WASHINGTON — The International Committee of the Red Cross this week delivered the latest in a series of critical reports on the treatment of prisoners held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, officials at the State Department and the Pentagon said Thursday.
The latest examination of the military's detention practices comes as the Bush administration continues to grapple with the political and diplomatic fallout of the Iraqi prison abuse scandal, triggered by worldwide publication of photographs showing U.S. soldiers humiliating and mistreating Iraqis held at Abu Ghraib prison, near Baghdad.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday May 19, 2004 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 45 words Type of Material: Correction
Guantanamo Bay -- An article in Friday's Section A about the detention facility at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said that the House Armed Services Committee heard testimony from Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz. It was the Senate Armed Services Committee.
In their report on Guantanamo, Red Cross officials "relay some of the concerns they have and some of the issues that they wanted to raise and discuss with us," State Department spokesman Richard A. Boucher told reporters. Boucher refused to discuss details of the report.
Another State Department official, who said he had read the report, described it as "critical" of living conditions and interrogation techniques used on detainees at the base, where hundreds of suspected members of Al Qaeda and the Taliban are being held without having been charged. Most were taken into custody during the 2001 war in Afghanistan.
"Most of these issues are issues we've been dealing with" for some time, said the official, who asked not to be named.
The Red Cross does not publicly disclose its findings on prisoner treatment and conditions, in keeping with the Swiss-run agency's practice of guaranteeing governments confidentiality in return for access.
The official said there appeared to be "a general lack of organization" in dealing with the American-run prisons in Afghanistan, Iraq and Cuba, where thousands of people have been detained during the U.S.-declared war on terrorism.
"Who is in control? Who is accountable? What are systemwide procedures? The point is, the ICRC still has unanswered questions," the official said.
The Red Cross has been visiting detainees at Guantanamo since January 2002, when the U.S. military began transferring hundreds of prisoners to the remote prison.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz told the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday that he had discussed the situation at Guantanamo in January with Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and national security advisor Condoleezza Rice were also present.
