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Bush Acknowledges Secret CIA Prisons

Bush Transfers 14 Key Terrorist Leaders From Secret CIA Custody to Guantanamo to

Face Trial

By NEDRA PICKLER

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Wednesday acknowledged previously secret CIA

prisons around the world and said 14 high-value terrorism suspects including the

mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks have been transferred from the system to

Guantanamo Bay for trials.

 

 

 

Globe and Mail, Page A22, 08-Sep-2006

Bush's cynical decision to flout the rule of law

By Editorial

 

U.S. President George W. Bush did more than make a startling admission this week

when he confirmed the existence of clandestine prisons operated on foreign soil

by the CIA. He boasted about it. In the name of fighting global terrorism, Mr.

Bush authorized the detention and interrogation of dozens of top terror suspects

through what he euphemistically labelled " an alternative set of procedures. "

Even for an administration that lives by the belief that the ends justify the

means, this goes beyond the pale.

 

What makes the actions of the Bush administration particularly appalling is the

utter cynicism in choosing illegal methods when legal ones were at its disposal.

Earlier, leaks to the media forced the administration to acknowledge an illicit

program of widespread electronic surveillance of U.S. citizens. The government

already had the right to order all the snooping it wanted with the approval of a

special court set up for the purpose. Yet it chose to bypass this small legal

hurdle. The government also has wide latitude to arrest, interrogate and try

people believed to have plotted or committed acts of terrorism, provided the

procedures meet the standards set by the U.S. Constitution and the Geneva

Conventions. This was not the case in the prolonged detention of suspects in

secret prisons that were deliberately isolated from international rights

monitors.

 

Mr. Bush denied that torture was used in these prisons, but refused to say what

other methods were employed to extract information. He thinks it is enough for

Americans to know that the illegal detentions saved innocent lives in the United

States and Europe. " Information from terrorists in CIA custody has played a role

in the capture or questioning of nearly every senior al-Qaeda member or

associate detained by the U.S. and its allies since this program began. By

providing everything from initial leads to photo identifications, to precise

locations of where terrorists were hiding, this program has helped us to take

potential mass murderers off the street before they are able to kill. "

 

That may well be true. But we will never know if legal methods would have

produced the same result, because the administration did not bother to test

them. Now, Mr. Bush wants Congress to do what the U.S. courts have refused - to

give him the authority to treat, question and try suspects the way he wants,

without allowing them recourse to normal constitutional safeguards. What he

wants are trials by military commissions, where hearsay evidence could be

admitted and which the U.S. Supreme Court previously declared unconstitutional.

 

His reason for revealing the secret operation now after stonewalling for months,

and for announcing that 14 of the highest-profile detainees have been

transferred to Guantanamo Bay to face charges? Next week is the fifth

anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, which evokes plenty of emotion. By

touting himself as the great defender of U.S. freedom from further attacks, he

is seeking to put his political opponents in the awkward position of seeming to

coddle the United States' worst enemies - he even invoked memories of Hitler and

Lenin - if they deny him the authority he claims he needs. It also has the added

political advantage in an election year of diverting attention from the

administration's failures in Iraq, and its disastrous fiscal performance.

Congress should reject Mr. Bush's blatant exercise in political cynicism.

 

 

 

 

He said a small number of detainees have been kept in CIA custody including

people responsible for the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 in Yemen and the 1998

attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, in addition to the 2001

attacks.

 

" It has been necessary to move these individuals to an environment where they

can be held secretly, questioned by experts and, when appropriate, prosecuted

for terrorist acts, " Bush said in a White House speech. Families of some people

killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks made up part of the audience.

 

Bush said of the suspects: " These are dangerous men, with unparalleled knowledge

about terrorist networks and their plans of new attacks. The security of our

nation and the lives of our citizens depend on our ability to learn what these

terrorists know. "

 

The announcement from Bush was the first time the administration had

acknowledged the existence of CIA prisons, which have been a source of friction

between Washington and some allies in Europe. The administration has come under

criticism for its treatment of terrorism detainees. European Union lawmakers

said the CIA was conducting clandestine flights in Europe to take terror

suspects to countries where they could face torture.

 

" Today the administration finally recognized that the protections of the Geneva

Convention should be applied to prisoners in order to restore our moral

authority and best protect American troops, " said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

" Today's shift in policy follows the sad legacy of five years during which this

administration abused our Constitution, violated our laws and most importantly

failed to make America safe. "

 

Bush has sought with a series of speeches to sharpen the focus on national

security two months before high-stakes congressional elections.

 

The president successfully emphasized the war on terror in his re-election

campaign in 2004 and is trying to make it a winning issue for Republicans again

this year.

 

Bush said the CIA program has involved such suspected terrorists as Khalid Sheik

Mohammed, believed to be the No. 3 al-Qaida leader before he was captured in

Pakistan in 2003; Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged would-be Sept. 11 hijacker; Abu

Zubaydah, who was believed to be a link between Osama bin Laden and many

al-Qaida cells before he was captured in Pakistan in 2002.

 

The list also includes Riduan Isamuddin, known as Hambali, who was suspected of

being the mastermind of a string of deadly bomb attacks in Indonesia until his

2003 arrest in Thailand.

 

Defending the prison program, the president said the questioning of these

detainees has provided critical intelligence information about terrorist

activities that has enabled officials to prevent attacks, including with

airplanes, within the United States. Other attacks thwarted through intelligence

gathered in the program include a planned strike with an explosives-laden water

tanker on U.S. Marines at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti, an attack with car and

motorcycle bombs on the U.S. consulate in Karachi, and a plot to fly passenger

planes into London's Heathrow Airport or Canary Wharf, Bush said.

 

Bush would not detail interrogation techniques used through the program, saying

only that they are tough but do not constitute torture. He did use language that

suggested its nature, saying the CIA turned to an " alternative set of

procedures " that were successful after Zubaydah and others had stopped providing

information.

 

" This program has helped us to take potential mass murderers off the streets

before they have a chance to kill, " the president said.

 

A senior administration official said that fewer than 100 people have been

detained under the CIA program, rejecting allegations that perhaps thousands

have been held in secret prisons. With the transfer of the 14 detainees to

Guantanamo, the CIA is no longer holding any suspects, the administration

official said. He added, however, that the administration wants the program to

continue.

 

The president said the 14 key terrorist leaders, including Mohammed, Binalshibh,

and Zubaydah, who have been transferred to the U.S. military-run prison at

Guantanamo Bay would be afforded some legal protections consistent with the

Geneva Conventions.

 

" They will continue to be treated with the humanity that they denied others, "

Bush said.

 

Bush also laid out his proposal for how trials of such key suspected terrorists

those transferred to Guantanamo and already there should be conducted, which

must be approved by Congress. Bush's original plan for the type of military

trials used in the aftermath of World War II was struck down in June by the

Supreme Court, which said the tribunals would violate U.S. and international

law.

 

" As soon as Congress acts to authorize the military commissions I have proposed,

the men our intelligence officials believe orchestrated the deaths of nearly

3,000 Americans on Sept. 11, 2001, can face justice, " the president said.

 

Aides said the legislation being introduced on Bush's behalf later Wednesday on

Capitol Hill insists on provisions covering military tribunals that would permit

evidence to be withheld from a defendant if necessary to protect classified

information.

 

As part of the package, Bush asked Congress to shield from prosecution or

lawsuits federal personnel who handle terrorist suspects.

 

" Passing this legislation ought to be the top priority, " Bush said.

 

Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham have drafted a rival proposal.

It would guarantee certain legal rights to defendants, including access to all

evidence used against them.

 

" I think it's important that we stand by 200 years of legal precedents

concerning classified information because the defendant should have a right to

know what evidence is being used, " said McCain, R-Ariz.

 

Administration officials also have said that allowing coerced testimony in some

cases may be necessary, while McCain said the committee bill would ban it

entirely. " We have some differences that we are in discussion about, " said

McCain, who had not seen the White House bill in writing.

 

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., is expected to side with the

administration. He planned to introduce Wednesday the White House legislative

proposal on the floor and refer it to the Armed Services Committee for review.

 

Also on Wednesday, the Pentagon put out a new Army field manual that spells out

appropriate conduct on issues including prisoner interrogation. The manual

applies to all the armed services, but not the CIA.

 

It bans torture and degrading treatment of prisoners, for the first time

specifically mentioning forced nakedness, hooding and other procedures that have

become infamous during the war on terror.

 

The United States began using the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in eastern Cuba in

January 2002 to hold people suspected of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban. About

445 detainees remain there, including 115 considered eligible for transfer or

release.

 

The president said he eventually wants to close Guantanamo as critics and allies

around the world have urged. But he said that cannot happen until Congress

creates the process for trying its most dangerous prisoners, and other countries

negotiate acceptable terms for taking back their citizens who are being held

there.

 

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.

 

 

 

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