Rumsfeld says detainees treatment is transparent and up to standards

US Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and Air Force General Richard Myers held a conference yesterday in which Rumsfeld said "no force in the world has done more to liberate people that they have never met than the men and women of the United States military. Indeed, that's why the recent allegation that the U.S. military is running a gulag at Guantanamo Bay is so reprehensible. Most would define a gulag as where the Soviet Union kept millions in forced labor concentration camps, or I suppose some might say that -- where Saddam Hussein mutilated and murdered untold numbers because they held views unacceptable to his regime. To compare the United States and Guantanamo Bay to such atrocities cannot be excused.

"Free societies depend on oversight, and they welcome informed criticism, particularly on human rights issues. But those who make such outlandish charges lose any claim to objectivity or seriousness. The Washington Post, to its credit, rejected the comparison between Guantanamo and a gulag in a recent editorial.

"Unfortunately, efforts to bring the detainee issue into proper context have been somewhat rare. Two of the country's largest newspapers, for example, have devoted more than 80 editorials, combined, since March of 2004 to Abu Ghraib and detainee issues, often repeating the same erroneous assertions and recycling the same stories. By comparison, precious little has been written about -- by those editorial boards about the beheading of innocent civilians by terrorists, the thousands of bodies found in mass graves in Iraq, the allegations of rape of women and girls by U.N. workers in the Congo.

"Yes, there have been instances where detainees have been mistreated while in U.S. custody, sometimes grievously.

"But consider these facts. To date, there have been approximately 370 criminal investigations into the charges of misconduct involving detainees. Out of 68,000 detainees that have been in U.S. custody over the period since September 11th. And of some 525,000 service members, men and women of the various services who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in Guantanamo Bay, less than one-tenth of 1 percent have been found to have committed illegal acts against detainees.

"It's also important to remember that the people being detained at Guantanamo are, with good reasons, suspected terrorists. Many, if not most, have been systematically trained to lie and to claim torture. At least a dozen of the 200 already released from GITMO have already been caught back on the battlefield, involved in efforts to kidnap and kill Americans.

"Much was made recently of a news story falsely accusing service members of flushing a Quran down the toilet. But little has been said about the great lengths that the military go to at Guantanamo Bay to accommodate the religious practices of detainees in their care. There are specific instructions as to how those involved in the custody of detainees should handle themselves with respect to religious matters. Special meals are provided to meet cultural dietary requirements. Schedules are respectful of prayer. Indications of the direction to pray are provided. Detailed guidelines are provided to the service people as to the -- which govern the handling of the Quran."

Rumsfeld was asked:

Question: Can I take it back to your opening statements? What do you -- what would you say to the idea that's been talked about in the press that the White House decision not to apply the Geneva Conventions to the global war on terror -- I'm not talking about Iraq -- has opened up a Pandora's box? Because it puts the Defense Department in particular from a starting point where -- if it had been under Geneva Conventions -- that human rights were paramount, and the opposite assumption is true then if Geneva Conventions are not applied; that you're sort of starting out behind the 8-ball?

Rumsfeld: Well, I think -- personally think that's a stretch in this sense: when the White House made that decision -- which they made and announced -- they made it with the conviction that it would have been wrong to have treated people as a organized military; because they didn't have uniforms, they didn't carry weapons publicly.

They were -- made a practice of killing innocent civilians, and that to accord them the same arrangement under the Geneva Convention as qualified militaries would have diminished the value of the Geneva Convention.

Second, when the president and the White House made the announcement, it was very explicit that detainees were to be treated humanely. He said it. I said it. It was communicated directly. And the implication that because you characterize them -- correctly, in my view, the White House did -- that that means that you should not treat them in a humane way is simply not an accurate characterization.

Question: But it seems to me this is maybe a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you talk about the treatment and the application of Geneva Convention to the prisoners. Then, on the other hand, you have the Geneva Convention's effects on the U.S. military and that it's always reflected honor on the military. And I wonder if taking that out, the military's been put into a position where they have to sort prove themselves double.

Rumsfeld: I don't know. Do you --

Myers: I'm not sure where --

Rumsfeld:I don't know quite how to respond.

Question:Is it... was it --

Myers: But you know, you're always concerned about how your own military is going to be treated, and that is why, despite the atrocious behavior and the savage behavior of this particular adversary, the U.S. military has conducted itself in accordance with Geneva Conventions, in accordance with the laws of warfare. And we've worked that very hard. I mean, going back to Afghanistan but certainly major combat in Iraq -- I mean, there's never been a more humane -- if there's -- if you can put "humane" right next to "war," as -- there's never been a more humane war, as we looked and tried to manage the impact on the civilian population. And that continues today. I mean, that's how they have to operate and --

Rumsfeld: And Iraq has always been under the Geneva Conventions, because it was a war against a country and the Geneva Conventions applied from the outset. Obviously, what took place on one shift in Abu Ghraib -- not the shift before, not the shift after, but on one shift -- what took place was not consistent with the Geneva Convention. And as a result, dozens of people have been prosecuted and are being punished, as they should be.

Question: Have you considered moving the GITMO -- the terrorist prison in Cuba to America, given the criticism and given the Supreme Court decision that says there is some review there? Have you ever considered that?

Rumsfeld: I haven't, no.

Question: Would it have given any advantages of some transparency or better oversight or --

Rumsfeld: Oh, my goodness. There's so much transparency in Gitmo and so much oversight. The reforms that --

Question: There are arguments that's outside the --

Rumsfeld: Let me finish answering your question. There have been so many reforms instituted -- and the list is available from Mr. Di Rita -- in the Army, in the Navy, in the Air Force, in the Department of Defense. And the oversight and the attention that's given to what's taking place at Gitmo is expensive. And the implication that it's a gulag is what's wrong, not what's going on at Gitmo.

(end of excerpt from the press conference)

Rumsfeld said regarding the newly instituted "standard operating procedures " that the military forces have to abide by to pretect how soldiers and interrogators act "Copies of these instructions have been publicly available, but they have received comparatively little media attention. I have not yet seen a complete printing of those instructions in any journal. This lack of media attention to U.S. policy guidance to treat detainees humanely creates misperceptions." US Senator John McCain told CNN in a report on Sunday that it is true that the military had instituted "standard operating procedures." But when Senator McCain inquired from the Pentagon if these procedures were ordered on the other branches of government (CIA, etc.), the Pentagon did not answer back, and McCain indicated that he was still wainting for an answer about this issue.

Perhaps relevant to all this is to note that the US has not allowed access to its detention centers to human rights organizations, and up till a couple of days ago, there were no indications that these detainees are allowed access to lawyers or any due process in law.

A historic note: Many US soldiers that were captured in the Word Word II by Japanese, and later by the Vietnamese were severely mistreated and forced to make, what these US soldiers considered as, "false confessions."