Guantanamo Inmates Despair of Ever Leaving

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - Ahamed Abdul Aziz has been in the Guantanamo Bay prison for more than three years and, by his account, has been interrogated 50 times without being charged with any crime. He waits with anguish for freedom but fears it will never come.

"We are in a grave here," he told his lawyers, echoing the despair felt by many of the roughly 490 prisoners held as suspected terrorists at the U.S. naval base in eastern Cuba. Charges have been filed against only 10 of them.
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U.S. officials say the camp houses only people who want to kill American troops or civilians.
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Another man, Pakistani millionaire Saifullah A. Paracha, was told by a U.S. Air Force colonel running his hearing that he would one day be able to pursue his case in American courts.

"I've been here 17 months — would that be before I expire?" Paracha asked.

With some Bush administration officials now referring to the war against terrorism as the "long war," Guantanamo appears to be turning into a more permanent detention site.

A two-story prison building that can house 200 detainees is slated to open this summer. It is modeled after a mainland maximum-security prison and will be located near a similar facility that can house 100 detainees.

"It's becoming clear that we will need to continue to house some number of detainees for an extended period," said a Pentagon spokesman, Maj. Michael Shavers.
More: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060305/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/guantanamo_the_long_wait_1;_ylt=AlczN0Sjz3OE6bPKdA.Qk7E3NiUi;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl