February 14, 2006

The Truth About Guantanamo

In 1996, Usama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaida organization declared war against the United States. This was not rhetoric. They proceeded to attack our embassies, our military vessels and military bases, our capital city, and our financial center. On September 11, 2001 Al-Qaida killed nearly three thousand people.

In response, the United States and a coalition of allies initiated action against Afghanistan where the Taliban regime had provided Al-Qaida facilities to train, equip, and organize military operations against the United States and other countries. The UN Security Council, in Resolution 1373, reaffirmed our right of self-defense in relation to the attacks of September 11.

During the military conflict in Afghanistan, approximately 10,000 enemy fighters were captured, screened or released. Some were Taliban soldiers and some were Al-Qaida fighters. Most were released in Afghanistan after they had been disarmed, and we determined they no longer posed a serious threat of returning to the fight. But more than 700 of these men were so dangerous that they could not be safely detained in Afghanistan. These individuals included terrorist trainers, bomb makers, recruiters and facilitators, terrorist financiers, bodyguards for Usama Bin Laden, and potential suicide bombers. These fighters were detained as enemy combatants at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo, Cuba.

The Third Geneva Convention provides certain protections for prisoners of war. It plainly does not apply to the Al-Qaeda terrorists, which is an international terrorist group, not a state, and therefore, not a party to the Convention. Al-Qaeda also neither recognizes the Convention nor complies with the Convention's standards of conduct. It conducts its operations in flagrant violation of the laws and customs of war, including by targeting innocent civilians. Also, Taliban fighters were determined to be unlawful combatants who did not qualify as prisoners of war under the Third Geneva Convention. Nevertheless, those detained by our armed forces at Guantanamo have in practice, as a matter or policy, been treated humanely and received many of the protections that the Third Convention affords.

For example, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has full, unfettered access to every detainee at Guantanamo Bay, just as it would have to prisoners of war. The ICRC meets with detainees in private to conduct interviews during regular and frequent visits to Guantanamo Bay.

The ICRC provides the United States with recommendations, and follows up to see whether they have been implemented. These recommendations are taken seriously by the United States, and many have been implemented. ICRC rules prevent us from disclosing their reports or recommendations, but we believe it fair to say that both parties are satisfied with the manner in which we are cooperating concerning Guantanamo.

Under the Geneva Conventions, a prisoner of war is entitled to challenge his status as a combatant. Detainees at Guantanamo are entitled to do so before a Combatant Status Review Tribunal created specifically for this purpose. Their detention status is reviewed at least once a year before an Administrative Review Board. Detainees have also had the ability - and many have done so - to pursue habeas corpus and other proceedings before U.S. federal courts. Their access to legal review actually goes far beyond what is in the Geneva Conventions.

Detainees at Guantanamo Bay receive three meals a day that meet their cultural dietary requirements. We also provide the detainees with copies of the Koran in their own language, as well as prayer beads and rugs, and symbols pointing in the direction of Mecca. The call to prayer is played over camp loudspeakers five times a day, and each is followed by 20 minutes of prayer time for all detainees. Detainees receive similar medical benefits to our own service members. During one six-month period last year, detainees sent or received more than 14,000 pieces of mail to maintain contact with their families.

Detainees, like prisoners of war, have a right to be free from torture or abuse. The United States has been clear in describing its position on torture: U.S. criminal law and treaty obligations prohibit torture anywhere. We have also stated that as a matter of policy that we will not authorize interrogations involving cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, as defined by our obligations under the Torture Convention, regardless of where those interrogations may occur. Recent U.S. legislation codified this policy. In the instances of unlawful treatment of detainees, the United States has vigorously investigated, prosecuted and taken action against those responsible. To date, more than 100 U.S. service members have been held accountable.

The United States has no interest in maintaining enemy fighters in military detention any longer than is necessary, and approximately 250 detainees have already have been released or transferred from Guantanamo.

Unfortunately, of those already released from Guantanamo Bay, approximately fifteen have returned to acts of terror and been recaptured. Those who remain detained in Guantanamo remain for the same reason captured soldiers in any war are kept in confinement until hostilities are over - to prevent their return to battle. Indeed, many of the detainees at Guantanamo have expressed an intention to return to the fight if released, and have threatened future kidnappings, executions and beheadings. This is why we continue to hold them. Specific examples of persons still held in Guantanamo include an Al-Qaida explosives trainer, a member of a terrorist cell in Afghanistan that orchestrated a grenade attack on a journalist's car, and Al-Qaida members who designed a prototype shoe bomb for destroying airplanes and a magnetic mine for attacking ships.

What is the alternative? Some have argued that these terrorists are entitled to regular domestic criminal trials rather than to treatment like prisoners of war, and that if they are not convicted of a crime, they should be released. This argument stands international law on its head: it would afford combatants who don't follow the rules better treatment than those who do. Must police inspectors accompany soldiers on the battlefield to collect evidence to avoid the release of enemies who would go back to the fight?

The truth about Guantanamo Bay is that it is the best option we presently have to protect the citizens of the United States and of other nations targeted by these terrorists. Some countries live in the hope that others will make the world a safer place. As a principal target of Al-Qaida's attacks, the United States does not have this luxury. Until terrorists stop planning and carrying out abominable attacks, no responsible government would release them to go back and try again.