Cheney Backs Gitmo Amid Criticism

Suspected terrorists will continue to be held in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Vice President Dick Cheney says, amid concerns by some fellow Republicans that the situation may be counterproductive.

"The important thing here to understand is that the people that are at Guantanamo are bad people," Cheney said in an interview airing Monday night on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" program.

"I mean, these are terrorists for the most part. These are people that were captured in the battlefield of Afghanistan or rounded up as part of the al Qaeda network."

Human rights activists and some lawmakers — mostly Democrats — want the prison closed, highlighting allegations of torture and abuse of detainees. President Bush has said his administration is "exploring all alternatives" for detaining the 540 prisoners, some of whom have been held for more than three years without charge.

"We've already screened the detainees there and released a number, sent them back to their home countries," Cheney said in the interview, taped Friday. "But what's left is hard core."

"When detainees were first taken from Afghanistan to Guantanamo four years ago, the Administration thought it was taking prisoners to a place outside U.S. jurisdiction," said CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst Pamela Falk who has been to the base twice. "The Supreme Court has since said that detainees have rights under both U.S. law and international law but little has been done to respond to critics who say it is legal limbo or a 'no-man's-land' where U.S. authorities can do whatever they want."

Some Republican lawmakers say problems over the prison itself and allegations of mistreatment there should cause the administration to consider closing the facility.

Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican from Nebraska, cited Guantanamo on Sunday as one reason the U.S. is "losing the image war around the world."

"We've got a lot of people running around the world who want to do great damage to this country and other nations," he told CNN's "Late Edition." "We do need some kind of a facility to hold these people. But this can't be indefinite. This can't be a situation where we hold them forever and ever and ever until they die of old age. "

Sen. Mel Martinez, a Florida Republican, said Friday that Guantanamo has "become an icon for bad stories and at some point you wonder the cost-benefit ratio."

"How much do you get out of having that facility there? Is it serving all the purposes you thought it would serve when initially you began it, or can this be done some other way a little better?"

These comments follow reports of very aggressive interrogation techniques on prisoners there and confirmation that the Muslim holy book was mishandled a number of times by American guards, reports CBS News Senior White House Correspondent Bill Plante.

In a statement Sunday, the Defense Department said it "does not wish to hold detainees longer than necessary, and effective processes are in place to regularly review the status of enemy combatants."

"The concept of Guantanamo was never to establish a permanent prison for terrorists," said Falk, "it is after all on a leased property in Cuba, but the longer it goes on without tribunals and without an end in sight, the more untenable and irresponsible it looks to both U.S. allies and critics."

The Senate Judiciary Committee plans a hearing on the issue Wednesday. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the panel's senior Democrat, said the United States has created a "legal black hole" at Guantanamo. "We want other countries to adhere to the rule of law. And in Guantanamo, we are not," he told CBS' Face the Nation.

In the latest report about the prison, Time magazine reported Sunday on an 84-page document detailing the Guantanamo interrogation of one detainee, Mohamed al-Qahtani, who was captured during the war in Afghanistan.

It was learned later that he had tried to enter the U.S. in August 2001, but was turned away by an immigration agent at the Orlando, Florida, airport. Mohamed Atta, ringleader of the Sept. 11 hijackers, was in the airport at the same time, officials have said.

Military intelligence officials at Guantanamo got permission to use intensive interrogation techniques on two prisoners, including al-Qahtani, who were deemed to be important al Qaeda figures, the commander of U.S. Southern Command has said.

"He was subjected to some of the most rigorous interrogation procedures at Guantanamo," said Time correspondent Viveca Novak on CBS News' The Early Show. "There were a number of techniques ranging from fear to humiliation and sometimes even to being nice to him, to try to get him to cough up information."

Time said interrogators used such techniques as dripping water on al-Qahtani's head; strip-searching him and making him stand nude; and depriving him of sleep. At one point, after receiving fluid intravenously because he was dehydrated, al-Qahtani was told to urinate in his pants by interrogators who refused his request to use the bathroom so they could continue with their questioning, according to the account.

Novak also noted an incident in the log that was called invasion of space by a female.

"It isn't clear exactly what interactions this female interrogator had with him. We know she was obviously pushing her body up close against his, but the specifics aren't there," Novak told Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm. "But it was so disturbing to him that he at one point said that he wanted to commit suicide because of her. And he asked for material to write a will."

"He was given a crayon and a piece of paper. He did write a will, which was later ripped up after he didn't answer an interrogator's question," she added.

The Defense Department said in response that the interrogation of al-Qahtani "was guided by a very detailed plan and conducted by trained professionals motivated by a desire to gain actionable intelligence, to include information that might prevent additional attacks on America."