For several minutes, the detainees appeared to have the upper hand, knocking
some of the soldiers to the ground, said Army Col. Michael Bumgarner, a camp
official.
"Frankly we were losing the fight at that point," Bumgarner said.
Outside, Guantanamo officials mustered 100 more guards before the quick
reaction force gained control using pepper spray, unspecified "physical force,"
five blasts of a shotgun that fires rubber pellets and one shot from a
non-lethal weapon that Bumgarner said fires a sponge-like projectile.
Detainees in two other units of Camp Four began damaging security cameras,
light fixtures and other items in their rooms in a show of support for those
engaged in the melee. Guantanamo officials estimated the total damage at
$110,000.
Six detainees had minor injuries and no guards were injured, Harris said. The
prisoners involved in the melee were moved to a higher security area.
"I believe that this was probably the most violent outbreak here," Harris
said.
President Bush has said he would like to close Guantanamo, but is waiting
for a Supreme Court ruling on whether inmates can face military tribunals. And,
regarding the UN report, the U.S. government insisted it complies with the world
ban against torture, including at the lockup at Guantanamo on Cuba. "It is
important to note that everything that is done in terms of questioning detainees
is fully within the boundaries of American law," White House press secretary
Tony Snow said.
The United States expressed disappointment with the committee report, which
was based on two sessions this month with a 25-member delegation of officials
from Washington and hundreds of pages of U.S. documents.
"It's unfortunate that they don't appear to have read a good deal of that
information or have ignored it, and as a result there are a number of both
factual inaccuracies and legal misstatements about the law applicable to the
United States," said State Department legal adviser John B. Bellinger III.
On Thursday, the military transferred 15 Saudi detainees to their country,
but Harris said he did not think there was a connection. Authorities did not
provide the names or home countries of those involved in the attack or attempted
suicides.
The U.N. committee also said detainees should not be handed over to any
country where they could face a "real risk" of being tortured.
Bellinger, who led the U.S. delegation at the panel hearings, said it was not
"practical" to recommend that Guantanamo be closed but insist that prisoners
should not be sent to a large number of countries. "So it's not exactly clear
what they think ought to happen to these individuals," he said.
Guantanamo has had a number of protests and more minor disturbances since the
U.S. began taking prisoners to the base in January 2002.
The U.S. military said 23 detainees carried out a coordinated effort to hang
or strangle themselves in 2003 during a weeklong protest. A hunger strike that
began in August has involved up to 131 detainees, the military said, though the
figure has dwindled to just a handful. Earlier this year, Guantanamo officials
began strapping striking detainees into a restraint chair to force feed them.
Guantanamo officials said there have been 41 suicide attempts by 25 detainees
and no deaths since the camp opened. Defense lawyers contend the figure is
higher.
Clive Stafford Smith, an attorney, said a client of his from Chad had
attempted suicide twice in January and he did not learn about it until March
from another detainee. Before Thursday, the military said there had only been
one attempt in 2006.
At least 12 suicide attempts were by Juma'a Mohammed al-Dossary, a
32-year-old from Bahrain.
Colangelo-Bryan, who represents al-Dossary and spoke to The Associated Press
by telephone, said he visited his client last week and saw scars on his throat
and the back of his neck from his most recent suicide attempt in March. The
attorney, whose firm Dorsey and Whitney LLP of Minneapolis, Minn., represents
three detainees from Bahrain, said he did not know if any of his clients were
involved in Thursday's melee.
