Deprived of most world news since their capture, some of the hundreds of prisoners at this US base expressed shock when told recently of the capture of Saddam Hussein, a US general said Thursday.
Interrogators told some detainees of the war in Iraq in June, and word of Saddam's capture reached others during interrogations in December, Major-General Geoffrey Miller told reporters in an interview.
The entire prison population was later informed of Saddam's capture by loudspeaker after officials determined there was no risk to security or intelligence-gathering, Miller said, without specifying the date.
"We told them we had a war with Iraq, we told them the United States won, and we told them we captured Saddam Hussein," Miller said. "There was some shock."
Some 660 detainees from 44 countries are being held at the base in eastern Cuba on suspicion of links to the fallen Taliban regime of Afghanistan or al-Qaeda.
Among them are some Iraqis captured in Afghanistan, Miller said, though he declined to say how many.
Detainees aren't allowed access to news as it could compromise the interrogation process, said the general, who heads the detention mission at Guantanamo.
However, the announcement about the US victory in Iraq and Saddam's Dec. 13 capture has resulted in increased cooperation by some detainees during their interrogation, Miller said.
"Any information may help the enemy combatants, or it may help the terrorists, so I'm very careful about keeping an environment that assists us in developing intelligence to help us defeat terrorists," Miller said.
Previously, he said, detainees have been told about the war in Afghanistan and about reconstruction efforts there.
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