WASHINGTON, 7 September 2006 — US President George Bush said yesterday that the US authorities have transferred 14 suspected terrorist leaders from secret CIA prisons to Guantanamo Bay to prepare for eventual trials.
Bush’s announcement is the first time the administration has acknowledged the existence of CIA prisons, which have been a source of friction between Washington and some European allies. The administration has come under criticism for its treatment of terrorism detainees, and European Union lawmakers have said that the CIA has been conducting clandestine flights in Europe to take terror suspects to countries where they could face torture.
Bush said that high-value suspected terrorists include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, believed to the be No. 3 Al-Qaeda leader before he was captured in Pakistan in 2003; Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged would-be Sept. 11 hijacker; and Abu Zubaydah, who was believed to be a link between Osama Bin Laden and many Al-Qaeda cells before he was captured in Pakistan, in March 2002, would be sent to Guantanamo Bay and urged Congress to pass legislation to allow them to “face justice.”
The president announced the decision in a speech from the White House, with families of those killed in the 2001 attacks in attendance. The president successfully emphasized the war on terror in his re-election campaign in 2004 and is trying to make it a winning issue again for Republicans this year.
The announcement came yesterday as the president was also pressing Congress on legislation he says is needed to permit the trial of terror suspects through military tribunals. Bush exhorted lawmakers to allow evidence to be withheld from a defendant, if necessary, to protect classified information.
Bush’s original plan for military tribunals was struck down in June by the Supreme Court, which said the commissions would violate US and international law.
The court said the tribunal plan did not adhere to the Geneva Conventions for the humane treatment of detainees, as well as the military’s own code of justice. The White House has been criticized for its treatment of detainees, who are considered to be “enemy combatants” from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In both military and civilian courts, a defendant’s right to see evidence is viewed as indispensable to mounting an adequate defense.
In yesterday’s speech Bush said that the administration would ignore the Supreme Court’s decision to stop attacks on America before they occur.
Senate leaders were briefed on Bush’s legislative plan Tuesday night. The plan has already met resistance from lawmakers who say it would set a dangerous precedent.
As he did in his speech on Tuesday, another in a series pegged to the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush said that the country was still under threat from terrorists.
“They’re still trying to strike America and still trying to kill our people,” Bush said.
The US must be able to “detain, question and, when appropriate, prosecute terrorists captured here in America and on the battlefields around the world.” He said the “small number” of detainees that fall into this category include people responsible for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 in Yemen and the 1998 attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
On Tuesday, the White House released a document titled the National Strategy for Fighting Terrorism, which says that America is safer than it was five years ago, but that significant threats remain.
In response to the president and the White House report, Democrats accused the president of failing the national security test. At a news conference at the Capitol, retired Gen. Wesley Clark said that the Iraq War has actually put America more at risk.
“Invading Iraq was an unnecessary war,” Clark said. “It distracted us from what we were trying to accomplish in Afghanistan, and it’s been counterproductive in winning the war on terror.”
The White House dismissed suggestions it is politicizing the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as part of the fall congressional campaign. Press secretary Tony Snow said terrorism is what Americans are talking about and that the president is simply presenting his case to the public.
The administration also is expected to brief lawmakers on a new army field manual that would set guidelines for the treatment of military detainees. Congress passed legislation late last year requiring military interrogators to follow the manual, which abided by Geneva Conventions standards.
The manual authorizes three new techniques that could be used only in questioning of “unlawful combatants,” like prisoners at Gitmo.
