New General Takes Over at Guantanamo

The joint task force overseeing the detention of 300 prisoners from the Afghanistan war received a new commander Thursday.

U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Rick Baccus took over for Marine Brig. Gen. Michael Lehnert, who will head back to Camp Lejeune, N.C. The change was planned and represented no policy shift, said Maj. James Bell, mission spokesman.

Baccus, 49, is a 28-year Army veteran who was stationed in Warwick, R.I. Army soldiers also will replace about 125 Marines, Bell said.

Guantanamo officials also said Thursday that 45 detainees from the war in Afghanistan had skipped several recent meals. Three were hospitalized, said Capt. Al Shimkus, the field hospital’s top surgeon.

Those three were the same prisoners who went weeks without eating after the first hunger strike began Feb. 27. It was unclear when they began refusing meals again.

The first hunger strike began after guards stripped an inmate of his turban, but military officials said participants later claimed they were concerned about their futures.

It was unclear Thursday whether the detainees refusing food were on a hunger strike or were fasting for the Muslim holy day of Ashura, which commemorates the death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, in 680.

The prisoners are accused of having links to the fallen Taliban regime of Afghanistan or the Al Qaeda terrorist network believed responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.