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American Morning

Bush Administration Decided Taliban Fighters Will be Classified According to Geneva Conventions

Aired February 08, 2002 - 07:14   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to turn now to the thorny issue of how to classify the detainees from Afghanistan. The Bush administration has now decided that Taliban fighters will be according to the protections of the Geneva Conventions, though they will still not be called prisoner of war. Now, while al Qaeda fighters will not be given those legal protections, the White House says the distinction will not change the conditions of their treatment.

The announcement came yesterday just as a new group of detainees arrived in Guantanamo.

CNN's Bob Franken was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They had their blackout goggles and their face masks removed and now the new arrivals were being forced through Camp X-Ray processing. Mug shots, interviews, preliminary medicals, they had been removed from the transport plane at the Guantanamo air field after their long, long flight across the globe. This delivery, as they call it here, ended a 17 day moratorium. Twenty-two were walked off the plane in shackles. Six were carried on stretchers, also in shackles.

It's an intense process and officials here were so busy at it they had no idea what the president's order differentiating between Taliban and al Qaeda would actually mean where they were being held.

COL. TERRY CARRICO, CAMP X-RAY SECURITY COMMANDER: To tell you the truth, I found out about it 20 minutes ago and I haven't had a chance to really think myself through what the president has said and exactly what he has said.

FRANKEN: For all the detainees, life here at Camp X-Ray will settle into a dreary routine. But always under bright light, these powerful lamps at night, the hot sun during the day. There's never a private moment, very tight security.

But officials contend they are being as humane as conditions permit. They are already pointing proudly to the medical care. The latest surgery, amputation of a detainee's left leg below the knee. It had been badly mangled in combat. CAPT. PAT ALFORD, FIELD HOSPITAL COMMANDER: This individual had communication with the International Committee of the Red Cross physician who was here, who fully explained the procedure, explained why it needed to be done. He was talked to by our physicians through the interpreter, the same sort of thing. This was not a sudden decision. The individual consulted with the physicians on multiple occasions and gave consent to have the procedure done.

FRANKEN: There are eight detainees recovering in the fleet hospital. Altogether the prison population is now 186, with 320 cells expected to fill pretty quickly.

Bob Franken, CNN, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And for more now on what the president's decision on applying the Geneva Convention to the detainees in Afghanistan and in Cuba means, we go to CNN military analyst Don Shepperd, who joins us now from Washington.

Welcome back.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: What's behind this shift?

SHEPPERD: Well, it's important, Paula. We're really walking some fine lines here. Basically, they're all being treated as though they were POWs from the standpoint of health, etc. But they are not being declared as POWs, any of them.

On the other hand, the Taliban are being given the protections of the Geneva Conventions, which means really all they have to do is give name, rank and serial number. You can't interrogate them beyond that. Whereas the al Qaeda are being treated as unlawful combatants, which means you can continue to question them. And, of course, they have the information we really want, which is where did you come from, who else have you talked to, where did you train, what else is going on in the rest of the parts of the world over there.

So it's a very, very important distinction but there are some fine lines here.

ZAHN: But the bottom line, too, is that the government had the option of giving all of these fighters prisoner of war status if they had wanted to. They did not. And there's a very good reason for that, isn't there?

SHEPPERD: Yes, there really is. And the reason is, of course, in the POW status, again, you can only question them so far and from the standpoint of unlawful combatant, when you're not in a POW status, you can be retained until the hostilities are over.

What's really emerging here is it looks like at some point the Taliban will be sent back to their home country at an appropriate time, whereas we want to keep these al Qaeda people and we're going to keep them for a long, long time. And then again it becomes very important if you subject them to the legal system that their rights have been observed along the way.

So it's, these distinctions are, although a fine line, are very, very important.

ZAHN: In the end, how much do you think pressure from our allies had to do with this change in position?

SHEPPERD: Oh, I think obviously the international community, the reaction of the international community to the handling of these prisoners had something to do with them. When those pictures got released early on about them being blindfolded, separated, what have you, this caused an outright, an outcry, even though we handle some prisoners in our own system the same way minus the blindfolds.

But of course we yielded to some pressure and pressure from our allies to make sure they're treated well. We brought a lot of people in from the Red Cross. We're giving these people medical attention. A lot of people have been given tours of the facilities. So I think it undoubtedly had something to do with it and probably for the better.

ZAHN: All right, General Don Shepperd, thanks so much for that update. Appreciate it. Have a good weekend.

SHEPPERD: My pleasure.

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