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On a rainy afternoon in mid-October 2005, a white bus climbed the brush-covered hills near Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, carrying a group of visitors to Camp Delta, the desolate spot on the island's southern coast where the U.S. military holds more than 500 prisoners captured in the war on terror. It rolled through the detention camp's stockade-style gate and turned onto the dirt track inside the outermost of three high fences. Like others in the small group of civilian doctors, psychologists, and ethicists visiting that day, I peered through the bus's windows, eager for a glimpse of detainees. Since our arrival in the morning, we had spent more than two hours in a hospital conference room on the naval base, listening to a briefing by Major General Jay W. Hood, the camp's commander, and questioning him and other officials about the interrogation and medical care of detainees, including the force-feeding of hunger strikers. At last, I thought, we were about to see the prisoners.
The fences veiled the camp's interior from our curious eyes. Opaque green cloth was stretched across the chain link, obstructing our view of the buildings beyond. As we rolled slowly past Camps 3, 2, and 1, adjoining compounds with similar layouts, we caught an occasional glimpse of the military guards who sit in open doorways at the rear of each cell block, keeping a constant eye on the detainees within. ("There is no place in those blocks where people can disappear and not be watched by multiple eyes," Hood said -- adding, however, that guards carry no weapons: "It's the safest way to run a facility.")
For a moment, I saw a prisoner's olive-skinned face peeking out at our bus through a hole in the cloth. Then, we rounded a corner and reached Camp 4, the least restrictive of the five currently occupied prison compounds. We saw 10 or 12 prisoners standing alone or in small groups in the exercise yard. They wore white pants and shirts. Most had long, black hair; many had untrimmed beards, and a few wore white caps. One man was chinning himself on a metal crossbar supporting an awning that shaded part of the yard. From a distance, through the layers of fence, the detainees watched silently...