01/24/2002

EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-09664

DETAINEES IN CUBA

The treatment of the more than one-hundred fifty al-Qaida and Taleban detainees at a recently built prison facility on the United States naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, "is proper, it’s humane, it’s appropriate, and it is fully consistent with international conventions." So said U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. "No detainee has been harmed," he said, "and no detainee has been mistreated in any way."

On the long flight from Afghanistan to Cuba, the detainees wore surgical masks to protect against the spread of such diseases as tuberculosis. They wore earmuffs to protect against engine noise from the military transport plane. The transfer to Cuba of additional al-Qaida and Taleban was suspended because there is at the moment no room for them.

As for charges that these prisoners are being abused, Mr. Rumsfeld said that "the numerous articles, statements, questions, allegations, and breathless reports on television are undoubtedly by people who are either uninformed, misinformed or poorly informed." The detainees are being treated in accordance with most of the provisions of the Geneva Convention.

These detainees were engaged in battle on behalf of al-Qaida or the Taleban and were captured. And as Mr. Rumsfeld put it, the reason they are being closely guarded is that the U-S prefers not to have "those people back out on the street to engage in further terrorist attacks. . . . They are being detained so they don’t do that." And they are being questioned about their knowledge of terrorist activities.

The detainees are housed in outdoor cells with roofs to protect them from the elements, although the weather is Cuba is generally mild and warm. The cells are approximately two and a half meters square. The detainees have warm showers, fresh drinking water, clean blankets, food conforming to Muslim law, and the right to practice their religion. Mr. Rumsfeld said that they also receive "modern medical attention far beyond anything they could have expected or received in Afghanistan." And they are visited by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

These detainees are extremely dangerous. At Mazar-e Sharif, as Mr. Rumsfeld pointed out, "the al-Qaida prisoners broke loose in a bloody uprising. They killed one American and they killed a number of Afghan troops, and some prisoners were carrying grenades under their clothing." At least one detainee at the Guantanamo facility has threatened to kill Americans. Another one bit a guard.

As Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said, "The important fact. . .is that the detainees are being treated humanely. They have been, they are being treated humanely today, and they will be in the future."