U.S. Marines Continue Process of Gathering Up Detainees Who Are Fighting on Pro-Taliban Side
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, back to Afghanistan, specifically, the Kandahar International Airport. CNN's Bill Hemmer standing by there live and this as U.S. Marines continue the process of gathering up detainees who are fighting on the pro-Taliban side. Bill joins us with a special guest -- Bill.</s>BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, thanks again. We're now at 37 for the number of detainees. Again, as we mentioned a short time ago, 20 more were brought in last night, all al Qaeda suspected and Taliban suspected. Right now the questioning will begin and the process will continue a lot more investigative work, police work. Let's talk more about it now with a guest, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Faulkner now is with us. You're basically in charge of that facility about 200 miles behind us here and certainly given the security we can't be over there. But good evening to you, nonetheless.</s>LT. COL. MARVIN FAULKNER, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Good evening.</s>HEMMER: Tell us about it right now. With 37 right now, how many more could you take?</s>FAULKNER: Well, we have a good amount of capacity. I won't get into specific numbers, but suffice it to say that we are expanding it because we do expect to receive additional detainees in the very near future.</s>HEMMER: Yes, tell us about the process. They come in. They're questioned. Certainly there's a security check. How does that operate?</s>FAULKNER: Absolutely. Well, we do a lot before we question them. We're very concerned about, safety is our number one priority both for the detainees as well as our marines. So we come in and we search them first, a very thorough search. They come to us having already been searched by other military policemen. So they come searched. They come in, they are screened, they're fingerprinted, they are, their clothes are removed. We check everything to ensure they're hiding nothing because of lessons learned that we've gained from this conflict. They're medically screened, processed. We have folks both from military intelligence as well as from other agencies that actually do some initial screening. We give them clothes, we give them blankets and we put them in a detainment facility.</s>HEMMER: And what do you want to know from these?</s>FAULKNER: Well, I don't -- basically we have experts in here that want to know anything they can about the affiliations of these individuals, who they're tied in with, what other information they may know about training facilities, anything.</s>HEMMER: Yes, can you give us, I guess, for lack of a better phrase, a day in the life of a detainee in Kandahar on a 24 hour basis? What primarily is their day like here?</s>FAULKNER: Well, they are fed just like we are. We give them everything that we have here at Kandahar. We feed them in the morning. They have water. If, in fact, they are suspected or there is some intelligence information that military intelligence wants from them, we will bring them out of their detainment facility and they will be questioned. Now, we have a couple that require some medical attention that we are seeing on a daily basis. So we have numerous physicians that are giving them the same kind of medical treatment that we will have. And then they basically eat in the evening. They have latrine facilities and then they go down to sleep and we repeat it over again.</s>HEMMER: Yes, I know what your answer was to the previous question about other people taking care of the questioning. Do you have any sense yet or any indication that there is intelligence and information coming from these men?</s>FAULKNER: I think that would be fair to say and if not then we wouldn't have a large concentration of individuals here. But they treat everyone of the detainees the same and they start the line of questioning bare based. So I think it would be fair to say that they are gaining something.</s>HEMMER: You mentioned lessons learned. Everybody remembers Mazir-i-Sharif and the bloodbath it turned into up there. The Red Cross was here this week checking up on your facility. How did they grade you?</s>FAULKNER: They graded us fine. They've been here three times and the gentleman has been very pleased with the way they're being treated as well as the facilities. And again, you know, our number one concern is the safety of our marines and soldiers. Obviously the safety of our detainees is directly behind that. We are very firm. We are very deliberate in our searches. We ensure that they are carrying in nothing with them because when we check them, they have no clothes on. So we get right down to the nitty gritty to make sure that they are bringing nothing into the facility.</s>HEMMER: Quickly here, if the questioning is successful, shall we say, will they be passed onto another area?</s>FAULKNER: Well, this is a short-term holding facility so our focus is just on that very issue. I can't put a time against it, but I'd suffice to say that if, in fact, they are deemed to be of some value, then there would be a longer term facility somewhere in the world where they're likely to be moved to. But I couldn't really get into that because I really don't know where it is.</s>HEMMER: And real quickly before we run out of time here, will you take in more?</s>FAULKNER: We are prepared to take in more. No time line, but we are prepared. The facility is being expanded as we speak so we're able to respond to it. And, of course, marines are running it now because we were the first ones on the scene. It's an army mission and there's a transition that's down the road.</s>HEMMER: OK, Lieutenant Colonel, much appreciated.</s>FAULKNER: Yes, sir.</s>HEMMER: Many thanks and best of luck, OK?</s>FAULKNER: Certainly.</s>HEMMER: Miles, back to you now in Atlanta.</s>O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much, Bill Hemmer in Kandahar.