US denies Guantanamo detainee torture accusations
( 2002-01-23 11:49 ) ()

Detainees in orange jumpsuits sit in a holding area under the watchful eyes of Military Police at Camp X-Ray at Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during in-processing to the temporary detention facility on January 11, 2002. [Reuters]

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld gave his longest briefing of the Afghan campaign on Tuesday, defending the treatment of detainees at a US naval base in Cuba from critics he called "undoubtedly ... uninformed, misinformed, or poorly informed."

Rumsfeld took the unprecedented step of starting the briefing by saying he would talk as long as it took to clear the air about the treatment of the captives, but more than an hour and 10 minutes later, he cut the questioning off. Only a handful of questions dealt with anything other than how the al Qaeda and Taliban fighters were being handled.

"The allegations that have been made by many from comfortable distance that the men and women in the US armed forces are somehow not properly treating the detainees under their charge are just plain false," Rumsfeld said.

"Let there be no doubt, the treatment of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay is proper, it's humane, it's appropriate, and it is fully consistent with international conventions. No detainee has been harmed. No detainee has been mistreated in any way," he said in his opening remarks.

He did not shift from that tone as reporters questioned the detainees' legal status, the appropriateness of cells without walls in the tropical climate, journalists' access to the detention center and whether so-called American al Qaeda John Walker would get the same treatment as non-Americans.

Also Tuesday, Walker, the young California man captured alongside al Qaeda troops, was loaded onto an airplane today for the long flight back to the United States. Earlier Tuesday, Walker was flown from the amphibious attack ship USS Bataan in the Arabian Sea, where he had been held for some weeks, to the US air base in Kandahar, Afghanistan. At the Kandahar base, he was transferred to a C-17 transport plane bound for the United States.

He faces criminal prosecution on a number of charges that, if he is convicted, could see him in prison for life.

Walker is expected to be prosecuted at the same federal district court in Northern Virginia where Frenchman Zacarias Moussaoui is awaiting trial for alleged complicity in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Walker, 20, was found among prisoners at Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan who staged the bloody uprising in which CIA operative Johnny "Mike" Spann was killed.

Walker was the last prisoner to leave the Bataan, which was used initially to confine higher-level Taliban and al Qaeda suspects. Because he is a US citizen, he will not be taken to the US naval base in Cuba with other prisoners.

Legal Questions

The handling of the detainees has drawn criticism both domestically and around the world, despite repeated assertions by the US government that they are being treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention.

A group of Los Angeles clergy, journalism professors and civil rights attorneys, including former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, presented a petition to a federal judge in Los Angeles Tuesday, demanding that the government define the charges against the detainees.

US District Judge A. Howard Matz did not rule on the petition, which demanded the federal government charge the men in a US civilian court. He said he had "grave doubts" about whether he had jurisdiction over the captives.

He gave federal prosecutors until Jan. 31 to file papers calling for dismissal of the petition on jurisdictional grounds and said he will hold another hearing Feb. 14. Federal attorneys said they would file for dismissal of the case.

Rumsfeld said that whatever charges might be filed against the men was something "for the lawyers," not the Defense Department. His concern, he said was more basic.

"The reality is that they have been charged with something," Rumsfeld said. "They have been found to be engaging in battle on behalf of the al Qaeda or the Taliban and have been captured. And we have decided as a country that we'd prefer not to be attacked and lose thousands of lives here in the United States and that having those people back out on the street to engage in further terrorist attacks is not our first choice.

"They are being detained so they don't do that. That is what they were about. That is why they were captured, and that is why they're detained," he said.

Afghan Unrest

The defense secretary said he did not have specific information about reports that southern Afghan tribal leaders have decided to send troops to Helmand province to drive out what they say are hostile fighters backed by Iran, but said Afghanistan's western neighbor has long had influence in parts of the country.

The report indicates that the challenges to the stability of the interim government could be more threatening even than the widespread poverty, food shortages, destroyed infrastructure and lack of funds the leaders face.

"The scope and timing of the operation in Helmand province will be considered by the Kandahar military shura [council] tonight or tomorrow," Abdul Ali, head of the office of information and culture in southern Kandahar, told reporters Tuesday.

However, Ali denied that another massive force had gathered to attack the Herat province governor, Ismail Khan. Kandahar intelligence service chief Haji Gullalai said on Monday that 20,000 troops were ready to attack Khan.

"It makes no sense to launch an operation in Herat to the north before clearing up (neighboring) Helmand province to the west," Ali said.

Though Ali blamed the unrest in western Afghanistan on direct Iranian involvement with tribal leaders in the region, an official in Herat said talks were under way with officials in Kandahar to try to ease the tension and dismissed the idea that Iran was playing any role in the country.

Concern Over Detainees Allayed

Even before Rumsfeld's defense, the British government backed off concerns over conditions at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba, saying the three British nationals being held there had no complaints.

"They are all in good physical health. During lengthy discussions they spoke without inhibition," said Ben Bradshaw of the British Foreign Office. "None complained of any ill treatment."

British officials said the photographs that prompted much of the criticism - showing the prisoners wearing earmuffs, face masks and darkened goggles - were taken upon arrival, and did not reflect daily conditions at the facility.

"There were no gags, no goggles, no ear muffs, no shackles while the detainees are in their cells," the Times of London quoted a government spokesman as saying. "They only wear shackles - and only shackles - when they are outside their cells."

However, a chorus of critics, including the International Red Cross and Germany's foreign minister, says the United States should reclassify the "unlawful combatants" as "prisoners of war," which would assure them of more rights under the Geneva Convention.

The United States refuses to do that, arguing these are fighters from a terrorist organization, not a country - but the counter-charge is that some of the prisoners did fight for the Taliban, which was the government of Afghanistan, although the regime was never recognized by more than a few nations.

Sean Murphy, a professor at the George Washington University Law School, said he doesn't think the terrorist argument holds water. "If that's the case, then I think we've gone down a road that's inappropriate and illegal and may come back to bite us in future conflicts where our military forces are at stake," he said.

In addition, the Red Cross says the United States may have also violated the Geneva Convention by releasing the photograph of the prisoners.

Reports say the prisoners are being given three meals per day, prepared in accordance with Islamic law if requested, and as much water as they need. They are also given time for prayer and a sign indicating the direction to the holy city of Mecca has been provided.

Officials say many of the detainees being brought to Cuba in the coming days, including some who may arrive on stretchers, are wounded and will have access to better medical care than they would receive at the US detention facility in Kandahar.

Special Forces Raid Afghan Village, Four Nabbed

In other developments:

**US special forces raided a village near the Afghan city of Khost and detained four people, according to Afghan sources. US troops have continued to hunt down suspected Taliban and al Qaeda fugitives throughout the country. The raid Monday took place in the area south of Kabul where Army Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Ross Chapman was killed Jan. 4 in an ambush.

**An American training team is due in Yemen to train Yemeni anti-terror forces, reported the English-language Yemen Observer, quoting an unnamed "informed source." According to another report in the paper, Yemen has increased funding for anti-terror operations. The paper also reported that the case of the attackers of the USS Cole, which it said had been stalled at the request of the US government, was being moved forward by the prosecutor-general. Yemeni lawyers and human rights groups considered the delay a violation of Yemeni law, the Observer said.

** New allegations tie shoe-bomb suspect Richard Reid to a larger terrorist network. A French journalist says Reid sent e-mails in the days prior to boarding a Paris to Miami flight in late December in which he allegedly claimed direct responsibility for destroying an airplane and said he would be a "martyr for the Islamic cause."

** A memorial service was held in Kandahar for two US Marines killed Saturday in a helicopter crash.

** At a meeting in Tokyo, delegates from dozens of nations pledged US$4.5 billion in support for war-ravaged Afghanistan , including US$300 million from the United States. Washington has also pledged US$400 million in humanitarian aid.