Witnesses Support Guantanamo

WASHINGTON —  The commander of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said in testimony before a House panel Wednesday that interrogators were beginning to glean valuable intelligence from some detainees held there. The White House, meanwhile, shrugged off critics and stood by its decision not to shutter the facility.

Army Brig. Gen. Jay Hood, commander of the task force running the prison, told members of the House Armed Services Committee that prisoners at the island compound could still provide crucial information to military investigators.

“In some cases detainees under our control for as long as two years -- who had resisted talking to us and refused to communicate any relevant information -- have, over the last six months, elected to begin to talk with us about where they were and what their activities were,” Hood said.

“And I think that in fact, time is on our side as we convince them that we are determined and that we will not falter in our efforts.”

Amid growing criticism of the way the 518 inmates, mostly detained in Afghanistan, have been treated, the Pentagon allowed members of the Armed Services Committee to visit the site over the weekend, gaining some support from lawmakers.

Following calls to shut the prison, the Pentagon has joined the Bush administration in defending Guantanamo. Last week, Vice President Dick Cheney said in a televised interview that the prisoners were “living in the tropics” with “everything they could possibly want.”

President Bush has not veered from his determination to keep the prison open, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

“There has been no better alternative that has been brought to our attention for dealing with these detainees,” McClellan said.

Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon) said his visit to Guantanamo and comments by Hood had laid to rest what he considered “irresponsible allegations” of mistreatment.

“It’s obvious that we have to keep this facility, and we’ve got to keep it open,” Hunter said.

Hood denied allegations of systematic abuse of detainees at the prison. Other military officials dismissed allegations in a recent New England Journal of Medicine article that medical personnel were using detainees’ medical records to help point out vulnerabilities to interrogators. Asked if the article was accurate, Navy Cmdr. Cary Ostergaard, head of the prison hospital, replied, “Absolutely, 100% no, sir.”

Human rights and legal groups have been consistently critical of the prison. But their criticism was absent from Wednesday’s hearing, called to brief lawmakers on prison operations.

Del. Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-Guam), a nonvoting representative to Congress, dubbed it “more of a resort” than a prison. Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas) called it “the only place in Cuba where religious freedom is allowed.” Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.) wondered whether the prison was too accommodating.

Bordallo went on the Pentagon trip, but Reyes and Hefley did not. Reyes said he had been to Guantanamo before.

“No one wants to be in prison, but if you’re going to be in prison, this sounds like the one to be in,” Hefley said. “I’m sitting here thinking, ‘Give me a break.’ ”

Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) told reporters who met him on his return from Guantanamo that “the reports of abuse at Guantanamo Bay are absolutely false; I saw no abuse, nor did I see any signs of abuse.”

The committee heard from a panel of military officers, but the declined to hear from a witness the Democrats had sought. Thomas B. Wilner, a Washington lawyer who represents detainees, said he would have contradicted the descriptions by Hood and other military officials.

“That ain’t no resort,” Wilner said. “It’s a horrible place.” Wilner called the congressional visit a “public relations stunt.”

After the hearing, Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D-Walnut Creek) lamented what she called “almost a farcical attitude” by Republicans “to kind of belittle the allegations and to whitewash” charges of prisoner mistreatment.

“Clearly, Guantanamo is an international lightning rod, and frankly a recruiting poster for some deadly jihadists, and I would think we’d have to be smart enough to realize we have to deal with it in a transparent way, and have these allegations answered and clear the record,” Tauscher said.