23 January 2002

American Center Attackers Need to Be Brought to Justice

The U.S. government hopes that the perpetrators of an attack on the American Center in Calcutta, India January 22 where four Calcutta policemen were killed will be identified and brought to justice, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said at his regular briefing in Washington January 23.

Concerning the prisoners captured in Afghanistan and detained at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo, Cuba, Boucher said the prisoners are being treated humanely and in accordance with international conventions.

Following are excerpts from Boucher's January 23 briefing with his comments about South Asia:

Question: Could you take another swing at the cultural center attack. In this respect, reports from India have gone up and down on terrorism. At the moment, they seem to be easing away from terrorism accusations, and as you will recall, of course, what you said yesterday, do you have anything?

Mr. Boucher: No, and I think that's probably a reflection of the fact that the investigation is continuing. The Indian authorities are continuing to investigate this attack yesterday on the American Center in Calcutta. Four Calcutta policemen were indeed murdered, and we want to cooperate fully with the investigation.

But at this point, it has not been established who is responsible or what the motives were. It's clear that four men have been murdered, others wounded, in what was a cold-blooded attack. We would hope that the perpetrators are identified and brought to justice.

.....

Question: Okay, I have another one. Can you talk about any criticism from US European allies about the treatment of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay and whether they should be treated as prisoners of war?

Mr. Boucher: I don't know that there is anything particular to say about some of the commentary out there. I have seen, frankly, quite a difference between some of the press commentary and some of the public polling; for example, if you look at what the Daily Mirror did over the last couple days.

But I don't think that is really the criteria for US policy. The US policy, as explained by Secretary Rumsfeld yesterday for a considerable length of time, is that these individuals will be treated humanely, are being treated humanely, and are being treated fully in accord with the international conventions. They get three square meals a day that are appropriate to the Muslim diet. They have opportunities to shower, to exercise, to get all appropriate medical attention, and they are being treated humanely within requirements to ensure security down there.

Question: Has the Secretary been getting any specific calls from European leaders to talk about this?

Mr. Boucher: I think it has come up in his discussions with European leaders, in his discussions or communications with European leaders, and we have conveyed as much information as we can to other governments. As you know, the British had a team down there visiting. I'll leave it for them to characterize their impressions of it, but I think they have talked and have basically confirmed what I have said, that these people are being treated humanely.

Question: Is the US going to be willing to admit teams of any other countries, perhaps the Germans?

Mr. Boucher: I think that will depend. That will depend on the circumstances. I'm not aware that any other visits have been arranged at this moment, but there may be.

Question: Richard, notwithstanding your defense and Secretary Rumsfeld's defense of the conditions down there, you have in fact received formal complaints about their treatment, haven't you?

Mr. Boucher: Formal complaints? I don't know. We have heard --

Question: Well, at a level below the Secretary. I mean, you know, a foreign minister bringing it up in a conversation with the Secretary, although it is high level, is a little bit different than a written diplomatic note or something like that.

Mr. Boucher: I would have to check and see if we have gotten any formal diplomatic notes on this. Clearly we have talked to governments, a variety of governments who have nationals who are down there at Guantanamo. We have certainly tried to share information back and forth to find out about these individuals and what they might be involved in in more specificity than what we know already.

So we are in touch with other governments, but whether we have received something formal from somebody other than inquiries, I would have to check.

Question: Do you know what nationalities are represented? What nationalities are represented down at --

Mr. Boucher: That's not a question I can answer for you.

Question: It's not? Why not?

Mr. Boucher: We just haven't been putting out lists of the nationalities.