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CNN Saturday Morning News

What Rights do Afghan Detainees Have?

Aired January 12, 2002 - 09:17   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: Let's get a different perspective now on the Afghan war detainees who are in Guantanamo Bay. Something you're going to be hearing a lot about is, what rights do the detainees have? The key word here is "detainees."

CNN military analyst Major General Don Shepperd joins us with the military strategy of these -- calling these men detainees.

General, I'm curious, we've been talking about this, our whole team here, the difference between POW and detainee.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, it's a fine line, Kyra. Basically, as I understand it, the reason you cannot call them POWs is this is not a declared war. So they are called detainees. Now, when you call them detainees, there are some advantages that you accrue. One of them is, they can be held as detainees until the conflict is declared over, which could be a long, long time.

Also being held in Guantanamo, they are not subjected to the same legal rights that they would have if they were on U.S. soil within the United States. So it provides a convenient way to hold them, to detain them for as long as we need them, and not be overcome by the civil legal system, if you will.

PHILLIPS: Also, we've been talking about the freedom of press and the public's right to know, more recently videotape that we were told we were not able to air. We got word that we had shown the detainees with hoods on, and it was daytime video, and we're told we cannot show that or take any more pictures.

What do you think about that? Is that fair to say, to say that, or is it really necessary to show those pictures?

SHEPPERD: Well, look, quite frankly, the whole world would like to see pictures of these guys, and we'd sure like to show them. Unfortunately, the rules of armed conflict protect prisoners in that they cannot be, quote, "exploited." So as we protested vociferously during the Vietnam War of our POWs being photographed and played for propaganda purposes, we don't want to be accused of that, and we also want to make sure that we treat these people under the rules of armed conflict.

Once you step outside of that, then it opens you up to all sorts of criticism. And of course if some of our people are ever detained in present or future conflict, then it opens up the world for them to be mistreated.

So we're being very, very careful about that. And it's the laws that prevent us from photographing these people and broadcasting it worldwide, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, I think it's a fact that not a lot of people have symphony -- or sympa -- sympathy for these al Qaeda and Taliban fighters. But when you see them hooded up and shackled, I'm just curious, why the hoods, why the goggles, why the ear plugs?

SHEPPERD: Yes, real simple, they deserve it. They have demonstrated that they are willing to kill themselves, blow themselves up, overcome their captors, murder their captors, if you will, and in addition they're being detained because they've murdered other people. So these -- we are treating these people like death row inmates. They will be brought to Guantanamo Bay, they'll be interrogated over a period of time.

At some point, their disposition will be decided. Some of them may be sent back to their home countries, others will be detained and tried in the legal system, maybe by military tribunals. Some could even face the death penalty. We'll just have to wait and see if that plays out.

PHILLIPS: Major General Don Shepperd, always straight and to the point. Thank you, sir.

SHEPPERD: Sure, Kyra.

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