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An inquiry into allegations of mishandling of the Koran by U.S. personnel at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, reveals "a consistent, documented policy of respectful handling" dating back almost two and a half years, the general who led the effort said this week. Army Brig. Gen. Jay Hood, commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo, released results of his inquiry, which was launched following allegations in the media that U.S. personnel at the detention facility had flushed a Koran down the toilet. The inquiry found no credible evidence that the flushing incident occurred, U.S. Southern Command officials said in a news release. "This matter is considered closed," the statement said. Hood's extensive inquiry of documents and procedures at the detention facility related to alleged abuse of the Koran revealed "five incidents of apparent mishandling by guards or interrogators and 15 incidents of mishandling and outright desecration by detainees," Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said June 3. Four alleged incidents of mishandling by U.S. personnel could not be confirmed, Hood said. The inquiry involved a review of 31,000 hard-copy and electronic documents covering 28,000 interrogations, Di Rita noted. In addition, Hood said the inquiry team reviewed 63 Habeas petitions for any incidents involving the Koran, as well as 38 press articles. It also included a review of procedures involving the Koran. Since January 2002, Joint Task Force Guantanamo has issued more than 1,600 Korans and undergone thousands of cell moves that involved moving detainee effects, including Korans, U.S. Southern Command officials noted. From those activities, the inquiry team identified 19 incidents in which U.S. personnel handled Korans. Ten of those incidents involved no mishandling, and simply touching of the Muslim holy book "during the normal performance of duty," the statement said. "With the other nine incidents, there was either intentional or unintentional mishandling of a Koran," Hood said. He defined mishandling as "touching, holding or the treatment of a Koran in a manner inconsistent with policy or procedure." "We have confirmed that five of these alleged mishandling incidents took place," Hood said. "After thoroughly investigating the four remaining alleged mishandling incidents, we cannot determine conclusively if they actually happened." Hood's inquiry identified 15 incidents in which detainees mishandled the Koran. These involved using it as a pillow, ripping pages from it, attempting to flush it down a toilet, and urinating on it, SOUTHCOM officials said. Hood called mishandling of the Koran by U.S. personnel at the Guantanamo facility "a rare occurrence" that "is never condoned." "When one considers the many thousands of times detainees have been moved and cells have been searched since detention operations first began here in January 2002, I think one can only conclude that respect for detainee beliefs was embedded in the culture of the JTF from the start," Hood said. Koran-handling procedures in force at Guantanamo Bay are "appropriate," SOUTHCOM officials said the inquiry concluded. However, they said, "a number of recommendations for minor modifications are under review." "SOUTHCOM's policy of Koran handling is obviously serious, respectful and appropriate," Di Rita said. "The Hood inquiry confirms that." Related Articles: ** Inquiry
Finds 'No Credible Evidence' Koran Ever Flushed Down Toilet Inquiry
Finds 'No Credible Evidence'
A military inquiry has found "no credible evidence" that any member of the joint task force at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, ever "flushed" a Koran down a toilet, the organization's commander said here May 26. Speaking at a late-day Pentagon press briefing May 26, Army Brig. Gen. Jay W. Hood said that over the past 12 days officials have conducted an "extensive inquiry" into allegations that the Islamic holy book was mishandled by U.S. personnel at the enemy-combatant detention facility in Guantanamo. Officials have reviewed more than three years' worth of records and some 31,000 documents, Hood said. The military investigation stems from a May 9 Newsweek magazine story, later retracted, that claimed guards at the prison had flushed a Koran down the toilet. The story based its allegations on an interrogation conducted by FBI personnel at Guantanamo Bay in July of 2002. "From the beginning of the inquiry, I directed that we look into all alleged Koran mishandling allegations, and specifically focused on whether any member of the joint task force had flushed a Koran down a toilet," Hood said. "First off, I'd like you to know that we have found no credible evidence that a member of the Joint Task Force at Guantanamo Bay ever flushed a Koran down a toilet." Military guards at Guantanamo Bay are careful to provide proper respect to the tenets of Islam, with particular care being paid to respecting the Koran. Media touring the facility's Camp Delta in February were shown how each detainee's Koran is hung from the cell wall in a surgical mask to provide a clean place, off the floor or bed. The intent is to hold the holy book "in a place of reverence," a Navy guard explained. In each cell block a painted arrow points toward Mecca, Saudi Arabia, so the detainees know which way to face during their daily prayers. During Ramadan, detainees were allowed to break their daily fast with water and dates at the appropriate time, and prayer calls are broadcast over loudspeakers five times a day. "I want to assure you that we are committed to respecting the cultural dignity of the Koran and the detainees' practice of faith," Hood said at his Pentagon briefing. "Every effort has been made to provide religious articles associated with the Islamic faith, accommodate prayers and religious periods, and provide culturally acceptable meals and practices." Hood said the current investigation has turned up 13 incidents of alleged mishandling of the Koran by Joint Task Force personnel - though, he added, most mishandling was done inadvertently. He said that 10 of the mishandling incidents were by a guard and three by interrogators. "We found that in only five of those 13 incidents -- four by guards and one by an interrogator -- there was what could be broadly defined as mishandling of a Koran," Hood said. "None of these five incidents was a result of a failure to follow standard operating procedures in place at the time the incident occurred," he pointed out, noting most of the incidents in question occurred in the early days of the detention facility, before proper operating procedures had been put in place. Hood said the investigation also revealed six more incidents where guards either "accidentally touched" the Koran, touched it within the scope of his duties, or did not actually touch the Koran at all. "We consider each of these incidents resolved," he said. Hood said there were two more incidents where interrogators "either touched or stood over" the Koran during an interrogation. "The first incident does not appear to be mishandling, as it involved placing two Korans on a television," Hood pointed out. "The Koran was not touched during the second incident, and the interrogator's action during the interrogation was accidental." Investigators also identified 15 incidents where "detainees mishandled or inappropriately treated the Koran." He said one incident involved a detainee who "ripped pages out of their own Koran." Hood said it is important to remember that the detainees at Guantanamo are "not a benign group of people." "These are enemy combatants detained because they represent a clear threat and danger to the United States and our allies," he added. The now-retracted Newsweek story refers to a detainee who claimed during interrogation that guards at the facility beat detainees and flushed a Koran down a toilet. But Hood said the detainee told the recent military investigators a different story. The detainee said, "no, that he wasn't beaten or abused, but that he had heard rumors that other detainees were," Hood said. "We then proceeded to ask him about any incidences where he had seen the Koran defiled, desecrated or mishandled, and he allowed as how he hadn't," Hood emphasized. "But he had heard guards -- that guards at some other point in time had done this. "(The detainee) went on to describe to his interrogator that that was a problem that was only in the old camp," Hood said. "I believe he meant referring to Camp X-Ray." Camp X-Ray was a temporary facility used when detainees were first brought to Guantanamo Bay in early 2002. More suitable holding facilities were opened in April 2002. Hood said "guards and the detainees well understand the procedures that are used for us to look at a Koran today." Nevertheless he said, task force personnel will continue to review the "adequacy of our procedures" and develop recommendations to improve practices and processes outlined in our standard operating procedures for handing the Koran. (AFPS writer Kathleen T. Rhem contributed to this article.) Myers
Calls Guantanamo Torture
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff took strong exception to recent media reports of systemic torture and abuse of prisoners at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The International Committee of the Red Cross "has been at Guantanamo since day one," Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers told Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday." "It is essentially a model facility." Myers noted that the United States spends $2.5 million annually just to ensure that detainees have a proper Muslim-approved diet. "We've passed out 1,600 Korans in 13 different languages. We've gone to extraordinary lengths to treat people humanely and in accordance with the Geneva Conventions," Myers told Bob Schieffer on the CBS News program "Face the Nation." "We get good marks for the way we take care of people." And yet, Schieffer said, "100 detainees have died in U.S. custody. Why did that happen?" Myers said it's important to look at the issue in the proper context, and that a close examination of investigative data shows that prisoner abuse "is not systemic. It is not the policy of this government, obviously." The U.S. military has had about 68,000 detainees in custody in Guantanamo, Iraq and Afghanistan, Myers said. There have been 325 investigations of alleged mistreatment, 100 of which have been documented. Some investigations are still pending. Myers said that in the 100 cases where mistreatment has been substantiated, U.S. military personnel have been disciplined -- sometimes quite seriously by court martial. There has been a range of punishments, depending on the severity of the crime, he explained. Moreover, not all detainee deaths have occurred because of mistreatment. Myers noted that "some people have died from natural causes," and every instance of abuse was brought to light by U.S. military personnel. "We want to treat people humanely," he said. The number of incidents is "very small compared to the population of detainees that we've handled," Myers told Wallace. The chairman called allegations of torture at Guantanamo false and "absolutely irresponsible." Myers disagreed with contentions made this week by Amnesty International. The human rights group this week said "the U.S. government is a leading purveyor and practitioner of this odious human rights violation." The group also described Guantanamo as "the Gulag of our time." Former Soviet slave labor camps where millions of people died were known as the Gulag. Myers said Amnesty International is seriously misusing the term Gulag and misapplying it to Guantanamo. "I think I'd ask them to go look up the definition of Gulag as it is commonly understood," he said. Nonetheless, Wallace observed, allegations of torture and abuse at Guantanamo have sparked widespread media coverage and worldwide protests by disaffected Muslims. "What or who do you think is driving these demonstrations around the world?" he asked. Myers said that some protests were premeditated provocations -- "planned before the Koran story came out in a magazine." The Koran story is a reference to a recent allegation in Newsweek magazine that U.S. military personnel flushed a Koran down the toilet. Newsweek later retracted the story. The U.S. military investigated the charge and reported this week that there have been five instances in which the Koran was mishandled. Three of those errors were intentional, and none involved flushing the Koran down the toilet. Myers noted "instructions for handling the Koran (at Guantanamo Bay) are very detailed." "I think what contributes to this ... is sometimes the relish on some people's part to play up what I consider to be a very minor piece of this whole effort -- and I don't know why they do that," he said. "I don't know why they relish focusing on this." Myers said that real outrage ought to be directed at the terrorists who are beheading and killing innocent men, women and children. He mentioned specifically the murder of Sergio Vieira de Mello, who had headed up the United Nations mission in Iraq; the slaying of Margaret Hassan, "who spent essentially her entire life caring for Iraqi children"; and the beheading of a Japanese worker in Iraq. All of these innocents, Myers told Schieffer, were killed by "savage, mass-murdering people who will stop at nothing to promote their ideology and their view of the world." The chairman did acknowledge that there is a real debate to be had about Guantanamo, and it is: "How do you handle people who aren't part of a nation-state effort that are picked up on the battlefield?" If you release them or let them return to their home countries, he explained, they will revert to their evil and violent ways. "These are the (type of) people that took four airplanes and drove them into three buildings on Sept. 11," Myers said. "And we struggle of course because this is a different kind of struggle, a different kind of war; we struggle with how to handle them," he said. "But we've always handled them humanely and with the dignity that they should be accorded." |