Base readies for refugees

The Bush administration is preparing the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to house up to 10,000 refugees in case of a Caribbean migrant crisis -- and starting with the bathrooms.

ISSUES and IDEAS

Detainees: Putting faces to the story

With tales and snapshots gathered by lawyers, a Houston exhibit shows a personal side of detainees.

'I'm responsible for 9/11'

The man allegedly behind the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, confessed to a global string of terror plots -- some carried out, most not -- in a transcript released by the Pentagon.

ISSUES and IDEAS

Inside the Razor Wire

An editor, a lawyer, a broadcast executive, and an entrepreneur visited the remote prison camps as guests of the U.S. Southern Command to spread greater understanding of what goes on in this mystique-shrouded facility.

Plans to build courthouse at Guantánamo Bay revised

Faced with mounting criticism, the Defense Department shelved a plan to make an end-run around Congress and build a military compound at Guantánamo

Fast funding sought for terror-trial site

Citing emergency authority, the Defense Department requested funds to build a war-crimes court compound at Guantánamo Bay

MIAMI HERALD EXCLUSIVE

Pentagon wants to build mini-city for terror trials

The Pentagon wants to build a compound costing up to $125 million for upcoming war crimes trials at Guantánamo. The proposal has yet to be presented to Congress, which must OK funding.

What's a bored detainee to do? Check a book out of the library

A library in a drab double-wide is among the perks U.S. military officials promote as they seek to put a friendlier face on the controversial camp.

Red Cross meets Khalid Sheik Mohammed, others

The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed today that it has met the 14 so-called ''high-value'' detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, who include alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed.

Autopsies complete, analysis underway

Military pathologists completed clinical autopsies of the three captives who hanged themselves over the weekend inside their cells at this offshore detention center

Suicides another blow to camp's image

For the first time since the Guantánamo Bay prison camp opened in January 2002, three captives killed themselves.

AT THE BASE

Stadium-style lights to boost security

The last official Cold War corner of Latin America is fending off potential incursion with fewer than 125 Marines - and $2.47 million in stadium-style lighting.

ISSUES and IDEAS

We Need Guantánamo

And facilities like it, says the new commander, reflecting on some of his challenges

Guards quell captives' uprising

The Miami Herald was given exclusive access to the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo, where commanders described an outbreak of violence. The uprising swept through two camps after two captives attempted suicide by drug overdose.

From raft to U.S. Navy, camp tour is round trip

A sailor serving a tour in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, returned to the area a decade after he fled his native Cuba in a raft and was sent to the tent camps set up at the base.

ISSUES and IDEAS

Few buried here were American

A rare glimpse: At first glance, this place seems a miniature of Arlington National Cemetery, America's hallowed graveyard overlooking the Potomac River outside Washington.

IN THE PRISON CAMPS

A kinder and gentler room to question terror suspects?

Military intelligence teams have added a faux Persian carpet and blue velour Lazy Boy recliner to an interrogation room at the cement-block prison for high-value terrorism suspects here.

U.S. gives glimpse of costs at prison

In its campaign to portray the Guantánamo Bay prison for terrorism suspects as humane, the Bush administration has made a rare disclosure:

Captives tell their side

Far from the razor wire, inside the court that ordered Richard Nixon to turn over the Watergate tapes, the stories of the once nameless, faceless men kept captive at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba come alive in page after page of habeas corpus petitions for 140 Guantánamo captives from 23 countries from China to Saudi Arabia.

MIAMI HERALD ARCHIVE

Military hearings open to media

It was the first time the Defense Department allowed American reporters to see its latest review process -- started three months ago -- meant to systematically thin the 500 or so prisoners held here as enemy combatants.