U.S. gives glimpse into Gitmo interrogations

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - Moving a knight into attack mode, a terror suspect teaches his interrogator chess, pausing briefly to look at a manual that U.S. officials believe holds key intelligence.

Next door, a prisoner in an orange jumpsuit pours tea and smokes a cigarette while he laughs with a female interrogator who hands him a mugshot of a man with piercing eyes.

A two-day tour of Guantanamo Bay afforded the Associated Press the most extensive access ever allowed independent journalists, allowing views of 50 detainees, including those in maximum security.

The AP witnessed three interrogations through mirrored glass with the sound turned off. One was in the part of camp reserved for problem detainees and prisoners believed to be holding important information.

No armed guards were present at interrogations. Each detainee is generally questioned twice a week, with sessions usually lasting two to four hours.

The scenes were vastly different from those at Abu Ghraib, the U.S.-run prison in Iraq where some troops are accused of abusing detainees. But interrogation techniques used here were recommended for Abu Ghraib by Guantanamo's former commander, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller.

Miller and others have denied Guantanamo detainees were mistreated.

"This is a wholly different environment," said Brig. Gen. Jay Hood, who succeeded Miller in March. "We are not being shot at every day."

Two interrogation sessions watched by AP were at Camp Delta's normal detention center. The other session viewed was at Camp 5, where alleged leaders, problem detainees and prisoners believed to have high intelligence value are held.

One problem detainee asked to see his interrogator. Although the detainee appeared silent much of the time, the interrogator viewed the session as a success, saying the man finally talked.

After the interrogator and linguist left the room, the bearded young man laughed and talked to what could have been another detainee, next door in the shower.

"Sometimes this detainee is very funny; other times he is not funny at all," said a female interrogator, who often brings the prisoners mint tea and Fig Newton cookies. "Sometimes they are very pleasant at one moment, and then they tell you calmly and proudly about how they killed someone."

The senior interrogator, who along with other interrogators spoke on condition of anonymity, said, "We've learned about recruiting, how terror cells are financed, their capabilities and plans that have been sitting on the table for attacks."

Last month, one prisoner unwilling to talk for more than a year opened up, the interrogator said. The burly chess player has been steadily cooperative.

"He often tells his chess opponents, "Attack, attack, attack!' You learn an awful lot about some of these people from very simple methods," said the interrogator, who occasionally brings the prisoner McDonald's hot fudge sundaes.

The manual near the board was thought to contain intelligence information that officials want the suspects to help interpret. Officials refused to say how they took possession of it or describe it further.

The first detainees arrived 21/2 years ago, shackled, bound and blindfolded. Most were captured on the battlefields of Afghanistan, accused of links to the fallen Taliban regime or al-Qaida.

Officials believed the base's location on foreign soil would deny prisoners U.S. constitutional protections, but the Supreme Court ruled last week that the 595 prisoners from 42 countries - all but three held without charge - can challenge their detentions in U.S. courts.

Before moving to Abu Ghraib, Miller instituted a reward system to encourage more cooperation from detainees.

One is a field trip held in medium-security Camp 4, where detainees can exercise every day and keep more items, including letters and books, in their cells.

About five of the 100 prisoners at Camp 4 are taken out about twice a week. Interrogators say the trips build trust and prompt detainees to divulge more information.

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