'Orwellian' Doublespeak on Guntanamo: a Visit to the U.S. Consulate

How does a top U.S. State Department lawyer 'justify torture interrogations' and the conditions at Guantanamo? In this article from Germany's Die Zeit, a German reporter takes readers to a briefing held at the U.S. Consulate in Hamburg with Condoleezza Rice's legal advisor, John B. Bellinger.

By Florian Klenk

Translated By Bob Skinner

March 15, 2006

Germany - Die Zeit - Original Article (German)  

At first glance everything here has a calming effect. Near the U.S. Consulate in Hamburg, on the shore of the Aussenalster [an artificial lake], children play in the snow and ducks waddle on the ice.  This building used to have an open door, but since it was here in Hamburg that Mohammed Atta planned the 9/11 attacks, the property has become a little fortress.  A visitor walks past a security fence and police officers with automatic weapons, and presents himself before a dark, mirrored window.  An official who can't be seen greets the visitor through a speaker. Later on, the official told me politely, "I'd prefer not to be recognized by the people outside. Not everyone's as peaceful as you."

Could life in such a fortress alter the good judgment of a nation?  This past Monday [13 March], the U.S. government invited journalists to a special event at the Consulate.  John B. Bellinger, Legal Advisor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, would explain the framework of U.S. prisoner policy and give his views on accusations of torture at Guantanamo, specifically those recently raised by Vienna human rights lawyer Manfred Nowak while on assignment for the U.N.  His report discussed degrading treatment and the reluctance of U.S. authorities to submit to international oversight.

A friendly staff member led the visitor through the large entrance hall, past portraits of Bush and Cheney, and into the conference room.  At each table there was orange juice, pastries and paper cups emblazoned with multi-colored stars.  In front of the room there was a TV screen with the legal advisor Bellinger.  In greeting he says "We did a bad job."  He didn't mean conditions in Cuba or Abu Ghraib, but rather the "Diplomatic Battlefield."  Bellinger says "We have too few people out there clearing up all the false reports."

So: how is it really in that camp that the U.N. would like to close?  Will it actually be closed?  Or will it be discretely replaced by a much worse facility in Afghanistan, as The New York Times has reported?

"No" says Bellinger.  "Guantanamo stays."  Nowak was "only showing his own prejudices."  Of course there are nicer places in the world.  Still, the prisoners there had "large recreation areas" and were offered "an extensive entertainment program."  They receive medical treatment and "it's been a long time since the prisoners had to wear orange overalls" (the traditional dress of those on death row in U.S. prisons).  Yes, many of them would call on the courts, perhaps because they "don't have Internet access in the camp." And incidentally, he says, every journalist is warmly invited to visit the camp to form his own impression.  1,100 of your colleagues have already accepted the invitation.  There's only one restriction: prisoners, of whom dozens are being fed through nose tubes, may not be spoken to.  Even the U.N. delegation, which Bellinger doesn't tire of attacking, was held to that. "There's no country where one can speak with prisoners of war."

PRISONERS OF WAR?

Bellinger had up to now avoided this expression. He speaks of "unlawful combatants who don't reveal themselves as soldiers, and, ignoring the laws of war, turn their weapons against us."  Thus international law doesn't apply to these "individuals," and they can't simply be brought up before courts as "these human rights attorneys" demand.  They need to be kept in custody until the "War on Terror" is over.  "I and we, the nation" says Bellinger "must redefine the law in relation to these 'individuals' to protect America and the world."

And torture? Two U.S. Defense Department memorandums from 2002 and 2003 list the interrogation methods that are explicitly permitted: "Withdrawal of light and acoustic stimulation;" "removal of all eating utensils" "shaving of the beard;" "the withdrawal of clothing;" "interrogations lasting more than 20 hours;" "the use of phobias, for example of dogs;" "the use of extreme temperatures;" "changing the environment to create mild anxiety;" "modifying sleep schedules;" "isolation;" "interrogations with a hood on the head." Isn't that torture, Mr. Bellinger?

No, he says, straightening the part in his hair, the law should be read more precisely.  Torture lies primarily in the infliction of "irreparable physical injury" as a result of interrogation. In addition, these memoranda are quite old.

And Khaled El-Masri? How did Condoleezza Rice explain to Angela Merkel the CIA deporting him to Afghanistan? Bellinger will "definitely not comment on individual cases."  Nonetheless one was revealed: The Secretary will only "in general" clarify that mistakes did happen. And incidentally, he continues, it's always been the position of the European Court of Justice for Human Rights that terrorists can be delivered to their homelands.  He named Kurdish terrorist leader Abdullah Ocalan and the terrorist Carlos [the Jackel] .  Bellinger didn't mention that the European Human Rights Court explicitly forbids the delivery of such criminals to states that commit torture.

No, the "open discussion" that Bellinger had promised is not happening here in this Orwellian scene. One of the highest-ranking lawyers in the administration flickers across the TV screen and describes the legal criticism raised by Europe, the U.N. and other well-known human rights organizations as simply "incorrect," "completely false," or "manipulative."

This is not a misunderstanding, but a conflict of legal cultures.  There is clear disagreement on whether people can be held in jail without due process, without charge, treated in a degrading way and interrogated.

After an hour, Bellinger took his leave of the journalists who had tuned in from Cologne, Berlin and Hamburg. He would be pleased, he said, to one day get to know all of the journalists. Then the screen went black. While taking his leave, a consular official comments on his impression of the discussion: "The Europeans still think they're living before 9/11."