Rumsfeld address criticism on US detention centers
Regional-USA, Politics, 6/15/2005

The US secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld spoke yesterday to the criticism this week of the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

He said "In this new era, it became clear that prosecuting terrorists after they strike was an inadequate approach, particularly given the lethal threats posed by violent extremists."

He added "During the operations since September 11th, the military has apprehended thousands of enemy combatants, and several hundred were determined to be particularly dangerous and valuable from an intelligence perspective. There was no existing set of procedures or facilities to detain these enemies in Afghanistan or elsewhere. After extensive discussions with his senior advisers, the president decided that they were not entitled for formal prisoner of war status under the Geneva Conventions and that they were certainly not criminal defendants in the traditional law enforcement sense. Indeed, faced with this new situation, the president ordered that detained combatants be treated humanely under the laws of war. The detention facility at Guantanamo Bay was established for the simple reason that the United States needed a safe and secure location to detain and interrogate enemy combatants. It was the best option available."

He added "The Department of Defense, working through the National Security Council interagency process, established procedures that would provide appropriate legal process to these detainees, procedures that go beyond what is required even under the Geneva Conventions. These included combatant status review tribunals to confirm that, in fact, each individual is, in fact, an unlawful enemy combatant. Every detainee currently at Guantanamo has received such a hearing. As a result, some 38 individuals were released. Military commissions, trials with full representation by defense counsel for those suspected of committing war crimes. The commissions have been temporarily suspended pending further review by the U.S. federal court system."

Rumsfeld said "the armed combatants captured in Afghanistan and elsewhere represented something new to be dealt with -- neither criminals in the accepted understanding of the criminal justice system nor prisoners of war, since they did not wear uniforms as required under the Geneva Conventions and they deliberately targeted noncombatants."

Rumsfeld said "The real problem is not Guantanamo Bay." Rumsfeld said "The problem is that, to a large extent, we are in unexplored territory with this unconventional and complex struggle against extremism. Traditional doctrines covering criminals and military prisoners do not apply well enough."

Worth noting that the US has set up detention camps worldwide that have received criticism from human rights organizations in part because there have not been investigations and transparency into the operations and practices of such centers, where the US is in effect seen by some as the accuser, the judge and the jury against the detainees.

The problem of detainees saw its first exposure in US detention centers in Iraq in Abu Ghraib prison. Meantime, the Washington Post reported today that "Police and security units, forces led by Kurdish political parties and backed by the U.S. military, have abducted hundreds of minority Arabs and Turkmens in this intensely volatile city and spirited them to prisons in Kurdish-held northern Iraq, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials, government documents and families of the victims."

The Washington Post said "Seized off the streets of Kirkuk or in joint U.S.-Iraqi raids, the men have been transferred secretly and in violation of Iraqi law to prisons in the Kurdish cities of Irbil and Sulaymaniyah, sometimes with the knowledge of U.S. forces. The detainees, including merchants, members of tribal families and soldiers, have often remained missing for months; some have been tortured, according to released prisoners and the Kirkuk police chief."

Previous Stories:
  Washington Post: US government is exaggerating terrorism cases   (6/14/2005)
  White House comments on Guantanamo detention center   (6/14/2005)
  Rice will travel to Middle East, to Iraq conference in belgium   (6/14/2005)

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