The 158 detainees being held on suspicion of terrorist activity have received a lot of media attention regarding their treatment by American military forces at the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba. But details of how American officials are treating the captives are ambiguous at best. Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed this issue Jan. 27 when he publicly entertained the idea of allowing the captives prisoner of war protections outlined under the Geneva Convention. The detainees are neither prisoners nor convicted terrorists until they have been proven guilty by the American justice system.
The captives need to remain classified as detainees because the United States needs time to conduct thorough investigations. The White House should refrain from officially labeling detainees “terrorists” and “killers,” as President George W. Bush told reporters at a joint news conference earlier this week. Marking them terrorists assumes the detainees are guilty until proven innocent, a decidedly un-American form of justice.
Concern that the United States may appear shockingly arrogant about the situation to other countries is valid. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer epitomized American insolence when he said the detainees in Cuba were “lucky” to be captured rather than killed. “They’re being treated well, because that’s what Americans do,” he said.
With this latest opposition to complying with the POW treatment demanded by the Geneva Convention, the White House is revealing a frightening trend of resistance to international treaties. In August, Bush broke away from the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty with Russia, and in March 2001, the White House refused to implement the Kyoto Protocol, sending shock waves as the world reacted to Bush’s blatant disregard for environmental treaties.
Powell made the right move to break with the White House’s stance on the rights of the captives in Cuba. There are too many questions concerning the treatment and guilt of the detainees to impose any protections on them. No one is positive of where the captives came from, although there are reportedly captured combatants from about 30 countries. What’s worse, it has not been clarified whether al-Qaeda terrorist network members or Taliban soldiers are part of the same vilified group, or whether one of the groups holds more clout than the other.
The detainees being held in Cuba should remain there, without POW status, until more information about their possible involvement in the attacks on the United States is found. The White House should heed Powell’s suggestion to remain open-minded to the possibility of adhering to international rules governing the treatment of the captives. No one can make assertions about the guilt or innocence of the captives at this point, but inflammatory remarks about their treatment or guilt will only contribute to the world view that the rules apply to everyone but the Bush Administration.