New York Times
June 14, 2005
Responding to calls by some Democrat and Republican lawmakers to shut down the American military prison at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, Vice President Dick Cheney today strongly defended the treatment and detention of prisoners there, saying that the detainees have been treated far better than by "any other government on the face of the Earth." He repeated his contention that the facility should not be closed because the United States needs a place to hold those captured in the war on terrorism.
"From the standpoint of safety and security of Americans, and American troops in combat, it seems to me we have an obligation to treat these individuals as we have been treating them, and that is as enemy combatants," Mr. Cheney said after presenting journalism awards at the National Press Club today in Washington. The vice president added that if there weren't a facility at Guantánamo, "we'd have to have it someplace else."
Administration officials are on the defensive regarding the detainment of prisoners at the United States Navy outpost in Cuba, deflecting suggestions by lawmakers that allegations of abuses at the prison are hurting America's image abroad and that the government should close the facility.
While both President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld have emphasized the need to hold and interrogate detainees captured during the war on terror, the president last week suggested that the administration would look at "all alternatives" for detaining suspected terrorists. Today, the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, reiterated that position.
"The president believes that we should always be looking at our options of how best to protect the American people," Mr. McClellan said. "And that means how to deal with detainees as well. We have a clear strategy moving forward, but we should never limit our options when it comes to protecting the American people and winning the war on terrorism."
Among the 68,000 detainees held since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, there have been about 370 criminal investigations into charges of misconduct involving detainees, Mr. McClellan said. There have been about 100 "substantiated charges of allegations of abuse," and about 100 people "have been held to account," he said.
In response to questions from reporters today, Mr. Cheney said that prisoners at the Guantánamo Bay facility - which an official of the human rights group Amnesty International recently called "the gulag of our time" - are well cared for and receive proper food, medical care and treatment. More than 200 have been released back to their home countries, he said, and of those released, about 10 or 12 have returned to the battle against the United States. Releasing the remaining prisoners would result in "putting a lot of bad guys back on the street to do exactly what they started to do in the first place," he said.
"Given the nature of the conflict that we're involved in," Mr. Cheney said, "there would need to be some kind of facility that would allow you to detain people who are enemy combatants, in effect, who if you put them back on the street will do their level best to return back to the battlefield and complete their mission of trying to kill Americans."
The vice president did not mention the Time magazine article this week that outlined the mistreatment of a Guantánamo prisoner named Mohammed al-Qahtani, who United States officials believe had planned to participate in the Sept. 11 attacks as the 20th hijacker. The article was based on an 84-page logbook of Mr. Al-Qahtani's interrogation and treatment, which was authenticated by a Pentagon spokesman, Larry DiRita. Time reported the interrogators used techniques that included making the detainee stand nude, depriving him of sleep, and making him urinate in his pants.
In his talk today, Mr. Cheney said the detainees at Guantánamo - currently about 540 suspected terrorists mostly captured during the war in Afghanistan - have been treated humanely. But he said they do not qualify for treatment under the Geneva Conventions because they are "unlawful combatants" who have not "operated in accordance with the laws of war" because they don't wear uniforms and have targeted civilians.
"The fact of the matter is we're engaged in a conflict that's been described as the war on terror, and it's unlike any conflict we've known before, " Mr. Cheney said. "We have from time to time captured individuals who were part of the Al Qaeda organization or the Taliban in Afghanistan, who were doing their level best to launch attacks to kill Americans, either on the battlefield or here in the United States."
The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to open hearings on Guantánamo military prison this week.