US Taxpayers Taking A Hit For $40 Million Communications Link Between American Torture Prison In Cuba And United States

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will be getting an estimated $40 million communications upgrade, signaling it will continue its mission of holding top suspected terrorists and as a major humanitarian aid base in the region.

The base, also known as Gitmo, will upgrade its limited satellite communications system to an underwater fiber optic line that will stretch from the base to the coast of Florida, according to Pentagon spokesman Army Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale.

The United States has alerted the Cuban government that it intends on starting the project this summer with a survey ship operating off the eastern coast of the country evaluating the expected route, but actual work of installing the cable will being within a couple of years.

The outdated satellite communications system was overburdened with the military court hearing the cases of the top 9/11 plotters and other war-on-terrorism suspects, as well as the ongoing detention operations.

Upgrading to a fiber optic line allows much more bandwidth and a more secure line during bad weather that can hamper satellite communications, according to Breasseale.

While close to the United States, the base is still remote in southeastern Cuba, and is often in the path of severe weather. It generally houses about 6,000 troops and civilians.

“The project will bring the base online with communication technology equal to that of the Department of Defense footprint around the world,” Breasseale said.

While the 45-square-mile base has become well known for holding terrorism suspects since early 2002, the base has been controlled by the United States for over 100 years, though its role has shrunk considerably over the decades.

But the United States also uses it as a major contingency base for humanitarian aid operations, most recently using it as a staging ground to bring relief into earthquake-stricken Haiti in 2010. In the 1990s the base was also used to house refugees from Haitian political unrest.

With large swaths of open land, the base is prepared to take on thousands who could be housed in tents, according to Breasseale.

“The need for humanitarian aid is not going away, and this base is needed for that,” Breasseale said.

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Texas Gives Special No Death Penalty Deal To Notorious Serial Killer – Killed Newlywed Couple And Hitchhikers Across US – Had Torture Chamber In Back Of His Truck – Averaged 3 Kills A Month In 1990′s

TEXAS – A serial killer who set up a torture chamber in his truck and kidnapped mostly female hitchhikers across the United States has admitted murdering a newlywed couple in Texas, according to reports.

Robert Ben Rhoades — already serving a life sentence for the death of a 14-year-old girl in Illinois — this week pleaded guilty in West Texas to killing Patricia Candace Walsh and her husband Scott Zyskowski, both in their 20s, the Deseret News reported.

Prosecutors had agreed not to seek the death penalty in exchange for the pleas and Rhoades, 65, was given two life sentences, the News said.

The paper said Rhoades, a long-haul truck driver, was the subject of the book “Roadside Prey” by Alva Busch.

In his cab was “a type of dungeon with handcuffs on the ceiling,” the News reported. In 1996, the Tucson Weekly, citing officials, said it was believed that Rhoades had been killing an average of three women a month by the early 1990s.

The Associated Press reported the couple, from Seattle, were hitchhiking to Georgia to preach the Christian gospel, when they took a ride from Rhoades near El Paso, Texas in early 1990.

FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said investigations concerning Rhoades were continuing.

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