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Witness History: The Opening of Guantanamo

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The Opening of Guantanamo Bay

09/01/2015 GMT

The Opening of Guantanamo

BBC World Service - Witness History, The Opening of Guantanamo

The first prisoners arrived at the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in January 2002

A commander of the controversial US prison at Guantanamo Bay remembers the first months of its existence and the first detainees
arriving from Afghanistan in January 2002

In January 2002, the first prisoners from America's war on terror arrived at a new hastily-built detention facility at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The camp's first commander, Major General Mike Lehnert, recalls the challenges he faced in opening what would become one of the most notorious prisons in the world.

(Photo: American military police guard the first detainees at Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay in January 2002. Credit:Petty Officer 1st class Shane T. McCoy/U.S. Navy/Getty Images)

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