Los Angeles Times And Associated Press
WASHINGTON – Rising to counter mounting criticism after months of favorable world opinion, U.S. officials on Tuesday forcefully denied that al-Qaida suspects are being treated inhumanely at a makeshift prison in Cuba.
Critics ranging from members of British Parliament to U.S. civil rights groups have accused the United States in the last few days of mistreating the detainees, who are being held in 8-foot-by-8-foot wire cages, and said they should be turned over to legal rather than military authorities.
In Los Angeles, meanwhile, the military cleared a hurdle Tuesday when a federal judge expressed “grave doubts” about whether he has jurisdiction to act on a lawsuit challenging the detention of the suspects in Cuba.
The latest round of complaints apparently was triggered by photographs released over the weekend by the Defense Department showing prisoners bound and kneeling, wearing masks, earmuffs and goggles. The pictures were taken as new prisoners were brought from a plane to a corridor near their cells, and then asked to kneel so soldiers could remove their earmuffs and other articles, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said at the Pentagon.
The restraints are used only in transit, he said, and those wearing masks were suspected of having tuberculosis. As for the earmuffs, some Defense officials have voiced concern about communication between the prisoners giving rise to a revolt.
“Let there be no doubt,” a visibly perturbed Rumsfeld said. “The treatment of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay is proper, it’s humane, it’s appropriate and it is fully consistent with international conventions.
“No detainee has been harmed. No detainee has been mistreated in any way. And the numerous articles, statements, questions, allegations and breathless reports on television are undoubtedly by people who are either uninformed, misinformed or poorly informed.”
At the naval base, 158 detainees have been flown in and are being housed in wire cages in what is dubbed Camp X-Ray, because the military guards can see them at all times.
Lt. Col. Bill Costello said that despite the continuing criticism, the detainees are being fed well, treated by doctors when necessary and soon will be ministered by a Navy Muslim cleric being dispatched to the Caribbean base.
Costello said contractors and Navy Seabees are busy erecting enough of the two-man cells to hold 2,000 detainees.
In other developments:
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