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since the
    Spanish American War, and the very existence of a military
    base there has been a source of friction in U.S./Cuba relations
    since Fidel Castro took power. There is no denying that this is
    Cuban soil. However, for strategic reasons, the U.S. has clung
    to this very valuable turf, relying on a seventy-year-old treaty
    that essentially allows the United States to stay as long as it
    wishes.”
    “We’ve heard reports of an explosion. Has anything of this nature ever happened before at Guantanamo?”
    “No. Tensions have certainly run high over the years, spiking
    in the early sixties with the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis, and spiking again in 1994 when sixty-thousand Cuban and
    Haitian refugees were detained at Guantanamo. But never anything like this.”
    “What might cause an explosion and fire like this at the base?”
    “That would be pure speculation at this juncture. We’ll have
    to wait and see.”
    “Can you pinpoint the location of the fire for me? What part
    of the base appears to be affected?”
    “It’s the main base. What I mean by that is that Guantanamo
    is a bifurcated base. The airstrip is on the western or leeward
    side. The main base is to the east, across the two-and-a-halfmile stretch of water that is Guantanamo Bay. You can see part
    of the bay in the upper left-hand corner of your television
    screen.”
    “What part of the main base is burning?”
    “It’s the southern tip, which is known as Radio Range because
    of the towering radio antennae that you can see in your picture.
    Interestingly enough, the fire is concentrated in what appears to
    be Camp Delta, which is the new high-security detention facility.”
    “Camp Delta was built to house suspected terrorists, am I
    right?”
    “The official terminology is ‘enemy combatant.’ Originally,
    the only detainees there were the alleged members of the
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    al-Qaeda terrorist network. In recent months, however, the
    United States has broadened the definition of ‘enemy combatant.’
    As a result, Camp Delta now houses drug lords and rebels from
    South America, suspected war criminals from Chechnya, kidnappers and thugs from Cambodia and a host of others who meet
    the Defense Department’s definition of ‘enemy combatant’ in the
    ever-widening war on terrorism.”
    “This whole issue of detainees—this has become quite an international sore spot for President Howe, has it not?”
    “That’s an understatement. You have to remember that none
    of the detainees at this facility has ever been charged with a
    crime. This all goes back to what I said earlier—the base is on
    Cuban soil. The Department of Defense has successfully argued
    in the U.S. federal courts that the base is not ‘sovereign’ territory and that inmates therefore have no due-process rights under
    the U.S. Constitution. The White House has taken the position
    that the military can hold the prisoners indefinitely. But pressure has steadily risen in the international community to force
    the U.S. either to charge the detainees with specific crimes or
    release them.”
    “Some of these detainees are quite dangerous, I’m sure.”
    “Even the president’s toughest antiterrorism experts are beginning to worry about the growing clamor over holding prisoners indefinitely without formal charges. On the other hand,
    you could probably make a pretty strong case that some of these
    guys are among the most dangerous men in the world. So Camp
    Delta is a bit of a steaming political hot potato.”
    “Which has just burst into flames—literally.”
    “I think this is on the verge of becoming one of the toughest
    issues President Howe will face in his second term—What
    should be done with all these enemy combatants that we’ve
    rounded up and put into detention without formal charges?”
    “From the looks of things, someone may have come up with
    a solution.”
    “I wasn’t suggesting that at all, but—”
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    “Mr. Polk, thank you for joining us. CNN