Podcast Transcript

12 June 2006
Transcript of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs

Mr. Cully Stimson is the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs and he has been kind enough to respond to several questions regarding the apparent suicides of two Saudi detainees and a Yemeni detainee in their separate cells this past weekend at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

QUESTION: US officials have described the deaths as an act of war and a good PR move to draw attention. What do you think about these three deaths?

Answer: I wouldn't characterize this as a good PR move. What I would say is that we're always concerned when someone takes his own life because as Americans we value life. Even the lives of violent terrorists who are captured waging war against our country.

QUESTION: What do you think their reasons were for committing suicide - were they desperate because of the conditions they are being held in - that they don't know what is going to happen to them?

Answer: I don't have the luxury of speculating why anyone would kill themselves.

QUESTION: How can something like this happen when it is reported that the detainees are under surveillance for twenty four hours a day?

Answer: The investigation is ongoing. I'm not going to speculate on why these three individuals wanted to kill themselves, despite that the defense attorneys and many other interested parties are speculating on how this could have happened, or that there was twenty four-hour surveillance on this particular cell or that particular cell. Let's let the investigation take its time, do it thoroughly and then once the investigation is complete then we'll all know how it was possible for this to happen.

QUESTION: Is it time to improve conditions for most of the detainees there?

Answer: Absolutely not. The conditions under which the detainees at Guantanamo live are safe, secure, and certainly humane. I've been there numerous times myself, I've led the delegation for the OSCE and the Transatlantic Policy Network trip that just recently went down. You've heard the comments from the delegation from Madame President Lizin and James Ellis among others all of whom have said that the issue is, issue with respect to Guantanamo is not poor conditions. Indeed they've all made very favorable comments about the conditions at Guantanamo.

QUESTION: But the detainees there haven't faced a trial yet. Nor have they faced charges that they can respond to. They have no knowledge of what is ahead for them. Do you think the detention facilities at Guantanamo will be closed?

Answer: Your suggestion that the detainees must face a trial is false. Enemy combatants or unlawful enemy combatants are to be detained throughout the duration of the conflict, and this is long established in the Law of War. The President has said that he would very much like to close Guantanamo. Obviously we would all very much like to close Guantanamo.
But a few things have to happen obviously before that would take place. Certainly there are detainees in Guantanamo now who have been approved for transfer to their home countries. The State Department's working very aggressively with those home countries to get them to accept their country men back and as the President also noted we're waiting here in this country for our top court, the United States Supreme Court to issue the decision in the Hamdan case. Hamdan is Osama Bin Laden's driver and that decision will obviously impact when that will happen. So, I'm not going to say how soon, or how long because there are too many variables and no one knows the answer to that.

Mr. Stimson, thank you so much for your time.

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