Crew: Captives treated well on flight to Cuba

Associated Press

McCHORD AIR FORCE BASE — Members of the C-17 crew from McChord Air Force Base who flew 20 Taliban prisoners out of Afghanistan earlier this month say the captives were treated well.

Security was tight, with two Air Force guards for every prisoner, but airmen say the prisoners received medical treatment, as much food and water as they wanted, and were asked every hour if they needed anything.

"Considering the circumstances, I thought they were treated extremely well," said Airman 1st Class Joe, a loadmaster whose last name was withheld at the Air Force’s request.

The McChord crew flew the prisoners from Kandahar airport to an undisclosed air base, where the captives were transferred to an Air Force C-141 cargo jet for the flight to the U.S. military’s Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Since then, the Air Force has flown another 138 prisoners to the camp, two short of the prison’s capacity. Another 270 more prisoners are waiting in Afghanistan, and the Pentagon has temporarily suspended the airlift until more cells can be built at Guantanamo.

Human rights groups and some European officials have complained about conditions at Camp X-Ray. Condemnation of prisoners’ treatment has grown since the release of photos showing the captives wearing blacked-out goggles, earmuffs, masks over their mouths and noses, and mittens on their hands.

The Defense Department says the prisoners are being treated humanely.

During the flight out of Kandahar on Jan. 11, the prisoners sat back-to-back in a row of seats in the middle of the C-17’s large cargo hold. Their hands were cuffed in front of them and their legs were shackled, the crew members said.

They wore ear protection and blacked out goggles on their way in and out of the airplane. A special lavatory was put on board the plane for the trip, and prisoners were allowed to use the toilet on their own, the crew members said.

Some Air Force security personnel on board the plane were armed, but no weapons were allowed in the area where the prisoners were seated, the crew members said.

"The idea was to keep weapons as far away from the prisoners as possible," said Joe, the loadmaster.

The captives were fed oranges, apples, peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, and other items. Two doctors were on board, and only one passenger complained of any problem, a headache. He was given a pain reliever, the crew members said.

Despite the accommodations, co-pilot Maj. Dave said, "The back of the plane was basically turned into a maximum-security prison."

Pentagon officials described that first group of prisoners as "the worst of the worst."

"These are people that would gnaw hydraulic lines in the back of a C-17 to bring it down," Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said earlier this month. "These are very, very dangerous people, and that’s how they’re being treated."

"I didn’t want any harm to come to them, but at the same time you can’t lose focus on what you’re doing," Joe said.

Joe said the mission went off much like every other he’s flown, except that he didn’t take time to sleep on the long flight.

Copyright ©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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