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CNN Sunday Morning

White House Disagreement about Detainee Classification

Aired January 27, 2002 - 11:12   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: More debate this morning over the status of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Newspaper reports have reported there was disagreement in the administration over whether the detainees should be reclassified as prisoners of war. A senior Bush administration official denies that. The official tells CNN the State Department is simply recommending the detainees get some of the same protections and rights as POWs.

The Bush administration classifies the detainees as unlawful combatants. So what is the difference between unlawful combatant and prisoner of war? CNN military analyst retired Major General Don Shepperd joins us to help sort out these terms.

What are the differences there, General?

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE: Well, Fredricka, basically a prisoner of war is a soldier, a soldier as we think of them, with a uniform, a chain of command, that acts as a state actor in defense of a country at war. These people are certainly on the margins of that, if at all.

An unlawful combatant is a person that is fighting, for instance, such as a cause for terrorism or one that they believe, and they are not recognized as soldiers and different rules apply to both sets of people as so far as the rules of evidence, how these people are treated, and what type of legal system they are forced into, and what they have to give you.

WHITFIELD: Do you see that this kind of clarification or the discussion of about this type of clarification might be taking place tomorrow, when Bush meets with Hamid Karzai?

SHEPPERD: Yes, I don't think that that's really something between President Bush and Karzai. I think it's more between the lawyers in the United States, and of course, the State Department and the international community. It's very important that we classify these detainees, one way or the other, and it doesn't have to -- they don't all have to be classified the same way. But once you classify them, then the rules of evidence, the rules of what courts they go into, what you can do with them, and again, what they have to give you.

For instance, a soldier doesn't have to give you anything except name, rank or serial number. An unlawful detainee basically you can interrogate for information. If he doesn't give it to you, you can also use that in court. So it's real important that we sort this out.

WHITFIELD: In Afghanistan right now, it seems like the military build up persists. The recent Army base breach is an example of why, I suppose, everyone is still on edge there. But in your view, does it seem like that the U.S. war effort has sort of hit a brick wall there...

SHEPPERD: No, that's...

WHITFIELD: ... given that there hasn't been a lot of reported activity?

SHEPPERD: No, that's the wrong terminology -- hit a brick wall. It's proceeding according to General Franks' plan, which is basically to assert the minimal number of forces necessary to do what he, as commander in chief, wants to do from a military standpoint. At some point, then, you're going to stop doing the raids and that type of thing that had been going on to find the al Qaeda and Taliban cells. And you're going to be a force that supports the International Security Assistance Force, as they spread law and order across the nation, and then enter into a national building, which we don't want the military to do.

So it's very much on plan, but Afghanistan remains a very dangerous place, and there are lots of pockets that we will still be going after for a considerable period of time.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks very much, Major General Don Shepperd, for joining us this morning and helping us sort out the military effort.

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