3 years in operation, Guantanamo remains

"Where this will go four or five years down the road, I don't know," said Army Brigadier General Jay Hood, who has commanded the mission for nine months.

Such uncertainties, coupled with multiplying allegations of abuse, are under attack from lawyers and human rights groups who say the camp is an affront to American values.

Only four men have been charged, and most prisoners are denied access to lawyers.

"Guantanamo has become an icon of lawlessness . . . dangerous to us all," London-based Amnesty International said in a statement marking the third anniversary.

Ten cases of abuse have also put the detention mission in a poor light. Documents published recently show that the FBI suggested the government failed to act on its complaints -- made a year before the scandal at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. The incidents include allegations that a female interrogator grabbed a detainee's genitals and used an attack dog to intimidate a detainee. Other documents detail cases that include a shackled prisoner who was left lying in his own feces.

The military, which has ordered an independent investigation, insists most cases detailed by the FBI are old and that many questionable interrogation techniques no longer are used.

All prisoners are accused of links to Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime or the Al Qaeda terrorist network.

Among those held at Guantanamo are an alleged Al Qaeda financier who was in Orlando, Fla., the same day as Sept. 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta; the alleged designer of a prototype shoe bomb; and a man accused of plotting to attack oil tankers in the Persian Gulf using explosive-laden fishing boats, Pentagon spokeswoman Barbara Burfeind said.

But, "the majority of the individuals that are here today . . . are not of intelligence value -- right now," said Steve Rodriguez, a civilian in charge of interrogations.

The four prisoners who have been charged are low-level suspects, including Osama bin Laden's driver, an Al Qaeda accountant, a propagandist, and an Australian cowboy allegedly turned Taliban fighter.