Afghanistan were determined today to show that their captives would be treated properly.

"Each detainee has an Isomat to lay on," said Brig. Gen. Mike Lehnert, holding up an inch-thick piece of olive-drab foam to show reporters. "It isn't particularly comfortable. It is also the same thing issued every day to our soldiers and marines in the field. I myself have spent a good portion of my Marine Corps career on one of these mats."

The third load of prisoners arrived this afternoon, raising the total to 80.

General Lehnert, who is head of security at the base's prison, said that the captives are not being interrogated here, so they do not have lawyers. Nor have they been charged with anything, he said, while Washington determines their status.

Amnesty International and other human rights groups maintain that the men being held should be classified as prisoners of war, which would afford them certain rights. But the issue is complicated by the fact that no war has been declared.

General Lehnert stopped short of saying the prisoners were being granted the full protection of the Geneva Conventions.

"We are being guided by the Geneva Convention," he pointedly told reporters here in a pink airport hangar as he conducted a show-and- tell session to indicate what the prisoners would receive and generally to describe their living conditions.

General Lehnert said that the prisoners have toothpaste and showers and roofs over their heads. They will get bagels and cream cheese, granola bars and Froot Loops.

Holding up a day-glow orange prison outfit, the general said: "They get a jump suit." But revealing a little frustration with all the international scrutiny, he added, "They don't get to pick the color."

A delegation from the International Committee of the Red Cross on Thursday is scheduled to inspect the prisoners and conditions at the expanding prison compound here.

What the Red Cross will see are men in their 20's and 30's whose heads have been shaved to prevent the spread of lice. The prisoners, including at least one British and one Australian citizen, at times read the Koran, and at times yell to their captors that they intend to kill them.

"We have an international community of suspected terrorists from all over the world," General Lehnert said. "These are not nice people. Several have publicly stated here their intent to kill an American before they leave Guantánamo Bay. We will not give them that satisfaction."

Their toothbrushes are cut short so that the sharp end cannot be used as a weapon. They are issued plastic spoons to eat their meals but must return them when they finish. Their cells are actually wire cages, six feet by eight feet, bathed all night in halogen flood lights so that their every move can be monitored.

The Red Cross will also see a burgeoning fortress, the most secure portion of which is known as Camp X-Ray. It has a capacity today for 200 prisoners but with the constant construction going on here, will soon have the capacity for more than 600.

Eventually, the entire base is to hold 2,000 prisoners, but General Lehnert suggested today that the arrival of detainees was outpacing the construction of secure facilities. He said that the prisoners who arrived today would be held in X-Ray for three months "and be moved to a more permanent detention facility here in Gitmo once we have it built," using a nickname for the base.

The guards are conscious of allowing the Muslim prisoners to practice their religion, and have told them which direction they must face to pray toward Mecca. But military officials said that the captives do not yet have any idea where on the world map they have landed.

Reporters were allowed to view the prisoners from a grassy hillside about 400 feet away but were not allowed to photograph them, even though their individual identities were impossible to discern as they clanked off a gray cargo plane in their jumpsuits and leg shackles.

They wore mittens and their hands were manacled. They also wore orange knit caps, goggles with the lenses blacked out and blue surgical masks, while scores of helmeted Marines secured the area with grenade launchers, machine guns and rifles.

As part of the effort to meet the standards of the Geneva Conventions, General Lehnert held up a thin sheet and referred to the steamy tropical weather in Cuba. "It's about what most of our Marines sleep with," he said.

Referring to the prisoners, he said, "They get two towels. One towel is for washing and drying. The other towel is to be used as their prayer mat." The Geneva Conventions also say that prisoners' facilities "shall be entirely protected from the dampness and adequately heated and lighted, in particular between dusk and lights out." Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have said that the Guantánamo cages appear to violate this requirement.

General Lehnert said: "After the last rain we had, I went out there and checked, and they were all doing well. Our security forces are living in the same kind of environment that they are."

The general then showed off samples of the food packets given the prisoners, including peanuts, raisins, sunflower seeds and beef stew that is prepared under the Islamic dietary laws.