Guantanamo must stay open, Rumsfeld says

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday that the United States has no choice but to indefinitely hold suspected terrorists at the US naval base in Cuba, and countered a rising swell of criticism by offering new details about the operation and key information the US military has learned from prisoners it is detaining without trial.

Rumsfeld insisted that for legal and security reasons, the Guantanamo Bay terrorist prison camp could not be closed or moved, and he suggested the prison, first opened in January 2002, is likely to remain in operation for years.

''The United States government, let alone the US military, does not want to be in the position of holding suspected terrorists any longer than is absolutely necessary," Rumsfeld told reporters. ''But as long as there remains a need to keep terrorists from striking again, a facility will continue to be needed."

To bolster his case, the defense secretary disclosed that interrogations of a key Al Qaeda suspect, Mohamed al-Kahtani, led to the capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and the arrest of 22 other Al Qaeda suspects.

Rumsfeld also provided for the first time the cost of operating the prison camp: about $95 million a year. He said $100 million had been spent to build the detention facilities at the base, which holds about 520 ''enemy combatants."

In the Bush administration's fiercest defense of the facility, Rumsfeld said, ''Arguably, no detention facility in the history of warfare has been more transparent or received more scrutiny than Guantanamo."

''There have been nearly 400 separate media visits to Guantanamo Bay by more than 1,000 journalists. Additionally, some 180 congressional representatives have visited the facility. We provide continuous access to the International Committee of the Red Cross, whose representatives meet privately with the detainees."

Speaking to reporters on the 230th birthday of the US Army, the defense chief and Marine Corps General Peter Pace, who is the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also discussed the challenges in filling the ranks after the Army fell below its recruiting goals four months in a row.

They said part of the problem is that the Army is seeking an additional 8,000 recruits this year in an effort to expand the active-duty force by 30,000 over the next several years.

Still, ''from the standpoint of new recruiting, we need to work harder to get the Army message out to our young men and women who are prospective volunteers," said Pace. ''And as a country, we need to encourage our young people to serve this country in a time of need."

Pace and Rumsfeld said military leaders have identified a combination of approaches to address the shortfall, including adding 3,000 recruiters and transferring some soldiers now performing support duties to help reach the force levels needed.

The Pentagon can move military people serving in civilian functions out of civilian functions and replace them with civilians, Rumsfeld said. ''That number is not trivial." So far, he said, 10,000 personnel have been involved in the program and up to 300,000 support personnel in all the military branches could be eligible to fill fighting positions.

But it was his defense of Guantanamo that dominated the news conference.

In the past few weeks a growing number of political leaders, including Jimmy Carter and members of Congress from both parties, called for its closure, arguing that its negative image on the global stage is undermining the American cause and helping terrorists recruit members. Amnesty International labeled Guantanamo the American version of a Soviet ''gulag," referring to the secret Soviet labor camps.

Rumsfeld said the core of the debate should not be the Guantanamo prison itself. Rather, he said, it should be what society is to do with suspected terrorists and enemy combatants it captures before they have committed a crime.

He argued that the debate should be about whether the existing laws of war fit this threat and what to change about them.

''The real problem is not Guantanamo Bay," Rumsfeld said. ''The problem is that, to a large extent, we are in unexplored territory with this unconventional and complex struggle against extremism. Traditional doctrines covering criminals and military prisoners do not apply well enough."

Federal courts are reviewing how the detainees should be tried, and plans for military tribunals have been delayed awaiting the outcome.

To make the case that Guantanamo has paid significant dividends in the fight against Al Qaeda, Rumsfeld yesterday detailed the case of Kahtani, known as the ''20th hijacker" for his alleged role in the Sept. 11 plot.

Kahtani, Guantanamo's highest-profile prisoner, was turned away by a suspicious immigrations official at Orlando International Airport in August 2001 as Al Qaeda's Sept. 11 cell leader, Mohammed Atta, waited in the lobby. Kahtani was later captured in Afghanistan and brought to Guantanamo.

Last weekend, Time magazine published excerpts from a Guantanamo interrogation log covering unusual steps taken to extract information from Kahtani in the winter of 2002-2003. The tactics included sleep deprivation, making him bark like a dog, slapping him with a glove, shaving his head and beard, and forcing him to urinate on himself.

Rumsfeld said Kahtani yielded important information. For the first time, he linked Kahtani's interrogations to the March 2003 capture in Pakistan of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and to the arrest by foreign police of ''22 suspected terrorists plotting attacks earlier this year."

Rumsfeld also said Kahtani had provided information on 20 of Osama bin Laden's bodyguards, though he did not elaborate. In its report, Time said the 20 alleged bodyguards were among his fellow prisoners at Guantanamo.

Returning the detainees to their countries of origin -- while ultimately the US goal -- would be foolhardy at this time because few countries have the facilities to secure them, Rumsfeld said. So far, at least 38 detainees have been set free, and 200 have been handed over to their respective governments.

''The kind of people held at Guantanamo include terrorist trainers, bomb-makers, extremist recruiters, and financiers, bodyguards of Osama bin Laden, and would-be suicide bombers," Rumsfeld told reporters. ''They are not common car thieves; they are believed to be determined killers."

As for any mistreatment of prisoners, he said, ''wrongdoers are being held accountable," and ''the US military has instituted numerous reforms of the conduct of detainee operations, with a renewed emphasis on standards and training."