The Pentagon has chosen a U.S. Navy base in Cuba as the least worst place to hold Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners after they are removed from Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said.
Rumsfeld said Thursday the military has made no plans to hold military tribunals at the
Guantanamo Bay base. U.S. President George W. Bush has authorized military tribunals to
try terrorist suspects from other countries, but defense officials said Thursday Rumsfeld
has not decided how, where or even if those tribunals would take place.
The Washington Post and The New York Times reported Friday that a Bush administration
draft of rules for a U.S. military tribunal require a unanimous vote of a tribunal's members
to impose a death sentence on a foreign terror suspect.
The draft restates Bush's executive order in allowing conviction by two-thirds vote of the
panel of military officers, according to the Post and Times.
In addition, the draft regulations stipulate that a defendant is presumed innocent and that
the military panel may find guilt only after presentation of proof beyond reasonable doubt.
That is the same test applied in U.S. civilian courts.
Asked about the reports, Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke called any draft
irrelevant without Rumsfeld's approval, which she said no current draft has.
The base where terrorism suspects are being taken, which the United States has held
since 1903, is near the U.S. mainland and highly secure. The Cuban military prohibits all
access to areas around the base, and the U.S. military patrols its side from behind tall
fences topped with razor wire.
"Guantanamo Bay has drawbacks, too, including its location, surrounded on three sides
by an island governed by Fidel Castro, an anti-American communist who has criticized the
U.S. campaign in Afghanistan. But we don't anticipate any trouble with Mr. Castro in that
regard," Rumsfeld told a Pentagon news conference.
Rumsfeld said it will take weeks to get the Guantanamo Bay base ready to house the
detainees. Although the base has been used in the past to hold Cuban and Haitian
refugees, its main purpose in recent years has been to refuel and maintain Navy vessels
in the Caribbean.
Rumsfeld said, "I would characterize Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as the least worst place we
could have selected. Its disadvantages, however, seem to be modest relative to the
alternatives."
Chief Petty Officer Richard Evans, a base spokesman, said it has space for about 100
prisoners.
The United States is holding 45 prisoners in and near Afghanistan, interrogating them
about alleged terrorist leader Osama bin Laden's whereabouts and trying to determine
which should be brought to trial.
