US/CUBA: The US Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, has defended US treatment of detainees being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and said it was unfair to suggest such "hard core terrorists" were being treated inhumanely.
Responding to European criticism over US handling of the detainees in open cells on the isolated US Naval base in Cuba, Mr Rumsfeld said there was no doubt in his mind the prisoners were being looked after well.
"Obviously anyone would be concerned if people were suggesting that treatment were not proper. The fact remains that treatment is proper. There is no doubt in my mind that it is humane and appropriate and consistent with the Geneva Convention for the most part," he told reporters.
Mr Rumsfeld also said "American Taliban" fighter Mr John Walker Lindh would return home "very soon". "It depends on when airplanes can pick people up and transport them to the proper place here in the US, but I would think in the immediate future, several days," he said.
Human rights groups have accused Washington of treating the prisoners inhumanely after they were brought from Afghanistan aboard US military transport planes shackled and blindfolded.
"I think that the people who have been the most shrill on the subject, once they have more knowledge of the subject, will stop being so shrill," said Mr Rumsfeld, speaking after an interview with NBC's Meet The Press program. Mr Rumsfeld said people should remember the detainees were extremely dangerous. "These are very tough, hard-core, well-trained terrorists," he said.
The US military has transferred at least 110 prisoners to Guantanamo Bay since last week and several hundred more are being held in Afghanistan. A four-person team from the International Committee of the Red Cross has been at the US base in Cuba since Thursday to inspect the prison camp and interview the detainees.
Called Camp X-Ray, the prisoners are being held in 2 metres by 2.6 metres enclosures with roofs and floors but only chain-link walls until more permanent structures are built.
Giving details of their living conditions, Mr Rumsfeld said prisoners were getting excellent medical care and receiving "culturally appropriate food" three times a day. "They are being allowed to practice their religion, which is not something that they encouraged on the part of others," he said.
To accuse the young American guards watching over the detainees of being abusive to their captives was unfair, said Mr Rumsfeld.
