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Marines plan POW site at seized Kandahar Airport
By DOUG MELLGREN
Associated Press Writer
12/15/01
CAMP RHINO, Afghanistan — U.S. Marines plan to build a prisoner-of-war camp at Kandahar's airport to house up to 300 al-Qaida fighters they hope will surrender or be captured near Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan, a military officer said Saturday.
The officer at Camp Rhino, the Marines' base in the remote Afghan desert, said the military anticipated between 100 and 300 prisoners will be taken in the area, where U.S. airstrikes and eastern alliance fighters have cornered troops of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.
"A primary focus is to receive prisoners from Tora Bora and build a site for them," said the officer, who is involved in the planning process and spoke only on condition of anonymity. "It is our interest and the interest of the Western world to capture as many as possible."
He said prisoners captured in Tora Bora could give information about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, which Washington blames on al-Qaida's leader, bin Laden.
The officer said the Marines plan to move their operations from Camp Rhino to the airport, possibly within weeks. The Kandahar airport, though damaged and austere, will be a vast improvement over Camp Rhino, where blowing sand and dust clog equipment and make life for troops miserable.
The Marines, with the blessing and help of anti-Taliban forces, took control of Kandahar International Airport early Friday without resistance. They were reinforced by troops from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit who doubled the number of troops at the airport, and were flown in by helicopter under the cover of darkness.
The officer said a possible site for the prisoner's compound at the airport, which is still being swept for debris, mines and booby traps, was already identified. He said the Marines also hope to improve the damaged runway so large transport aircraft can land, speeding up troop deployment and possible humanitarian aid flights.
The Marines have said they want to turn over the facility to Afghanistan's interim government as soon a possible and to hire local builders to improve the airport while boosting the local economy.
The Marines have already built a detention compound at Camp Rhino with a shipping container and tents. So far, its only inmate has been John Walker, an American captured while he fought with the Taliban, who was flown to the U.S. Navy ship Peleliu on Friday.
The officer said he had spoken briefly with Walker, who was wounded in the leg. Walker said little, but was dressed in warm civilian clothes borrowed from Marines and was able to sleep on a stretcher in greater comfort that most of the troops at this primitive base, he said.
APNP-12-15-01 0746CST