Day 1: Monday

After leaving Jacksonville at 6 a.m. on a commercial flight and after a seven-hour layover in Fort Lauderdale, finally hopped on-board the charter taking me the 400 some odd air miles to Guantanamo Bay Cuba.

During that lengthy wait I chat with a man whom I later learn is an attorney from New York on his way down to meet with his clients. They are detainees, one from Yemen and one a Saudi. The lawyer from Fordham University proves to be a valuable interview. More on that later.

Finally, we’re ready for takeoff. The plane only holds 12 passengers and is a bit rickety. After some 3½ hours in the air the Cuban coastline becomes visible. It’s beautiful and belies the fact that on the other side of the bay is a detention facility encased in razor sharp barbed wire housing the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and some 200 plus other detainees in the War on Terror.

Lt. Cody Starken meets us at the airfield; tenders a quick briefing; and instructs us photos of the airfield and trip on a barge across the 2½ mile Guantanamo Bay are prohibited. Military censors will “redact” them. We grab our credentials and take a quick car tour of the base. Then a bite to eat and we are ushered to our quarters. Tours of the camp begin at 0615 on Tuesday.

Day 2 : Tuesday

The sun isn’t even up yet and the humidity on this Cuban morning cuts like a knife. It’s the kind of stickiness that permeates your body and makes you feel as if you need a shower minutes after having one.

My camera equipment stowed in a van, credentials dangling around my neck, we wind around the miles of road that help you navigate the only U.S. base in a Communist country. There it is the main gate. MPs check us and we travel past those machine gun-toting guards.

All of a sudden, there they are the various facilities that make up Camp Delta. We stop and I am amazed by the coils of razor wire. The guards stationed in towers scattered every 25 yards or so. They peer out over the yards maintaining a 24-hour vigil over the detainees. Grabbing my camera and ready to visit the first of the camps I notice a sign: “Detainees in the Vicinity. Maintain Silence.”

Into the gates we walk. A guard grabs a large steel metal key, inserts it into the sturdiest lock I have ever seen and the gate to Camp 4 creaks open. This is a camp for the most compliant of detainees. In a briefing, later in the day with Col. Bruce Vargo of the Joint Task Force, I learn even if these men committed the most heinous of crimes they can enjoy more freedom if they “play by the rules.”

Moving into the rec yard I am reminded I can’t show faces or any identifying characteristics of the detainees. If I do, the military censors will erase them from the tape.

Ironically the first guard I meet is from Orange Park and he tells me about life for the detainees. As we chat I get my first glimpse of the men being held here. They wear white robes and many have long flowing beards.

Three of the detainees are running around a track and about to approach us. They stop short when they see the camera and duck into their dorms. That’s the best way to describe their bunking facilities, communal dorms.

From a distance a few other detainees taunt us. In the distance I see three men playing a game of chess while others mill around just talking. Because of their compliance they enjoy the better part of the day in the rec yard.

Not so at Camp 5, which is our next stop. This is a maximum security facility. Here the routine is strict, rigid and tightly controlled.

Guards stand at the front of each cell block… stand at attention… stand at the ready. These detainees cause the most problems. Hurl insults and feces at their captors. The guards will tell you, they worry even when simply passing the detainees meals... worry that the men behind the steel doors will find some creative way to hurt their captors.

These men are the most dangerous. We don’t get to see them. I do, however, witness one guard maintaining strict visual contact with one of the detainees through the cell door. I’m told perhaps that captive threatened suicide. The military powers that be advised me the threat may not be real because the captives often play psychological games with the guards. In fact, the camp commander told me, “it’s psychological warfare.”

Our final stop in the detention facility was Camp 6. This is a halfway house, if you will. It is meant to house prisoners somewhere in between compliance and maximum security. In time they can earn the right to go to Camp 4 and more freedom. Of course, the opposite is true as well.

Looking though a one way mirror I witness life at Camp 6. The detainees do have limited time to meet with their brethren. But when the time is up and they need to return to their cells, the guards don what looks like riot gear to usher their charges back behind closed doors. They wear the riot gear because these men have been known to hurl more than insults at the guards. They hurl feces, objects and at times much more.

This day has been eye opening. I saw much more than I expected. And, not only did I learn about life as a detainee, but I learned the answer to a key question.

“Why is this called a detention facility and not a prison?” The answer: Under military guidelines these men are not criminals, they are Prisoners of War!

Day 3: Wednesday

This day starts with minimal sleep. I begin work at 3 a.m. having won permission from the military commanders to climb into a guard tower and witness a morning ritual among the detainees.

My visit coincides with Ramadan and I am about to see the “morning prayer.” I climb the tower under the cloak of darkness and have to lie on my back for 3 hours. I’m told if the detainees see the camera and see me they will certainly not engage in their morning prayer and perhaps worse.

The clock ticks slowly and finally the sun is about to rise. I’m told it’s time. I maintain my perch in the guard tower, but keep a low profile so as to still not be seen. There is a chanting in the distance and the detainees begin to congregate. Facing Mecca they begin their morning prayer. It is nothing short of fascinating. Their heads covered; prayer rugs and the ground juxtaposed with bright lights illuminating the yard and razor wire all around.

The prayers last about 10 minutes. My escort tells me it is time to go. I keep the camera rolling trying to get as much as possible to tell the story.

On this day I interview the camp commander, Rear Adm. Tom Copeman and we talk about the politics of winding down detention operations at GTMO while the political debate rages.

President Barack Obama, several days after taking office, issued an executive order demanding the base be closed by January 2010. Whether they meet the deadline is still debatable. The admiral and I also talk about allegations of abuse and how history will look back at Camp Delta. Our conversation is frank, honest and direct.

Day 4: Thursday

This is a day where I meet some of the men and women from Northeast Florida who are part of the Joint Task Force charged with overseeing the detention of the 220 plus men held here. Among those I meet are the Naval Base commander, Capt. Steven Blaisdell. He was stationed at NAS Jacksonville.

His charge is to oversee the Naval Base at GTMO. That base will remain open and operational even after the detention facilities close, as per presidential order. One surprising note from this conversation. The captain tells me he meets once a month with his Cuban counterpart. Even though the two nations have no formal ties, there is an air of cooperation among the two Naval forces.

I also meet with a lieutenant commander working at the hospital involved with a very controversial matter. Donna Bradley had been stationed at the Naval Hospital at NAS Jax and lived in Clay County. LCDR Bradley is now stationed at GTMO. She and I talked about the issue of force feeding detainees who staged hunger strikes. Bradley told me the force feeding only happens when a detainee's health is at risk.

This is also a day to tour the base and so some “sightseeing’ if you will. One stop is the lighthouse. Surrounding it are small wooden boats. These crafts have historic significance because they were used in the Haitian boat lift. By the way, the Cuban coastline here is magnificent. Dotted with rocks upon which the Caribbean blue waters crash majestically.

Day 5: Friday

This is a travel day and I hop back on that same small rickety aircraft that flew me here for the 440 some odd miles from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to South Florida, back to Carrie and Marley.

This is a time to be retrospective. During my day one diary I told you with a chance encounter with a lawyer traveling to GTMO to meet his clients… two of the detainees. One is from Yemen and the other from Saudi Arabia. Jim Cohen tells me in no uncertain terms his clients were victims of abuse at GTMO. We also talk about the lack of due process and representation for the men being held at Camp Delta.

Cohen describes some very specific incidents and claims his clients are lost in a no man’s land. Because they are prisoners of war they are not classified as criminals. Nor have they yet been charged. Cohen says it is frustrating for them because, they maintain, they are not terrorists. And, it is frustrating for him as a lawyer because the procedures to try and win his clients freedom are so hazy. Cohen says the military tribunals conducted at GTMO were not always fair.

As for the allegations of abuse, there have been investigations and the claims have yet to be substantiated. In fact a number of reports surmise there has been no abuse. A Department of Defense report, of which I have a copy, maintains the same. But the American Civil Liberties Union which engaged the Freedom of Information Act to have that said report released publicly, calls it a “whitewash.”

Whether the allegations of abuse are true or not may never be known. We do know the debate will continue.. And the key questions remain: will the detainees be transferred to the US to be tried; could the detainees be held indefinitely in this country without charging them; and will Camp Delta be closed within the time frame mandated by the Executive Order?

I leave GTMO with new and fascinating insights. I also leave with more questions than answers.

Ahhh, the life of a journalist!