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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview with William Martel

Aired December 29, 2001 - 08:18   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we learned this week that the U.S. is making plans to detain some al Qaeda and Taliban fighters at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

To help us understand why and what to expect, we turn to Dr. William Martel, professor of national security affairs at the Naval War College. He's written several books and articles. His most recent book is "The Technological Arsenal."

Dr. Martel, good to see you.

WILLIAM MARTEL, NAVAL WAR COLLEGE: Good morning. Good morning.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about Guantanamo Bay and when was the last time Guantanamo was in the news? Was it Haiti?

MARTEL: Yes, actually it was Haiti in the '90s. In fact, in the '90s we had both Cuban and Haitian refugees who were held at Guantanamo. And it seems a secure facility in which we can hold these kinds of folks for a long time. As we did, indeed, there were discussions during the Kosovo operation of holding refugees from Kosovo at Guantanamo as well.

PHILLIPS: So taking a look at that successful mission, let's talk about the benefits for this time around. It's definitely extremely secure, correct?

MARTEL: Absolutely, yes. And it is both by virtue of our efforts and that of the Cubans, strangely. The Cubans have built their arguments about mines as well as physical mortars or perimeters to keep Cubans from trying to escape into Guantanamo and declare refugee status.

We, on the other hand, maintain significant security apparatus on Guantanamo Bay Naval Station to ensure that it is an absolutely secure facility, which is one of the important benefits of potentially holding detainees at the base.

PHILLIPS: What are some of the other benefits and resources there that would help in a situation like this?

MARTEL: Well, I think the most important is that it's so close to the United States. When you think about the fact that it's a couple hour flight from the United States, both law enforcement and intelligence officials would be able to get to Guantanamo to interrogate multiple times the various detainees from al Qaeda and the Taliban.

So it's physically proximate to the United States and it has very high security, all of which argue pretty persuasively, as the secretary of defense noted, that it has these advantages that would be useful in these kinds of, these circumstances.

PHILLIPS: Now you mentioned Cuba. What do you think the reaction from the Cuban government would be and there's been a bit of talk that this may anger Fidel Castro. What's your opinion on all that?

MARTEL: Well, Castro has been critical of the Afghan campaign but my view is that when the United States is as serious about dealing with the terrorists or global terrorist operations as it is, I think it would be foolhardily on the part of the Cubans to attempt anything. And frankly I think what'll happen is that we may see some noises out of the Cuban government, but nothing serious. And I think, in fact, yesterday or the day before yesterday the secretary of defense made a comment to the effect that he didn't anticipate there'd be problems with the Cubans and I think he's right. I think it would be one of those circumstances where it would not at all be useful for the Cubans to interfere in these kinds of operations.

And we've controlled this base for more than, for roughly a hundred years. So it's a, it would be a very difficult thing for the Cubans to deal with in any way that I can envision.

PHILLIPS: How many detainees can Guantanamo hold?

MARTEL: Well, it's, you have to answer that in two ways. In terms of refugees there, we have had thousands stationed on Guantanamo. What they're talking about now with the detainees is establishing more secure facilities to house these detainees and I think we're talking right now on the order of 100 or 50 to 100 that are currently being detained.

So I think in the short-term you could hold a lot of people there. If you want to do this from the point of view of collecting intelligence and law enforcement information, we will, as we have noted, begin to make, take steps to build that facility and to establish the right kinds of buildings and facilities that we need to deal with these people.

PHILLIPS: There's been talk, too, about the military tribunals and those taking place on Guantanamo Bay. Is that a good idea?

MARTEL: Well, it certainly has certainly legal advantages, notably that it's not on sovereign U.S. territory, at least not in the strict sense of the term, and thereby would not allow these detainees to claim status under U.S. laws.

Now, we have said, the U.S. government has said recently that there were no direct or immediate plans to conduct the tribunals on Guantanamo, but it nonetheless is a possibility I think most people understand exists.

PHILLIPS: Yes, the president can hold the tribunals anywhere, right? It's up to him.

MARTEL: Oh, that's exactly right. That's exactly right. So it's a possibility. It's at least not being discussed actively now as a serious option.

PHILLIPS: Well, we'll continue to follow it nevertheless.

William Martel, Naval War College, thanks so much for being with us this morning.

MARTEL: My pleasure. Take care.

PHILLIPS: All right.

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