Only about one-fourth of the prisoners held at the Guantanamo naval base are
interrogated regularly because there are not enough translators and
interrogators to question them all, the U.S. admiral in charge of the detention
operation said on Thursday.
In this photo reviewed
by US military officials, an unidentified detainee prays inside the
compound of Camp Delta detention center, at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval
Base, Cuba in this April 6, 2006 file picture.
[Reuters] |
Rear Adm. Harry Harris, who at the end of March took command of the military
task force that runs the camp, said the 460 captives at Guantanamo in Cuba were
dangerous men who still provide useful information about al Qaeda tactics,
financing and safe houses.
But only those he described as senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders were
routinely questioned by U.S. interrogators, he said.
"It's about around 25 percent of the population that we are actively
interrogating," Harris told visiting journalists.
"If we had unlimited interrogators and translators then we could interrogate
more. But we have limited resources so we have to focus that the best way we
can, so we go after those detainees that have the largest intelligence value."
The rest are not ignored completely, he said. But asked if some prisoners
might have gone years without being questioned, he replied, "I would think there
are, but I just don't know."
The United States has faced criticism from human rights groups and some of
its allies for indefinitely holding prisoners at Guantanamo. President George W.
Bush said earlier this month he would like to close the detention center.
Some 759 captives have been held at Guantanamo since the detention operation
opened in 2002, and nearly 300 have been released or transferred to their home
nations for continued detention, including 15 sent home to Saudi Arabia on
Thursday.
Harris said he expected the population to drop further as officials in
Washington complete diplomatic negotiations to return about 120 more to their
homelands.
He said he was convinced the rest were "truly dangerous men intent on jihad"
and must continue to be held for the protection of Americans.
In a far-ranging interview, Harris said the United States will spend $64
million to run the Guantanamo detention operation this year, not counting the
$30 million spent on a new medium-security prison that will replace some of the
aging cells in August.
He said the Guantanamo captives were well treated and in generally good
health, but with the oldest now 71 years old, the military had drafted a plan
for dealing with any deaths.
Nearly all the prisoners are Muslim and Harris said a Muslim chaplain was on
call and would be sent to Guantanamo to perform traditional rites. He said the
body could be returned to the prisoner's homeland or buried at a cemetery on the
Guantanamo base but that interment likely would not take place swiftly, as
Muslim tradition requires.
"We would conduct an autopsy because we want to understand why the person
died," Harris said. "Obviously we're going to be subjected to lots of
questions."
Shortly after the interview, a Guantanamo spokesman said two prisoners had
attempted suicide on Wednesday by overdosing on prescription medicine they had
apparently been hoarding. They received emergency medical treatment, had normal
vital signs and were under observation in the camp hospital, said the spokesman,
Cmdr. Robert Durand.
He said there had been 39 suicide attempts by 23 Guantanamo prisoners since
the camp opened, including 12 attempts by the same man. None have succeeded,
Durand said.
