*EPF207 01/22/2002
Defense Department Report, January 22: Cuba, Afghanistan
(Detainees at Guantanamo treated humanely, Rumsfeld says) (490)

RUMSFELD DEFENDS TREATMENT OF DETAINEES AT GUANTANAMO BAY

The treatment which al-Qaida and Taliban detainees at Guantanamo Bay are receiving "is proper, it's humane, it's appropriate and it's fully consistent with international conventions," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asserted at a Pentagon briefing January 22.

Approximately "two short weeks after the activity began, the more than 150 detainees have warm showers; toiletries; water; clean clothes; blankets; regular, culturally appropriate meals; prayer mats and the right to practice their religion; modern medical attention ...; exercise; quarters ... eight-by-eight and seven-and-a-half feet high; writing materials; and visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross," Rumsfeld said.

Furthermore, he added, it should be kept in mind that the detainees are "extremely dangerous, particularly when being moved." That is why U.S. troops take extra precautions when moving the detainees, he said. Regardless of what the detainees' legal status is eventually determined to be, Rumsfeld said, they are being treated humanely in accord with the principles of the Geneva Conventions.

As for the open-ended period of detention those at Guantanamo face, Rumsfeld said, "[A]t some point they will either be charged or released. At the moment, it's been two weeks since they've been there. ... These people are committed terrorists. We are keeping them off the street and out of the airlines and out of nuclear power plants and out of ports across this country and across other countries. And it seems to me a perfectly reasonable thing to do."

Rumsfeld noted that some detainees have already been turned over to Pakistani authorities, and some to the interim Afghan authorities. "[M]y first choice would be for many of those [detainees] to end up back in their countries, to be processed through their systems, whatever they may be," he said.

"We undoubtedly will end up processing some through the criminal justice system. I wouldn't be surprised if we did some through the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and I suspect there will be some military commissions," Rumsfeld added.

RECENT AVIATION ACCIDENTS NOT A READINESS PROBLEM, GEN. PACE SAYS

The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace -- who briefed along with Rumsfeld -- said that recent aviation accidents are not a result of a decline in readiness due to overuse from combat operations. Rather, he said, they resulted from "very, very fine soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines doing their job to the best of their abilities in a very difficult environment."

As an example of the difficult conditions under which operations are taking place, Pace alluded to the helicopter crash that took place during landing in Afghanistan at night on unfamiliar terrain with the rotors causing a dust storm. Pace noted that not all of the investigations are complete yet, but that none of the crashes were caused by hostile fire.

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

Return to Public File Main Page

Return to Public Table of Contents