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CNN Live Sunday

Interview With U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison

Aired January 27, 2002 - 22:24   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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Kay Bailey Hutchison is one of a group of four U.S. senators just back from a trip with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to Guantanamo Naval base in Cuba. That group toured the facility, where suspected Taliban and al Qaeda detainees are being held. And after a very long day, Senator Hutchison has been gracious enough to join us late this evening from Washington to give us her thoughts. Thank you for being with us.

SEN. KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON (R), TEXAS: Thank you, Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Now, let's begin with your reaction. When you first arrived there at the facility and saw all the al Qaeda members and where they were housed, what was your first reaction?

HUTCHISON: Well, I was looking at a prison that is in tropical climate. There is a breeze, but it is definitely open-air-type facility. Very clean. We went through the medical facilities, and they are getting extremely good medical care, the same as the soldiers who are on that base. They have been fixing broken bones, and they have had some malaria outbreaks. So they are treating them very, very well, and I was very impressed, as were all of the senators and the secretary of defense.

CALLAWAY: Senator, certainly there are a number of human rights organizations that would disagree with you. What would you have to say to them tonight?

HUTCHISON: That they probably have not seen the facilities. These are places where you -- it's obviously plain, but you have room to exercise. They can talk to each other. And in fact, you know, I'm concerned about the safety of our soldiers who are guarding them. These are people who have been willing to kill themselves in order to kill innocent people. So you have to worry in a detainee situation about the safety of your own soldiers, as well as the safety of the detainees. And I think right now we are handing both very well.

CALLAWAY: Were you able to speak with any of the troops there that are guarding the detainees?

HUTCHISON: Oh, yes. We certainly did. We talked to a number of the troops. They have a psychiatrist there who has talked to them, to the detainees as well. And the troops are -- feel that they are doing a very important job, that these are people who have been part of the conspiracy against our country, that they have killed innocent Americans and innocent people all over the world.

So our troops are very high, and they feel like they are doing a very important job, and they are doing it well.

CALLAWAY: We heard Donald Rumsfeld say today he has no doubt that these prisoners are being treated well. Also saying that there is no doubt in his mind that definitively these detainees will never be classified as POWs. What's your opinion on that, and was there any discussion of that among the four senators that toured the facility?

HUTCHISON: Well, yes, we did, because there has been discussion about whether they should be POWs. But clearly, they are not part of an organized army, they are not part of a country's army, and they are not legitimate prisoners of war. We think they are not lawful combatants, and I think there is no question about that.

CALLAWAY: Is there any doubt in your mind that the spirit of the Geneva Conventions is being applied in the treatment of these detainees?

HUTCHISON: Yes, I think it is, even though they are not POWs. They are detainees, and they will have different outcomes, depending on where they are from and what they have done.

But I do think they are being treated very well. They have medical care. They have an Islamic cleric who they have access to. He calls them to prayer. They have a Koran so they are able to practice their religion. They are able to talk to this chaplain, who is Islamic, from the United States. And I think that is -- I think they are being treated very well. The conditions are certainly prisons, but these are dangerous people. And they are being treated very well, very well.

CALLAWAY: I didn't mean to interrupt you, senator, I apologize, I just wanted to remind everyone about the uprising that occurred in Mazar-e Sharif where the Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners that were held there, and certainly everyone remembers that we lost an operative in that uprising.

HUTCHISON: That's really true, that's really true, and I think that you do have to remember, these are dangerous people, they already are talking to each other, possibly trying to plan some kind of uprising, and I think we have to be very, very careful.

CALLAWAY: I brought that up because I wanted to find out if any of the troops expressed any concern to you in your communications with them on your visit?

HUTCHISON: No, no concerns. They know that they are doing everything to secure these prisoners. They feel, of course, that they are being treated well, their medical facilities are the same as the military personnel, and I think everyone feels very comfortable who visited with us today that these prisoners are certainly -- we are meeting all the standards of a civilized nation.

CALLAWAY: Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, thank you very much for spending some time with us and sharing your thoughts with us.

HUTCHISON: Thank you.

CALLAWAY: And I imagine you will be sleeping very well tonight after that long journey.

HUTCHISON: Thank you.

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