The following is mirrored from its source at:
http://www.afgha.com/?af=article&sid=33508


               Officers Shaken by Arrival of Child Terrorists
                       by David Rennie in Camp Iguana
                                 Afgha.com
                                24 May 2003



     The disclosure that the United States was holding three Afghan
     boys under 16 as "juvenile enemy combatants" at Guantánamo Bay
     caused widespread shock.

     Officers there were almost equally surprised, they said yesterday.
     They discovered they had been sent a child only when doctors
     examining a recent arrival noticed his physical immaturity.

     The youth, whose exact age is uncertain, was separated from adult
     detainees immediately. When two more youths arrived shortly
     afterwards a separate juvenile camp was built in a remote house
     overlooking the sea.

     Anxious to defuse a potential public relations disaster, officials
     at Guantánamo Bay allowed access to Camp Iguana, as the new area
     is called.

     Senior commanders were at pains to describe the special care being
     taken of the unusual detainees, while stressing their status as
     dangerous terrorists.

     Col Adolph McQueen, head of the Joint Detention Operation Group,
     said: "We have a programme designed by medical staff, they are
     being taught mathematics and reading, and we have an interpreter
     there all the time."

     The youngest of the three appears to be about 13. But Col McQueen
     said: "They are juvenile enemy combatants that have a history of
     violence. If you let your guard down you could get someone hurt."

     Maj Gen Geoffrey Miller, the overall commander, would not be drawn
     on the nature of the crimes committed by the boys, saying only
     that they "have both information of value to the United States and
     are threats to this nation" after being pressed into terrorist
     service by "despicable people".


     Copyright © 2003 Telegraph Group Limited
     Reprinted for Fair Use Only.




     http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/GBchildTerr.html (hypertext)
     http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/GBchildTerr.txt  (text only)