I have been "off blogging" for awhile now, but wanted to go back to last Friday and comment on this letter... Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld has answered the criticism of Gitmo in this short and sweet message. He accurately points out that no "military detention facility" has ever been as open to the public, a fact (opened to media) I have always had issues with for the exact reasons we are discussing now. Further, he points out the declassification of documents and the distribution to appease this need for information. Lastly he defines the reason for a detention facility -- it is not a prison for criminals, a fact that misses many liberals...
Arguably, no detention facility in the history of warfare has been more transparent and received more scrutiny than Guantanamo. There have been numerous visits from members of the news media, congressional representatives and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Last year, the Department of Defense declassified highly sensitive memorandums on interrogation techniques. Unfortunately, they were documents that are useful to terrorist operatives, but we posted them on the Internet specifically to set the record straight about U.S. policies and practices.
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It is important to remember that the purpose of detaining these enemy combatants is not to punish them for committing a crime, but to gain intelligence about terrorist operations and to prevent them from attacking again. We have gained intelligence at Guantanamo that have stopped terror attacks and saved American lives.
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