Results tagged “Inside Guantanmo”
Gitmo Through a Viewfinder
"Here, my friend, come, you ride with me." Mohammed slid a box off the bench seat of his golf cart and motioned for me to sit. Our destination was not far, but rather than jog at his side in the mid-day heat of a "black flag" (temperature alert) day I accepted his offer. As we worked our way through the maze of chain link fence draped with sniper net, I continued to film Guantanamo's librarian while he drove.
As we neared Camp 4 I stepped off and watched through the viewfinder as Mohammed maneuvered his cart through the outer gate and into the sally-port. Stacked on the back were two plastic bins he had filled with books from the library that morning. Following on foot, I continued to shoot, silently greeting the guards as they methodically locked the gate behind us. By now these guards were familiar with our crew and barely acknowledged my camera. After shuffling through his ring of oversized brass keys, Sally - the anonymous name given to any gatekeeper - found the right one, swung open the inner chain link divider and motioned us through.
Mohammed, a heavy set Egyptian with a broad smile, waved a thank-you and drove into the central yard, stopping his cart along the inner fence opposite a low building. As I stepped into the yard, camera off, my hand conspicuously placed across the lens, two dozen bearded men in loose fitting white clothes watched my every move.
Inside the Wire: Getting to Guantanamo
You don't get to Guantanamo by calling a travel agent. You're ordered there by your commanding military officer or you're an enemy combatant, detained by the U.S. military in the war on terror. Or you're - like us - a guest of the military. I got a sense, after a few days in sunny Guantanamo (a climate best described as "Tuscon on the Caribbean") that of the thousands of people inhabiting the base, our film crew of six must have been the only people who felt lucky to be there.
It was a year-long negotiation to bring National Geographic cameras "inside the wire" - military slang for the detention center, separated by armed gates and concertina wire from the rest of the business of "Gitmo." The Bush Administration was torn about allowing cameras into the intimate spaces of the base - all the way to the last second. On the very day we were to fly to Gitmo, after background checks, online anti-terrorism training, two scouts and permissions granted all around, still we sat on a gassed and ready private plane on a tarmac in Fort Lauderdale as one last dissenter unexpectedly pulled access. And just as unexpectedly permission was re-granted. It was definitely a dramatic entrance to the island we'd studied for months.
"And the fight at Gitmo has changed a lot in eight years. The detainees are the only ones on island that know just how different life is - they've been there longer than anyone, and as commanding officers remind the troopers every day: they know the rules better than anyone."
The journey to Guantanamo - both philosophically and geographically - is complicated. Cuba is just 90 miles from Florida, but since American planes may not fly in Cuban airspace, it's a three-hour flight. Given the coldness between Castro and America, the first natural question is exactly how the US military came to house suspected terrorists from the Middle East so close but decidedly not on US soil. It's a good question. The only easy answer is about the territory itself; we've had a very generous lease for over a century for 45 square miles. We pay just approximately $4,000 - checks Castro has refused to cash - and the treaty cannot be resolved unless both parties are in agreement. Castro is stuck with us.
Explorer Goes Inside Guantanamo
"So much of what defines us as a nation in the last decade is crystallized at Guantanamo. And whatever you think about Guantanamo ... it will soon be gone."
-- Director Jon Else
As reported today in the news, the military prison at Guantanamo Bay is something of a controversial topic. Over the past eight years this military prison has been a lightning rod of controversy.
Allegations of torture, illegal incarceration and human rights abuses have turned this military detention center on the island of Cuba, created following the September 11 terrorist attacks, into a potent symbol of America's war on terror. Now facing closure, "Gitmo's" legacy -and the fate of its estimated 250 remaining detainees -- remains in question.
As President-elect Barack Obama discusses options for shutting it down, National Geographic Channel's Explorer offers viewers a surprisingly intimate portrait of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay in its twilight. In a special two-hour episode premiering in April 2009, Explorer: Inside Guantanamo goes behind the razor wire to document what life is really like for the detainees and the military personnel who guard them.
Explorer's crew spent nearly three weeks inside the prison, documenting the pressurized interaction and contest of wills among soldiers and detainees, as well as briefings and operations that have previously been off-limits. The film includes candid interviews with troopers at Guantanamo, top officials who believe there is an active al-Qaida cell in the facility, a former interrogator and former detainees, as well as attorneys representing those still being held.
Have an opinion of whats going on in Guantanamo? Tell Us. Sound off in our Explorer forum.
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