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CNN Live Saturday
Are Detainees at Guantanamo Bay Being Treated Humanely?
Aired January 19, 2002 - 16:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: There has been no shortage of debate over the treatment of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Joining me here in Washington to talk about that and the latest military strategy is CNN military analyst, retired Major General Don Shepperd. Thanks a lot for coming in this afternoon.
MAJ. GEN. DONALD SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Pleasure.
MESERVE: What do you make of this controversy over the treatment of the detainees? Is there a legitimate concern there?
SHEPPERD: There is always a legitimate concern about the treatment of prisoners, and these people are detainees, not prisoners. But they are being treated well. They are not being beat up. They are not being tortured. They are being held in what has been called cages -- they're not cages, they are basically cells that have wire on the sides of them, if you will. But they are being treated well, they are being fed well, they are being looked after. But they are very dangerous, and they have made threats to kill Americans before they leave. And we are taking them seriously, and we should, for a long time.
MESERVE: Why this decision to house fewer of them at Guantanamo?
SHEPPERD: You know, what I think is in the screening they have determined that there are not as many people that have real intelligence information from a higher level, is probably what it's about. And so, those people, the lower level foot soldiers will probably be turned back to their own countries for prosecution by those countries rather than being held by us.
MESERVE: Well, how reliable is our intelligence and knowledge about these people? It's not as if they are wearing stripes on their arm to let us know where they were in the al Qaeda organization?
SHEPPERD: No, remember, they have been interrogated, and they have also had masters of this interrogation talking to them while they were in country in Afghanistan. They have been screened for deportation to Guantanamo. So the people in Guantanamo are people we want to talk to further. And over time, a mosaic will be drawn, and trends will take place in these interrogations for you to follow backward to the places they came from.
MESERVE: We mentioned earlier, at Kandahar Airport the Army now taking over from the Marines. What are the Marines going to do now?
SHEPPERD: Yeah, standard military doctrine, if you will. The Marines go in and seize an objective. They are light forces. In a MEU, a Marine expeditionary unit, about 700 of them go ashore from each one of the MEUs. They take the objectives. The idea is they stay there for 30 to 90 days, and hand it over to the heavier forces. The Marines say, hey, we had to make it safe for you Army guys; the Army guys said, hey, we have to finish the mission that you guys started. Good natured competition. That's what it's about.
MESERVE: Now, we mentioned that the Marines have gone back to their assault ships in the Arabian Sea. What is next for them? Do you have any idea?
SHEPPERD: Yeah, they float all over the world waiting to do the next thing that comes up. Likely 15 to 26 MEUs are the people that will go back and be replaced by other MEUs. We have seven stationed across the world. They will probably get some time off while others assume their places and wait for the next military action.
MESERVE: These reports about Osama bin Laden and his health. General Pervez Musharraf saying he may have died of kidney disease. What do you make of that?
SHEPPERD: This really came from the left field. First, we have heard about this. On that last tape, he certainly looked sick, and there have been rumors about his health for a long time. But the first we have heard about kidney disease. On the other hand, another interesting thing is developing. Normally, rumors, reports we've heard, this intercept, we think he's here -- there are lots of rumors about where he might be, but no reports of actual contact with bin Laden. It could very well be that the part about him possibly being dead is very true. It's hard to say.
MESERVE: And this kidney disease report, what do we know about that? Anything?
SHEPPERD: First, I certainly have heard about that, and it's being dismissed right now by General Franks, and also, as I understand, by the secretary of defense. So, I am not putting much credence in it. But again, the Pakistan ISI, the Inner Service Intelligence Agency, has a lot of good information. He may know something that our people don't.
MESERVE: OK. General Shepperd, thanks so much for joining us again.
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