Al Qaeda Prisoners Sent to Cuba

Jan. 10 -- U.S. forces took their first group of al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners out of Afghanistan today, marching a group of 20 shackled, hooded prisoners onto an U.S. Air Force C-17 and taking off from Kandahar airport.

The prisoners are expected to be flown to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, where they will be loaded onto a C-141 equipped for prisoner transport to Guantanamo Bay, due to arrive on Friday.

The prisoners were all chained together and outnumbered 2-to-1 by guards armed with stun guns.

Pentagon officials told ABCNEWS the prisoners might be sedated if necessary, and reports from a number of media outlets, including USA Today, said they would be chained to their seats, forced to use portable urinals and fed by their guards.

Since the war in Afghanistan began, al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners have staged bloody uprisings against their captors at least twice. In November, CIA operative Johnny "Mike" Spann became the first U.S. combat casualty in Afghanistan during a revolt near the city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

"There are among these prisoners people who are perfectly willing to kill themselves and kill other people," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters at a briefing at the Pentagon today. He added that those overseeing the transfer have been authorized to use "appropriate restraint."

Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said the detainees would be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention rules on prisoners.

The Pentagon said the United States is holding a total of 364 Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners. It was not clear how many of them would be brought to Guantanamo Bay. American John Walker was not on today's flight.

Detainees arriving at Guantanamo will be kept in temporary "outdoor cells" until a permanent detention facility is built.

Shortly after the plane took off, small arms fire erupted on the perimeter of the Forward Operating Base, but the aircraft was never in danger and never took evasive action, the U.S. Central Command said.