Military Blocks Media Access to Guantanamo

One the United States' guard towers and a military vehicle on patrol are seen in this Sept. 27, 2002 photo in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Saudi Arabian family members of one of the three inmates who committed suicide at Guantanamo last week denies the U.S. military's claim that Mani Shaman Turki al-Habradi al-Utaybi killed himself, and they want his body returned to them so an autopsy can be conducted. (AP Photo/Jose Goitia, File) (Jose Goityia - AP)

Media visits have been common, drawing journalists from dozens of countries, but they have always come with thick strings attached.

Access to the base is available only through military planes or small charters. The charters take about 3 hours to fly from Florida to Guantanamo because they can't travel through Cuban airspace and must circle around the island.

On the base, a 10-page list of ground rules bars journalists from interviewing anyone without approval and prohibits photos of detainee faces and base features, such as radar or the coastline. The military says such restrictions are needed for security and to protect detainees' privacy.

But critics say the military is being disingenuous in saying it wants to protect detainees' privacy. One prisoner, speaking in English, once told a visiting AP reporter that he wanted to talk. But when the reporter asked the military if she could interview the detainee, the answer was no.

Other reporters have been have been hustled away when prisoners have tried to communicate with them _ through food slots in the cells of the highest-security section, or from behind curtains at the medical clinic.

Gordon said regular media access is scheduled to resume next week, with journalists from three European news organizations taking a tour that can take two months or more to arrange.

But without access to the detainees, Stafford Smith said such visits amount to little more than propaganda.

"The media sees a very sanitized view of what's going on," he said.