DESIGNED to house the world’s most dangerous terrorists, GTMO – or Gitmo, as it is also known – is one of the strangest places on Earth.
Indelibly etched in the mind as the camp where War on Terror detainees in orange jumpsuits were held, Guantánamo Bay also has a tattoo-filled souvenir shop.
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Last week, the infamous location was in the news again when it emerged that detainees Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) and two of his henchmen had accepted a plea deal with US authorities.
After more than two decades in US custody, KSM, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi were ready to admit that they planned the 9/11 atrocity in exchange for being sentenced to life in prison instead of the death penalty.
Their cases faced delays and uncertainty due to allegations that their “torture” by the CIA had undermined the evidence against them.
It is said that KSM alone was subjected to a record 183 rounds of waterboarding, an interrogation technique that simulates drowning.
The agreement was quickly revoked by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after furious protests, leaving KSM and his fellow 9/11 conspirators back in legal limbo inside Guantánamo.
The detention camp, created in 2002, is a US military prison that offers serving soldiers a bowling alley and an O’Kelly’s Irish pub.
Recently, a drinker held up his beer for an online photo and wrote, “Beer! Things have improved here at GTMO.”
Eleven years ago, when I visited, the camp library included well-thumbed Harry Potter books – said to be a favorite of KSM, the man allegedly mastermind of 9/11.
Also available to prisoners was a copy of the football magazine FourFourTwo with an article by Rio Ferdinand and another magazine writing about Wayne Rooney.
A library guard told me: “Manchester United and Tottenham are popular teams among the detainees.”
Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks that triggered the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Terry Strada, whose husband Tom died in the North Tower of the World Trade Center, called the failed deal a “punch in the gut” and said it amounted to giving the three high-profile prisoners “what they want.”
So what’s the camp – where hundreds of people were detained during the US War on Terror – really like?
When my plane landed in the Caribbean in 2013, it looked like an island paradise, with turquoise seas and stunning sandy beaches.
As we pulled up to the tarmac, our flight attendant announced, “Welcome to Guantanamo Bay.”
It was a surreal five days at the 45-square-mile naval base on Cuba’s southern tip, where inhabitants include detainees in supermax detention blocks, a large detachment of U.S. soldiers, hordes of banana rats and wild, Godzilla-like iguanas.
‘Howls of outrage’
The US has held this part of the island under lease since the Spanish-American War of 1898.
After the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon in 2001, US authorities realized it could be useful.
Not only is it seemingly impossible to escape, but US federal laws do not apply there. The usual legal process could therefore be bypassed.
On January 11, 2002, the first 23 detainees from the war in Afghanistan – where Osama bin Laden ran terrorist camps – were airlifted.
Hooded and dressed in orange jumpsuits, with their hands and feet shackled, they crawled in the sweltering heat toward cage-like enclosures.
US authorities suspected they were al-Qaeda operatives or Taliban fighters.
Photographs of them caused cries of indignation among many.
Forced feeding through the tube
The open-air cages of the so-called X-Ray Camp were compared to “kennels” by a former guard.
It closed after just four months, being replaced by the sprawling Camp Delta, which was divided into different blocks to house detainees depending on their level of cooperation.
Under strict supervision by the U.S. military, Sun photographer Lee Thompson and I were able to see these rusty, 8-foot-square wire enclosures, now covered in foliage.
On our visit in July, 11 years ago, I was told that orange jumpsuits were still foisted on misbehaving prisoners.
In eerie silence, we were taken to Camp 5 to witness the detainees behind bars.
Khaki-clad guards opened a sturdy steel door to let us in, and with a soft metallic thud it closed behind us.
The block smelled of sweat and disinfectant. It took me a few seconds to adjust to the dim light from the cold air conditioning.
I remember two soldiers patrolling a dingy, white-painted block, wearing clear face shields to protect them from thrown human feces and urine, attacks known as “splatter.”
They peered through observation holes into dark, 8-by-12-foot cells, each housing a solitary inmate.
When we visited many of them – during the holy month of Ramadan – they were devastated by a long hunger strike.
Behind the locked doors of the block we could hear the rhythmic chanting of Ramadan prayers.
Then the prisoners must have heard the clicks of photographer Lee’s camera shutter.
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An angry voice shouted in Arabic: “They torture us and do not allow us to pray in groups.”
Another shouted angrily: “We are here in Ramadan and the Americans have deprived us of praying in groups.”
Our military escorts quickly led us out into the 32°C sun, saying the guards needed to maintain order.
Guantánamo spokesman Lt. Col. Samuel House later said: “We have the greatest respect for Islam and the holy month of Ramadan. Detainees are aware of the presence of media and outside visitors and will take advantage of these opportunities to spread false messages of torture, abuse and inhumane conditions.”
Earlier, I had been shown a brutal contraption in which some men weakened by starvation were tied up, handcuffed and then force-fed through a tube inserted into their noses.
During my visit, the captives were malnourished enough to require forced nighttime feedings to keep them alive. The young soldiers on duty – most from small-town America – were proud to serve their country.
I asked one of them if he had any moral dilemmas about force-feeding.
The reservist, father of two, told me: “I try not to have personal feelings as a soldier. I do what I’m told to do. Everything I saw here corresponds to what I consider moral.”
I was shown inside one of the gloomy cells. Under halogen lights, the tiny space had a concrete bunk bed built into the wall, a fixed steel toilet, and a concrete chair.
I was also taken to Camp Six, which at the time housed the most compliant prisoners.
Through thick glass, we watched about a dozen bearded men dressed in white worshiping together.
Our military escorts told us to remain silent and the detainees apparently had no idea we were there.
Golf and paintball course
When I asked why we couldn’t talk to them, my military handler told me, “This isn’t a zoo.”
Across a dusty hill behind the camp is another Guantánamo, where tanned military personnel enjoy all the comforts of a small American town in a separate part of the naval base.
Driving through streets of wood-paneled homes and manicured gardens, we pass a McDonald’s drive-thru.
The food is highly rated on social media. Big Macs were even used as an incentive to speak during the roadside interrogation of suspected jihadists.
The base also has a bowling alley, soccer field, golf course and paintball field, Ground Zero.
The open-air cinema was showing the zombie apocalypse film World War Z and the thriller The Lost White House at the time of our visit.
A gift shop sold Guantanamo shot glasses, snow shakers, mugs, cuddly iguana toys and a pocket knife with GTMO engraved on the handle.
There were also children’s Guantánamo T-shirts with skull and crossbones motifs, and others proclaiming Gitmo a “paradise.” The souvenir shop is still doing brisk business as the 23rd anniversary of 9/11 approaches.
However, President Obama committed to closing the Guantánamo Bay detention camp within a year of taking office.
At least 780 people from 48 countries have been detained at the camp since its opening, but only 16 have been charged with crimes.
Today, only 30 remain in custody, including KSM.
After my five days here, I was eager to leave both the supermax Guantánamo and the tacky facsimile of America outside its austere walls.
Meanwhile, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – the man accused of planning the worst terrorist attack in history – will likely end his days in this barbed-wire purgatory.
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