WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2006
Bush: Key Qaeda Leaders Sent To Gitmo
President Also Acknowledges Existence Of Previously Secret CIA Prisons
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Play CBS Video Video Bush: Highest Stakes On Terror With the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks less than a week away, President Bush warned Americans not to get complacent with the continuing threat. Jim Axelrod has more.
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Video Bush, Dems Differ On Terrorism Speaking on the war on terror, President Bush argued that al Qaeda has been degraded. But as Aleen Sirgany reports, Senate Democrats say the country is less safe under the Bush administration.
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Video Friedman Weighs In On Bush Only On The Web: Katie Couric interviews foreign affairs columnist Thomas Friedman about President Bush's change in rhetoric regarding the war on terror.
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President Bush speaks about terrorism in the East Room of the White House on Sept. 6, 2006. (AP)
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Who's Who Terror Transfer A glimpse at the 14 suspected terrorists transferred from CIA custody to Guantanamo Bay.
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Interactive Gitmo Tribunals Detainees on trial, photos and a history of the naval base.
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Special Report War On Terror Complete coverage of the military's battle against terrorism.
He said the "small number" of detainees that have been kept in CIA custody include people responsible for the bombing of the warship USS Cole in 2000 in Yemen and the 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, in addition to the 2001 attacks.
"It has been necessary to move these individuals to an environment where they can be held secretly, questioned by experts and, when appropriate, prosecuted for terrorist acts," Mr. Bush said in a White House speech with families of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks making up part of the audience. "These are dangerous men, with unparalleled knowledge about terrorist networks and their plans of new attacks. The security of our nation and the lives of our citizens depend on our ability to learn what these terrorists know."
The announcement from Mr. Bush is the first time the administration has acknowledged the existence of CIA prisons, which have been a source of friction between Washington and some allies in Europe. The administration has come under criticism for its treatment of terrorism detainees. European Union lawmakers said the CIA was conducting clandestine flights in Europe to take terror suspects to countries where they could face torture.Read profiles of the 14 suspects
"Today the administration finally recognized that the protections of the Geneva Convention should be applied to prisoners in order to restore our moral authority and best protect American troops," said Sen. John Kerry, who lost to Mr. Bush in the 2004 presidential election. "Today's shift in policy follows the sad legacy of five years during which this administration abused our Constitution, violated our laws, and most importantly failed to make America safe."
The president's announcement, which the White House touted beforehand and asked to be televised live on the networks, comes as Bush has sought with a series of speeches to sharpen the focus on national security two months before high-stakes congressional elections.
The president successfully emphasized the war on terror in his re-election campaign in 2004 and is trying to make it a winning issue for Republicans again this year.
Mr. Bush said the Central Intelligence Agency program has involved such suspected terrorists as Khalid Sheik Mohammed, believed to be the No. 3 al Qaeda leader before he was captured in Pakistan in 2003; Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged would-be Sept. 11, 2001, hijacker; Abu Zubaydah, who was believed to be a link between Osama bin Laden and many al Qaeda cells before he was also captured in Pakistan, in March 2002.
The former al Qaeda bosses were secretly flown to Guantanamo on Labor Day and immediately placed in cells segregated from the rest of the terrorist inmates. Now that they're in Guantanamo Bay, the al Qaeda leaders will be allowed Red Cross visits and treated like other prisoners. Asked how they fared during their years of secret captivity, one official told CBS News correspondent Jim Stewart, "They look better now than when we caught them."
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Islam and Terrorism: What the Quran Really Teaches About Christianity, Violence and the Goals of the Islamic Jihad (Paperback)
3.5 star rating(77 customer reviews).
Note: Not all Muslims are bad, its the teaching and brain washing by their leaders.
It's time for change...
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
Why do our government caretakers require us to give up our freedoms in exchange for protection? How does enslaving us make us secure? It doesn't. It is a false exchange and only fools would accept it.
If we set up the apparatus to secretly imprison and torture enemies of the state, it will come back to haunt us. Right now it is foreign terrorists, but by and by it will be domestic "persons of interest." We are acquiesing in our own demise.
If the terrorists are guilty, we should try them in the open and lay out the evidence against them so every knows and agrees. Then whatever punishment is levied against them can be just and justified.
It is a hallmark of democracy that government is open to scrutiny. It is a sign of totalitarianism that government feels compelled to hide its works in darkness. What are they afraid of?
In Col. James Rowe's book "Five Years to Freedom," he discusses his time in a North Vietnamese prison camp and how the military's former policy of "name, rank and serial number" was simply unrealistic when a prisoner was being tortured. Indeed, Col. Rowe's experience and book was a catalyst to a number of changes in the military when it comes to situations involving captivity--following his escape, Col. Rowe was key in implementing major overhauls to SERE school (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape), the completion of which is required for entrance into the Special Forces.
Whether or not torture is a moral or ethical practice is a different question altogether, but there are certainly members of the military that operate according to the presumption that torture is effective, and the military itself seems to take that position, as well.
# having political or social views favoring reform and progress
# tolerant of change; not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or tradition
# a person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties
# big: given or giving freely; "was a big tipper"; "the bounteous goodness of God"; "bountiful compliments"; "a freehanded host"; "a handsome allowance"; "Saturday's child is loving and giving"; "a liberal backer of the arts"; "a munificent gift"; "her fond and openhanded grandfather"
# a person who favors an economic theory of laissez-faire and self-regulating markets
# free: not literal; "a loose interpretation of what she had been told"; "a free translation of the poem"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
SO WHAT IS WRON WITH BEING LIBERAL?
I DONT UNDERSTAND HOW IT IS SOMHOW BETTER TO FIGHT IN IRAQ THEN TO DEFEND US HERE AT HOME.
I THINK AMERICANS WOULD ACCEPT THIS CHALLENGE AND DEFEND THEIR HOMELAND GIVEN THE CHANCE..
LET THEM (THE TERRORISTS) TRY ..WE WILL BE WAITING FOR THEM..
Rant and rave all you want, but you know in your soul that you will vote for the next President who will have the very same policy as President Bush in order to fight the war on terror effectively.
It's an acting in your own self-interest, and liberals are good at that.
United States, the current one is a big failure.
Kerry would have been a better president.
To bad for us, most of the above protections from presidential abuse will not be put in check with the RUBBER STAMP united GOP. That's why we need to VOTE these mindless talking point passing Republicans out of power, and replace them with folks who can think freely and listen. If we don't we'll be high on money and low on cash for the rest of our lives. Remember this: The days are long but the weeks are fast. So the next time cursory leaders want to take power in the United States, I'm not going to let them use up a tenth of my life doing it.
I dont understand how leglized torture will help us win the war on terror. Our military commanders and John McCain say that torture doesnt work because the information isnt reliable, I thought Bush listened to the Military commanders?
Seems like the Bush crying wolf. I need this, I need that, to win the war on the terrorists. I hope sometime the Congress will call him on this and just say "BS! you just want more power!"
- by stevyz1 September 6, 2006 3:07 PM EDT
- i believe we have forsaken the values we hold dear for the illusion of saftey...we will always have these type threats(and always have) the so called enemy are lashing out at us because we are in places we do not belong..had we minded our business and not persued policys that perpetuate ignorance and intolerance...if we werent trying to control world oil market.....and they think we want to destroy their way of life.. roles reversed i think we would resort to the same type tactics when faced with an enemy with resources far greater than us..i think most americans would rather have a slightly less safe place to live if we keep our freedoms as they were.... why does this administration think we will trade our values for presumed saftey....foolish
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See all 16 Commentspresident bush and this administration have used fear and a propaganda campaign very similar to hitlers propaganda machine we as americans are sick of the hype and fear mongering well its time to show them we are no longer buying. i think this election season will give them the wake up call....bush is more like the enemy he described...a terrorist and an evil man