Westlaw. 10/24/04 NYT 11 The New York Tinies Powell asked him to reconsider. Mr. Powell agreed that the conventions did not apply to the global fight against Al Qaeda. But he said troops could be put at risk if the United States disavowed the conventions in dealing with the Taliban -- the de facto government of Afghanistan. Both Mr. Rumsfeld and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard B. Myers, supported his position, Pentagon officials said. In a debate that included the administration's most experienced national-security officials, a voice heard belonged to Mr. Yoo, only a deputy in the Office of Legal Counsel. He cast Afghanistan as a "failed state," and said its fighters should not be considered a real army but a "militant, terrorist-like group." In a Jan. 25 memorandum, the White House counsel, Mr. Gonzales, characterized that opinion as "definitive," although it was not the final basis for the president's decision. The Gonzales memorandum suggested that the "new kind of war" Mr. Bush wanted to fight could hardly be reconciled with the "quaint" privileges that the Geneva Conventions gave to prisoners of war, or the "strict limitations" they imposed on interrogations. Military lawyers disputed the idea that applying the conventions would necessarily limit interrogators to the name, rank and serial number of their captives. "There were very good reasons not to designate the detainees as prisoners of war, but the claim that they couldn't be interrogated was not one of them," Colonel Lietzau said. Again, though, such questions were scarcely heard, officials involved in the discussions said. Mr. Yoo's rise reflected a different approach by the Bush administration to sensitive legal questions concerning foreign affairs, defense and intelligence. In past administrations, officials said, the Office of Legal Counsel usually weighed in with opinions on questions that had already been deliberated by the legal staffs of the agencies involved. Under Mr. Bush, the office frequently had a first and final say. "O.L.C. was definitely running the show legally, and John Yoo in particular," a former Pentagon lawyer said. "He's kind of fun to be around, and he has an opinion on everything. Even though he was quite young, he exercised disproportionate authority because of his personality and his strong opinions." Mr. Yoo's influence was amplified by friendships he developed not just with Mr. Addington and Mr. Flanigan, but also Mr. Haynes, with whom he played squash as often as three or four times a week at the Pentagon Officers Athletic Club. If the Geneva Conventions debate raised Mr. Yoo's stature, it had the opposite effect on lawyers at the State Department, who were later excluded from sensitive discussions on matters like the interrogation of detainees, officials from several agencies said. "State was cut out of a lot of this activity from February of 2002 on," one senior administration official said. "These were treaties that we were dealing with; they are meant to know about that." Westlaw. 10/24/04 NYT 11 The New York Times Page 14 The State Department legal adviser, William H. Taft IV. was shunned by the lawyers who dominated the detainee policy, officials said. Although Mr. Taft had served as the deputy secretary of defense during the Reagan administration, more conservative colleagues whispered that he lacked the constitution to fight terrorists. "He was seen as ideologically squishy and suspect," a former White House official said. "People did not take him very seriously." Through a State Department spokesman, Richard A. Boucher, Mr. Taft declined to comment. The rivalries could be almost adolescent. When field trips to Guantanamo Bay were arranged for administration lawyers, the invitations were sometimes relayed last to the State Department and National Security Council, officials said, in the hope that lawyers there would not be able to go on short notice. It was on the first field trip, 10 days after detainees began to arrive there on Jan. 11, 2002, that White House lawyers made clear their intention to move forward quickly with military commissions. On the flight home, several officials said, Mr. Addington urged Mr. Gonzales to seek a blanket designation of all the detainees being sent to Guantanamo as eligible for trial under the president's order. Mr. Gonzales agreed. The next day, the Pentagon instructed military intelligence officers at the base to start filling out one-page forms for each detainee, describing their alleged offenses. Weeks later, Mr. Haynes issued an urgent call to the military services, asking them to submit nominations for a chief prosecutor. The first trials, many military and administration officials believed, were just around the corner. Next: A Policy Unravels Photos: Seen through a night vision scope, marines escorted prisoners into a detention center in Kandahar, Afghanistan in late 2001. Many were later sent to Guantanamo Bay. (Photo Pool photo by U.S.M.C. Sgt. Thomas Michael Corcoran) (pg. 12); The courtroom at Guantanamo Bay, where some preliminary hearings have taken place. Of the roughly 560 men being held at the base, only 4 have been formally charged. (Photo by Angel Franco/The New York Times); (Photo by Hannah Fairfield/The New York Times) (pg 13); A prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay camp in February 2002. (Photo by Lynne Sladky/Associated Press) (pg. 1) Chart/Photos: "Behind Closed Doors, a New Code Is Written" A policy for military tribunals emerged from a small group of senior administration officials who exercised unusual power in days after Sept. 11. Key Players Westlaw. 10/24/04 NYT 11 The New York Tinies Page 15 OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY -- Vice president of the United States Guided pivotal discussions as the presidential order was being written. DAVID S. ADDINGTON -- Counsel to Vice President Cheney One of the two main authors. WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL ALBERTO F. GONZALES -- White House counsel Often contributed to discussions. TIMOTHY B. FLANIGAN -- Deputy White House counsel One of the two main authors. Has since left the administration. Other Players They were closely informed about the plan and contributed to discussions. JOHN C. YOO -- Lawyer in Justice Dept.'s Office of Legal Counsel Has since left the administration. Did not see the presidential order until it was made public. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL CONDOLEEZZA RICE -- National security adviser STATE DEPARTMENT COLIN L. POWELL Secretary of state (pg. 13) INDEX REFERENCES NEWS SUBJECT: (Legal (1LB33); Judicial (1JU36); International Terrorism (1IN37); Legislation (1LB97); United Nations (1UN54); Government (10080); International Law Westlaw. 10/24/04 NYT 11 The New York Tinies Page 16 (1IN60); Economics & Trade (1EC26); Sept 11th Aftermath (1SB05)) INDUSTRY: (Aerospace & Defense (1AB96); Defense (1DB43); Ground Forces (1GR94); Defense Intelligence (1DE90); Military Forces (1M137); Defense Policy (1DE81); Aerospace & Defense Regulatory (1AE25); Defense Spending (1DE35)) REGION: (North America (1N039); Western Europe (1WE41); Latin America (1LA15); Cuba OTHER INDEXING: (Golden, Tim; Cheney, Dick (Vice Pres); Rice, Condoleezza; Rumsfeld, Donald H (Sec); Bush, George W (Pres); Powell, Colin L (Sec}} (AGGRESSIVE APPROACH; AIR PORCE; AMERICAN EMBASSIES; ARMY; CIRCLE; CONGRESS; CONSTITUTION; COUNSEL; DEFENSE; DEFENSE DEPARTMENT; DEFENSE DEPT; DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE; FEDERALIST SOCIETY; GUANTANAMO; GUANTANAMO SUPREME COURT; JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF; JUSTICE DEPARTMENT: JUSTICE DEPT; LEGAL COUNSEL; NATIONAL; NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL; NAVY, NAZI; OFFICE OF LEGAL COUNSEL, PAN AM; PATRICK P PHILBIN; PENTAGON; PENTAGON OFFICERS ATHLETIC CLUB; REAR; SECRET REWRITING; SECRETIVE CIRCLE, SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE, STATE, STATE DEPARTMENT; SUPREME COURT; TALIBAN; VERMONT DEMOCRAT; WHITE HOUSE) (Addington; Al Qaeda; Alberto F. Gonzales; Angel Franco; Antonin Scalia; Ashcroft; Barr; Berenson, Bradford Berenson; Bush; Cheney; Chertoff; Civil; Clarence Thomas; Clinton; Colin L. Powell; Condoleezza Rice; COUNSELALBERTO F. GONZALES; David S. Addington; DEPARTMENTCOLIN L. POWELL; DEPARTMENTDONALD H. RUMSFELD; Dick Cheney, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Donald J. Guter; Flanigan, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Gonzales; Guter; Hannah Fairfield; Haynes; HOUSE; Increasingly; J. HAYNES; John A. Gordon; John Ashcroft; John C. Yoo; John Yoo; Justice, Kenneth W. Starr; Larry D. Thompson; Lawrence H. Silberman; Lawrence J. Morris; Leahy; Legally; Lietzau; Lynne Sladky; Michael Chertoff, Mounting Criticism, Opening, Patrick J. Leahy, Philbin, Powell; Prosper; Qaeda, Reagan; Rice; Richard A. Boucher; Richard B. Myers; Richard L. Shiffrin; Richard Prosper; Roosevelt; Rumsfeld; Senators; Shiffrin; Silberman; Spokesmen; Taft; Thomas J. Romig; Thomas Michael; Timothy E. Flanigan; Tough Justice; William H. Taft; William J. Haynes; William K. Lietzau; William P. Barr; Yoo) (Terrorism; Surveys and Series; Freedom and Human Rights; Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (Cuba); Terrorism; Terrorism; Terrorism) (Series) (Afghanistan) EDITION: Late Edition - Final Word Count: 7946 10/24/04 NYT 11 END OF DOCUMENT ARTICLE, DOUGLAS JEHL, NEIL A. LEWIS, & TIM GOLDEN, "THE REACH OF WAR: GUANTANAMO: PENTAGON SEEKS TO SHIFT INMATES FROM CUBA BASE," NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 11, 2005, AVAILABLE ON WESTLAW AT 2005 WLNR 3773506 Copyright (c) 2005 The New York Times. All rights reserved. March 11, 2005 Section: A THE REACH OF WAR: GUANTANAMO; PENTAGON SEEKS TO SHIFT INMATES FROM CUBA BASE DOUGLAS JEHL; Neil A. Lewis and Tim Golden contributed reporting for this article. Pentagon reportedly seeks help from State Department and other agencies to cut detainee population at Guantanamo prison by more than half, in part by transferring suspected terrorists to prisons in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Yemen; CIA, which has carried out such transfers, and State and Justice Departments have resisted some previous handovers out of concern for US security or potential mistreatment; Sec Donald Rumsfeld seeks support for plan, starting with Afghanistan; some outright releases are also possible to cut detainee population of about 540; Pentagon has also halted flow of new prisoners into Guantanamo; most there no longer have intelligence value and are not interrogated regularly; adverse court rulings and determination to get other countries to share burden also cited; Rumsfeld photo; chart on transfers (M) WASHINGTON, March 10 The Pentagon is seeking to enlist help from the State Department and other agencies in a plan to cut by more than half the population at its detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in part by transferring hundreds of suspected terrorists to prisons in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Yemen, according to senior administration officials. The transfers would be similar to the renditions, or transfers of captives to other countries, carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency, but are subject to stricter approval within the government, and face potential opposition from the C.I.A. as well as the State and Justice Departments, the officials said. Administration officials say those agencies have resisted some previous handovers, out of concern that transferring the prisoners to foreign governments could harm American security or subject the prisoners to mistreatment. A Feb. 5 memorandum from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld calls for broader interagency support for the plan, starting with efforts to work out a significant transfer of prisoners to Afghanistan, the officials said. The proposal is part of a Pentagon effort to cut a Guantanamo population that stands at about 540 detainees by releasing some outright and by transferring others for continued detention elsewhere. |