United States President George Bush acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday the existence of a secret CIA prison network, and said the mastermind of the September 11 2001 terror attacks and other high-value detainees had been transferred to Guantánamo Bay.
In a robust defence of the detention regime that has brought condemnation around the world, the Bush said Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the al-Qaeda operative believed to have plotted the attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon, and 13 other terror suspects had been brought to Guantánamo and would be brought to trial.
Administration officials later said there were no more prisoners in the CIA’s secret detention system. However, the programme has not been shut down. Instead, Bush’s disclosure was intended to put pressure on Congress to support draft legislation put forward by the White House on Wednesday for a system of military tribunals for the Guantánamo detainees.
The US supreme court struck down the military tribunals established by the administration for the 450 inmates at Guantánamo last June, ruling that they had no basis in US law and violated the Geneva Convention.
The president’s account on Wednesday of the CIA interrogation and detention of Mohammed and other suspects also appeared designed to enshrine national security as a core issue of November’s congressional elections.
While Bush refused to give details of interrogation methods, he said the CIA resorted to an ”alternative set of procedures” when confronted with resistance from one of the men in its custody, the senior al-Qaeda leader, Abu Zubaydah. ”The procedures were tough and they were safe, lawful and necessary,” he said.
That interrogation and the detention of Ramzi Binalshibh, a would-be hijacker, and Hambali, the suspected architect of the Bali bombings, had been invaluable in the war on terror, he said. ”It has been necessary to move these individuals to an environment where they can be held in secret, questioned by experts and, when appropriate, prosecuted for terrorist acts.”
The announcement that the 14 prisoners would be moved from CIA prisons to Guantánamo frustrates hopes that the Cuba detention camp detainees, who have been held for five years without trial, would earn early release and the prison would be shut down. The president has said in the face of international criticism he would like to see its eventual closure.
On Wednesday, however, Bush made no mention of a possible closure of Guantánamo and focused his energies on reviving the White House vision of military tribunals for the detainees. The draft legislation put forward by the White House yesterday was expected to face opposition from senators who want to guarantee detainees the right to see all evidence against them. The commissions, as originally established by the White House, do not give suspects the right to attend legal hearings, or to hear evidence against them.
Also on Wednesday, the Pentagon released the army’s new interrogation field manual barring such methods as mock executions, sexual humiliation, hooding prisoners and ”waterboarding”. – Guardian Unlimited Â