Who Are the Victims at Gitmo?

June 12, 2006 -- -- While this weekend's first-ever suicides at Guantanamo have bolstered prison advocates' claims of desperation among detainees, recently released Pentagon documents say the guards at the camp have endured a consistent pattern of harassment and abuse by detainees as well.

Last week previously classifed incident reports filed by guards at Guantanamo were made public as part of a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the conservative Landmark Legal Foundation.

Filed over the past three years, the 367 reports describe altercations with inmates using feces, saliva, food utensils, among other things.

In one instance, a detainee struck a guard's hand with a utensil as the guard took away his meal. Afterward, the detainee motioned across his neck with his hand in a slicing motion and said, "I will kill you."

Another incident report details a detainee breaking a sink in his cell and throwing the pieces at guards.

There are also a few instances where in addition to punching unsuspecting guards, detainees have head-butted them as they entered their cells.

Col. Michael Bumgarner, who oversees the camp's guards, told Fox News that before the suicides detainees were driven by hate, not desperation.

"It's a strange thing; it'd take me hours to try to explain this to you. They hate us, they hate Americans. I see it every day. I see a look in their eyes that I cannot explain to you. It is a crazy look when you're dealing with them," he said.

What Next?

Over the weekend, Guantanamo's top commander Adm. Harry Harris noted the suicides had been coordinated and described them as acts of "asymmetrical warfare."

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack later backed away from such assertions. "I would not say that it was a PR stunt," he said.

Military officials have now limited access to bed sheets and towels, which the prisoners used to hang themselves with this weekend.

U.S. officials have consistently said they have no interest in being the world's jailer, but if Guantanamo were to be closed, Pentagon officials would find themselves in the tough situation of trying to determine what to do with the prisoners.

Some experts caution it could take one to two years to fully close the camp and move the prisoners to their next place of confinement.