On Monday, Americans
honored all of the men and women who have fought
for our country's security and our freedom.
Throughout our history, many millions of
Americans have come to the country's
defense. The United States certainly could
not have survived or succeeded without their
service.
Defending one's country is not, of course, a
uniquely American idea. Yet some still seem
to wonder why tens of thousands of Iraqis
volunteer for their security forces when it is
known that doing so makes them targets of attacks
by violent extremists; or why Afghans in growing
numbers risk their lives and often the lives of
their families to defy the terrorists in their
country; or why millions in Lebanon, Georgia,
Ukraine and elsewhere dare to demonstrate against
dictatorships when the penalty is known to be
imprisonment or death.
They do it because they want to build better
futures for themselves and their families and are
willing to pay the cost. Those privileged
to live in free countries are forever in the debt
of those who make our freedom possible.
And no force in the
world has done more to liberate people that they
have never met than the men and women of the
United States military. Indeed, that's why
the recent allegation that the U.S. military is
running a gulag at Guantanamo Bay is so
reprehensible. Most would define a
gulag as where the Soviet Union kept millions in
forced labor concentration camps, or I suppose
some might say that -- where Saddam Hussein
mutilated and murdered untold numbers because
they held views unacceptable to his regime.
To compare the United States and
Guantanamo Bay to such atrocities cannot
be excused.
Free societies depend on oversight, and they
welcome informed criticism, particularly on human
rights issues. But those who make
such outlandish charges lose any claim to
objectivity or seriousness. The
Washington Post, to its credit, rejected the
comparison between Guantanamo and a gulag in a
recent editorial.
Unfortunately, efforts to bring the detainee
issue into proper context have been somewhat
rare. Two of the country's largest
newspapers, for example, have devoted more than
80 editorials, combined, since March of 2004 to
Abu Ghraib and detainee issues, often repeating
the same erroneous assertions and recycling the
same stories. By comparison,
precious little has been written about -- by
those editorial boards about the beheading of
innocent civilians by terrorists, the thousands
of bodies found in mass graves in Iraq, the
allegations of rape of women and girls by U.N.
workers in the Congo.
Yes, there have been instances where detainees
have been mistreated while in U.S. custody,
sometimes grievously.
But consider these facts. To date, there
have been approximately 370 criminal
investigations into the charges of misconduct
involving detainees. Out of 68,000
detainees that have been in U.S. custody over the
period since September 11th. And of some
525,000 service members, men and women of the
various services who have served in Iraq and
Afghanistan, and in Guantanamo Bay, less than
one-tenth of 1 percent have been found to have
committed illegal acts against detainees.
It's also important to remember that the people
being detained at Guantanamo are, with good
reasons, suspected terrorists. Many, if not
most, have been systematically trained to lie and
to claim torture. At least a dozen of the
200 already released from GITMO have already been
caught back on the battlefield, involved in
efforts to kidnap and kill Americans.
Much was made recently of a news story falsely
accusing service members of flushing a Koran down
the toilet. But little has been said about
the great lengths that the military go to at
Guantanamo Bay to accommodate the religious
practices of detainees in their care. There
are specific instructions as to how those
involved in the custody of detainees should
handle themselves with respect to religious
matters. Special meals are provided to meet
cultural dietary requirements. Schedules
are respectful of prayer. Indications of the
direction to pray are provided. Detailed
guidelines are provided to the service people as
to the -- which govern the handling of the
Koran. [To view the standard operating
procedure click here: PDF or HTML.]
Copies of these instructions have been publicly
available, but they have received comparatively
little media attention. I have not yet seen
a complete printing of those instructions in any
journal. This lack of media attention to U.S.
policy guidance to treat detainees humanely
creates misperceptions.
But to try to equate the military's record on
detainee treatment to some of the worst
atrocities of the past century is a disservice to
those who have sacrificed so much to bring
freedom to others.
So, to the men and women who wear our country's
uniform, and to their families who support them,
I want you to know how proud we are of all of
your able service. We are in your
debt. And to those who may be considering
serving our nation, know that there is no finer
calling, no nobler cause, and no greater act of
patriotism.
You won't see the transcript of Donald Rumsfeld's
preamble to today's Defense Department news conference
in tomorrow's New York Times ... but that's why
you're not reading the New York Times right now.
The value of having a Secretary of Defense in this
time of war who is not running for some other job,
and who therefore is not carefully guarding his
political viability, is something well worth
remembering. A press conference like today's is a
good reminder of what that means.
That being said ... Rumsfeld/Rice in '08!*