September 30, 2006
New York Post piece on My Visit to Gitmo
A DEADLY KINDNESS
By RICHARD MINITER
September 15, 2006 -- GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA
ON the military plane back from America's most famous terrorist holding pen, the in-flight film was "V for Vendetta," a screed that tries to justify terrorism. It was a fitting end to a surreal, military-sponsored trip.
The Pentagon seemed to be hoping to disarm its critics by showing them how well it cares for captured terrorists. The trip was more alarming than disarming. I spent several hours with Rear Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., who heads the joint task force that houses and interrogates the detainees. (The military isn't allowed to call them "prisoners.")
Harris, a distinguished Navy veteran who was born in Japan and educated at Annapolis and Harvard, is a serious man trying to do a politically impossible job. I spoke with him at length, and with a dozen other officers and guards, and visited three different detention blocks.
The high-minded critics who complain about torture are wrong. We are far too soft on these guys - and, as a result, aren't getting the valuable intelligence we need to save American lives.
The politically correct regulations are unbelievable. Detainees are entitled to a full eight hours sleep and can't be woken up for interrogations. They enjoy three meals and five prayers per day, without interruption. They are entitled to a minimum of two hours of outdoor recreation per day.
Interrogations are limited to four hours, usually running two - and (of course) are interrupted for prayers. One interrogator actually bakes cookies for detainees, while another serves them Subway or McDonald's sandwiches. Both are available on base. (Filet o' Fish is an al Qaeda favorite.)
Interrogations are not video or audio taped, perhaps to preserve detainee privacy.
Call it excessive compassion by a nation devoted to therapy, but it's dangerous. Adm. Harris admitted to me that a multi-cell al Qaeda network has developed in the camp. Military intelligence can't yet identify their leaders, but notes that they have cells for monitoring the movements and identities of guards and doctors, cells dedicated to training, others for making weapons and so on.
And they can make weapons from almost anything. Guards have been attacked with springs taken from inside faucets, broken fluorescent light bulbs and fan blades. Some are more elaborate. "These folks are MacGyvers," Harris said.
Other cells pass messages from leaders in one camp to followers in others. How? Detainees use the envelopes sent to them by their attorneys to pass messages. (Some 1,000 lawyers represent 440 prisoners, all on a pro bono basis, with more than 18,500 letters in and out of Gitmo in the past year.) Guards are not allowed to look inside these envelopes because of "attorney-client privilege" - even if they know the document inside is an Arabic-language note written by a prisoner to another prisoner and not a letter to or from a lawyer.
That's right: Accidentally or not, American lawyers are helping al Qaeda prisoners continue to plot.
There is little doubt what this note-passing and weapons-making is used for. The military recorded 3,232 incidents of detainee misconduct from July 2005 to August 2006 - an average of more than eight incidents per day. Some are nonviolent, but the tally includes coordinated attacks involving everything from throwing bodily fluids on guards (432 times) to 90 stabbings with homemade knives.
One detainee slashed a doctor who was trying to save his life; the doctors wear body armor to treat their patients.
The kinder we are to terrorists, the harsher we are to their potential victims.
Striking the balance between these two goods (humane treatment, foreknowledge of deadly attacks) is difficult, but the Bush administration seems to lean too far in the direction of the detainees. No expense spared for al Qaeda health care: Some 5,000 dental operations (including teeth cleanings) and 5,000 vaccinations on a total of 550 detainees have been performed since 2002 - all at taxpayer expense. Eyeglasses? 174 pairs handed out. Twenty two detainees have taxpayer-paid prosthetic limbs. And so on.
What if a detainee confesses a weakness (like fear of the dark) to a doctor that might be useful to interrogators, I asked the doctor in charge, would he share that information with them? "My job is not to make interrogations more efficient," he said firmly. He cited doctor-patient privacy. (He also asked that his name not be printed, citing the potential for al Qaeda retaliation.)
Food is strictly halal and averages 4,200 calories per day. (The guards eat the same chow as the detainees, unless they venture to one of the on-base fast-food joints.) Most prisoners have gained weight.
Much has been written about the elaborate and unprecedented appeal process. Detainees have their cases reviewed once a year and get rights roughly equivalent to criminals held in domestic prisons. I asked a military legal adviser: In what previous war were captured enemy combatants eligible for review before the war ended? None, he said.
America has never faced an enemy who has so ruthlessly broken all of the rules of war - yet never has an enemy been treated so well.
Of Gitmo's several camps, military records show that the one with the most lenient rules is the one with the most incidents and vice versa. There is a lesson in this: We should worry less about detainee safety and more about our own.
Some 20 current detainees have direct personal knowledge of the 9/11 attacks and nearly everyone of the current 440 say they would be honored to attack America again. Let's take them at their word.
Richard Miniter (richardminiter.com) is a bestselling author and fellow at the Hudson Institute.
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Posted by Richard Miniter at 04:52 PM
September 19, 2006
Miniter on C-Span
Here is my latest television appearance discussing torture at Gitmo: (video link )
Reader mail:
Great article, I'm printing and sending it to everyone I know. Thank you for your honesty. How about the comparison of how American Military "PRISONERS" (not detainees) are treated not only in the Middle East but unfortunately in America as well!! The "liberal thinker" is broken. It's men like you who I hope can help fix it or at least shed light on the TRUTH. I'm going to order your book.
- Linda Lovelace
Dear Mr Miniter,
I saw you this morning on Washington Journal. Well Done! I am especially amazed at the calm way you handled that ignorant, blame America first, sad excuse for a human from Louisiana, who called up to read a prepared anti George Bush diatribe. You noted the emotion in his voice. Clearly you & I went to different schools. My hope would be to meet him in person and twist his head off. Again - Well Done! - Ted Sahlin
Posted by Richard Miniter at 03:28 PM
September 16, 2006
Club Gitmo
Do you get eight hours of uninterupted sleep, three square meals and a minimium of two hours of outdoor recreation per day? If not, the al Qaeda operatives in Gitmo live better than you do. Here's a link to an article I wrote for the New York Post on life at Gitmo.
Posted by Richard Miniter at 03:52 PM
November 18, 2005
When Legal Eagles Are Rats
You’ve heard about the avalanche of lawsuits filed on behalf of terrorists held in Gitmo, ever wonder who is paying their lawyers? It turns out that it is you and me—thorough our mutual funds and 401(k)s. Major American companies, including Boeing and United Airlines, are paying law firms that provide free legal services to miltants captured in Afghanistan and Iraq. Read Deroy Murdock's shocking report.
Here’s a sample:
What drives America’s highest-flying legal eagles to soar tirelessly and for free on behalf of suspected terrorists? While some attorneys seem driven by a leftish quest for "social justice," others seem intoxicated by a volatile blend of sentimentalism and naiveté.
Associate Sarah Havens of Allen & Overy’s New York office flew to Guantanamo bearing gifts for her clients. (The British firm can expect $1.22 billion in revenues, and includes Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan Chase among its 1,800 lawyers’ clients.) "Snickers were a big hit," she said in last Feb. 18’s New York Lawyer. Her colleague, Sarah Fels, sounded downright weepy as she headed home: "The hard part was to leave and know they were going back into captivity."
Covington & Burling’s Marc Falkoff helps defend 13 Yemeni bystanders — as he reportedly called them in the April 7 Miami Herald — who were arrested in the wrong place in Pakistan and handed to U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Falkoff considers these men harmless.
"I would invite any one of them to sleep over at my apartment," Falkoff said. "None of these guys are terrorists. None of these guys is a danger to the United States."
The U.S. military’s "detention of enemy combatants is not criminal in nature," says Pentagon press officer Flex Plexico, "but to prevent them from continuing to fight against the United States in the War on Terrorism...as well as to gather intelligence to thwart further terrorist assaults."
Falkoff might ponder this declassified Pentagon description of one of his potential houseguests: "A detainee who admits to being one of (Osama bin Laden’s) primary drivers and bodyguards had in his possession surface to air missiles when captured."
Posted by Richard Miniter at 08:45 AM
June 28, 2005
Death to America! Pass the Donuts!
Here another account, written by a former Green Beret who was on the same trip to Gitmo as Simmons. Note the details. One interrogator bakes cookies for her subjects, while another hands out doughnuts. Officers there say that kind approach works, citing the river of intelligence derived since Gitmo opened. Fine. But how much more would the alternative, harsher methods have produced? And how much faster?
Posted by Richard Miniter at 07:22 PM
The Real Scandal at Gitmo: We're too Soft
Former intelligence operative (and now Fox News commentator) Wayne Simmons recently visited America's terrorist holding pens on the tip of Cuba. He took Air Force Two, along with some other worthies. He sent me this e-mail, which by his permission I will be quoting at some length. First, let me underline one point which is both original and frightening: Are the facilities so cushy at Gitmo that the terrorists have an incentive to delay talking in order to extend their stay? There have been cases, as one guard explained in another communication, that they actually had to force prisoners onto to planes to return to their home countries.
One other thing: Simmons is no talking head. He has conducted his share of interrogations of drug lords, narco-terrorists and enemies of order in Central and South America in the 1970s and 1980s. He is looking at Gitmo with a professional eye, the way your dentist brother-in-law can help noticing the problems of a waitress' bridgework.
Here's Simmons' eyewitness report:
After traveling to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on Friday, June 25 to see first hand how the Enemy Combatants were being treated I have come to some startling conclusions. It became apparent to me that those on the Left trying desperately to undermine not only the President but also the United States are completely void of any real information about the treatment of detainees. It is clear now that along with some members of the press, the ACLU and other quasi-communist / socialist organizations and even some of our own members of Congress, the real play here was to spread false information about the treatment of detainees and undermine US efforts at Gitmo and in the war. Those who espouse these lies are liars. Those who have traveled to Gitmo and have seen the actual conditions and continue to espouse the lies are ignorant liars. From the clothing that the detainees are required to wear to the food they eat, everything is clean and healthy. They are provided soccer facilities and exercise areas. Some spend as much as 6 to 7 hours or longer a day relaxing outside playing chess or reading. The Koran is secured neatly on the wall above the ground. The exercise courts have an arrow painted on them pointing to Mecca. The cells have neatly folded blankets and prayer mats and most have air conditioning. They are provided prayer times every day 5 times a day. They are provided with 24 hour medical and dental attention. At about this point in the tour I started getting angry. Angry at those who had been telling the world how bad we were treating the prisoners and how bad the conditions were. Pure unadulterated BS. But the soft treatment didn't stop there. Along with the other military analysts we were allowed to view 4 interrogations. Interrogations? These were more like love fests or therapy sessions. If the terrorists tell the interrogators what they want to know and the intel proves true and beneficial, they are rewarded with chocolate and cookies or hard to get magazines and books. If the detainees throw feces or spit on the guards, which is done frequently, there are no repercussions. Only the hope that they will see our kindness and change.By the end of a long day, one that began at 2:30 a.m. for me, I soon
realized that several things were taking place at Gitmo. The most
important was that General Jay Hood was the right man for a very tough job. He had some of the very finest the military has to offer guarding our facility and the detainees. General Hood has demanded the best from them and they have responded.It also became apparent, to me at least, that though the interrogation techniques being used are finding some success, much stronger techniques should be used in conjunction with the techniques currently being used.
I am convinced that there is time sensitive intel not being extracted
and that some of the detainees are purposely withholding intel because they are allowed to continue in their cushy surroundings even if they don't cooperate with the interrogators. It became clear that ALL of the detainees being held at Gitmo have been proven to be Enemy Combatants. There were no mistakes. These are the worst of the worst. The most evil of the evil. It was while viewing one interrogation that I sensed evil in the room, a sensation that I had not felt since interrogating narcoterrorists over 20 years ago. These terrorists are capable of launching an attack within hours of being released from Gitmo. How do we know? Because at least 12 that were released did just that. Nursed back to health, given medical treatment, teeth fixed. In at least one case, given a prosthesis and released. He killed again within months. While flying away from Gitmo on Air Force Two with the sun slowly beginning to set, I faced the realization that we are not just facing Al Qaeda et. al. in this war on terror. We are facing attacks by those who, under the guise of humanitarian organizations, are attacking the US.Some are even here in the US striking from within. This time, we have
proven they are liars and are collaborating with the enemy. We must
continue to expose those members of Congress who lie to the American
public and essentially collaborate with the enemy. Members who claim our interrogation techniques are too brutal and compared us to Stalin, Pol Pot and Hitler must be brought to task. This war is inside our sacred borders. If we do not continue to inform the American people with the truth, they will lose their resolve and we will lose the war. Americans can handle the truth.
Posted by Richard Miniter at 03:03 PM
June 08, 2005
Eye-gouging terrorists at Gitmo
Here is what Gitmo is really like. This report in the Washington Times, based on interviews with two U.S. Army ""block guards" who served in Guantanimo Bay, Cuba, shows what the military has to put up with. Don't expect this article to be too widely circulated. Bear this in mind when you wonder why they are hooded and shackled when transported.
Posted by Richard Miniter at 01:28 PM
June 07, 2005
Prisoners abuse Korans 3 times more often than guards
That is actually a fair summary of Gen. Hood's report, as John "Hindrocket" Hinderaker explains here. He also details the extraordinary political correctness and carefulness with which the militarty handles these terrorists captured on the battlefields of Afghanistan and elsewhere. This is the best article on the phony "Koran abuse" scandal that I've seen. By the way, when did the Koran become a protected item in American law? Where is the ACLU demanding a separation
of mosque and state?
Posted by Richard Miniter at 03:41 PM