More prisoners arrive in Cuba

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- Marines equipped with machine guns, grenade launchers, pepper spray and batons rushed to greet a transport plane delivering 34 more detainees from Afghanistan on Saturday.

Gearing up for their mission, some of the young members of the Marines' Quick Reaction Force jammed to the hit Queen song "We Will Rock You" as a ferry carried them across the bay toward the airfield at this remote U.S. Navy base.

"I enjoy getting my hands on them," said Michael Pfadenhauer, a 22-year-old from Baltimore who was among Marines on guard when the C-141 cargo plane arrived. "These are the actual people who are responsible for the destruction in New York and Washington. ... It feels good to see them inside their little cages," he said.

The fresh arrivals came two days after Washington announced that the Geneva Convention should apply to detainees from the ousted Afghan Taliban regime, but not to detainees of al-Qaida.

Regardless of the legal distinction, Brig. Gen. Mike Lehnert, the Marine in charge of the detention mission, said both groups would be treated the same -- humanely. He said they may be separated later if Congress gives approval to build a semi-permanent prison.

"We have a group that claims status as Taliban. There is a smaller number that we've confirmed through other sources who are al-Qaida," Lehnert told reporters Saturday. Of the other detainees, "All we can say for certain is that none of them are on our side."