Quote:
Originally posted by DelayedReaction
"Pentagon officials deny they were trying to hide the prisoner from the Red Cross, but concede he was classified as a type of enemy combatant that, under the Geneva Conventions, does not have to be immediately disclosed to the Red Cross."
I don't see the problem. Of course they hid him from the Red Cross; if he was classified as a prisoner whose existance should not be disclosed then they certainly wouldn't leave him out where the Red Cross could find him. I'm inclined to believe the word of the Pentagon when they say it was nonmalicious and a administrative mistake.
I don't like the connotation suggesting that Rumsfeld hid the prisoner in question. It sounds to me like the information presented by this prisoner was of such importance that he deserved special consideration, and Rumsfeld ordered that the prisoner be classified as such.
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From a lovely June 2004 White House Press Release...
" Q Government statute contain as it relates to the POWs and the Iraqi prisoners currently in American military custody, as it relates to the ICRC going in to visit them?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I expect we will continue to grant access to detainees who are in our custody. In terms of detainees that would be in the custody of the new government, that will be a sovereign government and you need to direct those questions to that government.
Q It's in your benefit at this point now to have the International Red Cross come in and take a look and make sure these atrocities --
MR. McCLELLAN: It's not "now," April, we always work very closely with the International Red Cross, and it's important that they do have access to detainees so that they can carry out their important role.
Q But the ICRC does have a concern about this new Iraqi government statute that may or may not give them the freedoms that they've had thus far.
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, like I said, in terms of the detainees that would be in our custody, I fully expect that we would continue to grant the International Committee for the Red Cross access to those detainees. In terms of the new government that will be in place, it's going to be a sovereign government and those questions need to be directed to that government.
Q Will you push -- will this White House push for the same kinds of access, or even more that was given to the ICRC when -- when the U.S. military --
MR. McCLELLAN: I said I fully expect that we will continue to grant access to the Red Cross for our detainees.
Q Will this White House push for the new Iraqi government to give the ICRC --
MR. McCLELLAN: And those are questions you need to address to the new government that will be in place in Iraq. I think they fully recognize the importance of that, as well, but I don't speak for that new government. It will be a sovereign government, they will have the authority to make those decisions on their own. "
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea...0040615-7.html
The White House (Bush) gives full consent for the International Red Cross to see that prisoners are being taken care of. This prisoner was denied access to the Red Cross for eight months, a clear violation of army policy, white house directive and international law.
Also, I would believe the Pentagon but after Abu Garib; the Pentagon is starting at a credibility level of zero. They lost all their political capital with this scandal and have to rebuild it from nothing.