IN RECENT days, members of the press and several human rights organizations have called for improving the condition of Afghan and Arab detainees at the prison camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. President Bush has claimed that these prisoners are "unlawful combatants" since they are members of a criminal organization and not a recognized army. Were they members of an army or militia, they would be considered as prisoners of war and thus guaranteed every provision of the Geneva Convention of 1949.
The State Department has been pushing to give some inmates POW standing. Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld has contended that the prisoners indeed are being treated humanely. The status of the majority of the detainees should be left as unlawful combatants and their prison conditions should be left as they are so that no taxpayer money is used to give comfort to alleged terrorists.
If reports of the current treatment of the detainees are accurate, the detainees are receiving many amenities and are enjoying a relative degree of comfort. According to the Secretary of Defense, the prisoners are kept in eight by eight foot outdoor enclosures with concrete floors and wooden roofs. The prisoners are given a foam mattress and two towels: one for bathing and one to be used as a mat for prayer. They are allowed daily showers and are fed three times a day. Two of those meals are hot and are made to conform to Islamic dietary law, respecting the inmates' religious beliefs.
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Accommodations also have been made to allow detainees to practice their religion through the distribution of the Koran, the Islamic call to prayer played on the camp broadcast system at prayer time, and signs pointing in the direction of Mecca ("Detainees Treated Humanely, Officials Say," CNN.com, Jan. 27). In all probability, they are leading healthier and more comfortable lives in detention than they were on the front lines in Afghanistan.
Most of the provisions made by the Geneva Convention are being followed in the treatment of the detainees. Perhaps the few that may cause concern involve Article 22, which makes provisions for the prisoners' housing, and Article 46, which pertains to the transfer of prisoners. While prisoners are being kept outdoors, in slight violation of Article 22, this is because permanent facilities have not yet been completed.
Also, the tropical weather of Cuba is pleasant in the winter and the detainees are not being subjected to any unhealthy environments. The prisoners have been shackled during their transport, which is a possible violation of Article 46. However, this is for the safety of the soldiers guarding them and not a form of unnecessary force, which Article 46 prohibits.
In any case, many of the detainees from Afghanistan should not have the right to be called prisoners of war. Most of them are members of the al Qaeda terrorist network, a documented international criminal organization. Al Qaeda's goals are not to provide an army to defend any particular country, but rather to orchestrate terrorist attacks. The status of these Afghan detainees in no way qualifies them for the POW acknowledgment. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld announced on Sunday that none of the detainees would be considered eligible for POW status. Still, as has been shown, the Geneva Convention regulations for the treatment of prisoners of war have not been grossly violated. When the permanent facilities at Camp X-Ray are completed, there will be no violations under any interpretation of the Geneva Convention. This leaves one to believe that many protestors of the detainees' treatment want even more amenities made available. This should not be done.
The prisoners from Afghanistan do not deserve to be any more comfortable than they already are. It is our taxpayers' money that is going toward housing these inmates. Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has made it clear that the prisoners have been treated humanely and have been taken care of. British officials who have visited the camp agree that the prisoners have been well cared for ("Bush Advisors Debate Detainee Status," CNN.com, Jan. 26). The argument is that if we treat them badly, we are stooping to their low level.
However, any additional improvement in their conditions will involve the use of taxpayers' money. The prisoners do not deserve this pity. If the allegations against them are true, they are our enemies and have been trained with the sole intent of destroying American lives and property. They celebrated when thousands of our countrymen were murdered, and in all probability, would facilitate or participate in any more attacks if they were able to. There is no reason that taxpayers' money should be diverted to make our enemies more comfortable when that same money would be better used to repair the damage that their colleagues inflicted on our country.
(Alex Rosemblat's column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at arosemblat@cavalierdaily.com.)
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