from: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0427guantanamo27.html

Teen terror suspects better off at Cuba base, U.S. says
Michelle Faul
Associated Press
Apr. 27, 2003 12:00 AM

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - In the mornings, they learn to read and write in their native languages, clean their rooms and rake the lawn. Recreation includes soccer and watching movies like Cast Away. Afternoons, psychologists work to heal the scars of physical and emotional abuse.

U.S officials are holding three terror suspects ages 13 to 15 at the remote Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, a revelation that has enraged human rights advocates and sent U.S. officials scurrying to blunt the damaging publicity.

Pointing to the useful intelligence information the boys are providing to interrogators, the U.S. military has defended the decision to hold the youths, saying they're better off in Guantanamo than fighting a losing war in Afghanistan.

"When I went in, they were working on mathematics, and these are juveniles who for the most part had received no previous education," Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, chief mission spokesman, told the Associated Press by telephone Saturday.

"They all stood up, smiling and shaking hands and exchanging jokes with the little bit of English that they've learned."

Far away from landlocked Afghanistan, the detainees watch movies in their spare time and have taken a liking to Cast Away, in which Tom Hanks is stranded on an uninhabited island and is isolated for years before being rescued.

"Apparently they like ocean films because they can see the sea," Johnson said.

Military officials refuse to identify the boys by citizenship or exact age, a practice that applies equally to the other 660 detainees from 42 countries. The boys were detained in Afghanistan and are accused of links to the ousted Taliban regime or al-Qaida terror network.

They arrived earlier this year, but Johnson said it is unclear how long they had been held before they were flown to Guantanamo. The U.S. Navy base in Cuba was chosen in part because it is outside the jurisdiction of U.S. courts, allowing the military to hold and interrogate suspects indefinitely without bringing charges.

Human rights advocates already critical of the adult detentions are enraged by the news of the detained youths.

Amnesty International called for their immediate release. Spokesman Alistair Hodgett said the United States is violating the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child that states, "Every child deprived of his or her liberty shall have the right to prompt access to legal and other appropriate assistance." The United States is one of three countries that has not ratified the treaty.

Johnson emphasized that the adolescents are in a facility separate from the cells holding adults. He said they live in two one-bedroom units with two living rooms and small kitchens.

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