3 April 2002
Source: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2002/t04032002_t0403sd.html

DoD News Briefing - Secretary Rumsfeld and Gen. Myers

Wednesday, April 3, 2002 at 12:30 p.m. EST

[Excerpts]

Rumsfeld: There's been some speculation on Abu Zubaydah. And let me just be very precise so that some of the misinformation and misunderstanding that's sweeping the air waves in the last 24 hours is put to rest.

We, the United States government, have made a conscious decision not to release his location, as a matter of security.

Second, the United States is providing him appropriate medical attention. We have every interest in seeing that he remains alive and has an opportunity to discuss a variety of things with us that conceivably could be helpful to the global war on terrorism.

Third, the United States is responsible for his detention, and any speculation to the contrary is inaccurate.

. . .

Q: Mr. Secretary, you said earlier that Abu Zubaydah is under U.S. control or the U.S. is controlling his detention. Can you help us understand what the priorities are with a prisoner like this? Is it to get intelligence from him first and to prosecute later? And if that becomes a difficulty, just focus on the intelligence-gathering? Is that how you approach an individual like this?

Rumsfeld: There is no question but that the overriding importance -- important issue is intelligence gathering.

Q: And is there a debate within this administration as to whether or not a third country might be a better recipient of this particular suspect?

Rumsfeld: There is no debate and there is no plan to have -- let me rephrase it. There is no debate at all on anything relating to this individual, that I'm aware of.

Q: To hand him over to a third country --

Rumsfeld: On any aspect of this individual, I know of no debate within this administration.

Q: Oh, well that -- okay. We'll play with the words, then.

Rumsfeld: No, no. There's no playing with words. I don't believe there is a debate about any aspect of this individual's circumstance.

Q: Is it your understanding that the United States will maintain control of this individual?

Rumsfeld: I said -- I think I -- I could be wrong, but I thought I said that we are responsible for his detention and we intend to remain responsible for his detention. And that means exactly what it means, that we, the United States of America, are responsible for him.

Q: You don't plan to change that to "control"?

Rumsfeld: We have -- we have no plans to change the issue as to whether or not we are responsible for him.

Q: Follow-up?

Q: If issue -- could I --

Q: Sorry, but I'm going to have to belabor --

Rumsfeld: Don't be sorry.

Q: Well, okay. Thank you. (Soft laughter). The wording here is confusing to me, at least -- "responsible for his detention" -- does that mean the United States is holding him?

Rumsfeld: It happens that we are. I use the word because it's conceivable that -- well, I've never been one to willy-nilly throw away options. I have no -- I can't conceive of why we would not want to hold him. We currently are holding him. But I don't need to promise the world that we will hold him in perpetuity. Therefore, I don't. Therefore, I selected the word that is exactly the word I wanted to use. It is exactly the right word. It conveys exactly the meaning that I intended to convey.

(Cross talk.)

Q: Mr. Secretary, you said --

Rumsfeld: You're not going to belabor the same subject, are you?

Q: Well, I am, actually.

Rumsfeld: Brett (sp)? (Laughter.)

Q: I'm sure he'll defer to me. (Laughter.)

You said yesterday --

Q: Go ahead, Nick.

Q: You said yesterday that you refuse to disclose his location for security reasons.

Rumsfeld: I still do.

Q: Okay. What detention facility could be more secure right now than Guantanamo Bay, and why wouldn't he be transferred to that site?

Rumsfeld: I have no desire to discuss the issue. We've made a good decision. It's the right decision. I've explained it in exactly the depth that it is appropriate to explain it.

Q: Mr. Secretary, will you --

Q: Mr. Secretary, why belabor this? Why belabor --

Rumsfeld: I'm not belaboring anything.

Q: But the point is, you brought up the issue, sir.

Rumsfeld: You're belaboring it.

Q: The reports on here indicate that the United States might transfer him to a third country because that third country might put electrodes on him or whatever; might -- is that what

Rumsfeld: That isn't what I --

Q: Is that what you're saying here?

Rumsfeld: That is what I saw on television, and that is wrong and irresponsible.

Q: That's not what the report said. That's not what the report said. I'm sorry, Charlie.

Rumsfeld: I saw a report that referred to a word I don't even want to use, and it -- I don't even know if the person's in the room.

Q: (Off mike.)

Rumsfeld: Yes. I think -- I think you've got it, Charlie, and that's wrong. And it's not correct, and the implication of it is enormously unhelpful. And it struck me that coming down here and trying to set the record straight with the faint hope that it might not be belabored excessively would be appropriate. And believe me, reports to that effect are wrong, inaccurate, not happening and will not happen. Now, is there anything else I could say that would add clarity to it?

Q: Well, is it possible --

Q: One more question. Is it -- will the U.S. military conduct the interrogations of Abu Zubaydah?

Rumsfeld: I have no intention of getting into the subject of who's going to do what. I think I've said as much as is appropriate. He will be properly interrogated by proper people who know how to do those things.

Q: As a follow-up, would you expand --

Rumsfeld: And under our -- we will be responsible for that interrogation. Not we, the Department of Defense; we, the United States of America.

Q: Can you expand a little bit on the hope of what you're trying to get out of him? I mean, it's obvious, a little bit. But could you expand about what --

Rumsfeld: Hope springs eternal. I would hope that every single thing that this very senior al Qaeda operative knows would ultimately come out of him.

Q: Mr. Secretary --

Q: (Off mike).

Rumsfeld: Of course not.

Q: Mr. Secretary, may --

Q: But you're not excluding the response -- the possibility, Mr. Secretary, that Abu Zubaydah could, even if he's under the control of the U.S., could be detained and questioned in a third country other than Afghanistan -- or a fourth, other than Afghanistan, Pakistan or the United States.

Rumsfeld: Why -- I think I've answered that twice, and I see no reason why I should get into a series of hypotheticals which are not on the radar screen. They're not on the radar screen.

Q: But -- it's not on -- it's not really hypothetical --

Rumsfeld: I am not going to systematically rule out this, this, this and this. I am saying we have him, he is under U.S. control at the present time, we are responsible for him, he is receiving medical care, and we intend to get every single thing out of him to try to prevent terrorist acts in the future. And if any responsible government official who had any goal other than trying to stop additional terrorist acts -- here's a man who knows about additional acts. Here's a man who trained people to do this. And all this concern about that individual as opposed to concern about the terrorist acts that that individual has tried to commit; has, in fact, participated in; who has trained people to do it; and who has knowledge of additional people who are located around the world, it seems to me that I've got it exactly right. I've got first things first, and anything else comes a clear tenth, eleventh or twelfth.

Q: Mr. Secretary, may I follow up on that?

Q: You're not going to -- follow you may.

Q: I am. On the documents that were found last week there are reports that among those documents show that Zubaydah had been actively involved in planning future attacks on the U.S. Can you elaborate on any information now that you might have showing his involvement in some future attacks?

Rumsfeld: I've thought about that, and I can't imagine why it would be useful. I just -- there is no question but that when an individual is taken, the individual generally is taken -- in this case, lots of individuals were taken; not one, but 50-plus -- along with them come their clothes and pocket litter and things they had when they were surprised. And all of that is in our custody and all of that is being examined. And we are going to do our best to protect the American people and people of other countries, and we're going to do it as skillfully and as rapidly and as thoroughly as we know how.

. . .

Rumsfeld: Tom?

Q: Mr. Secretary, getting back quickly to Zubaydah, has he offered any information --

Rumsfeld: Is there anyone else who'd like to ask a question? (Laughter.)

Q: Has he offered any information to date that would be helpful? And would you expect someone of his rank to really be helpful to the U.S. effort?

Rumsfeld: You know, you never know, when you're dealing in a situation like this, how people are going to deal with their confinement and the change in their circumstance, which is quite considerable. Therefore, I think trying to predict -- there have been instances where people have been, for a variety of reasons concluded that they did prefer to disgorge a good deal; there's others that have not uttered a word for a year plus. And therefore, I'm without expectation, but not without hope.

Q: Has he offered anything yet?

Rumsfeld: I am not going to get into a daily assessment as to the extent to which he is or is not providing assistance to us.

Q: How about just today? (Laughter.)

Rumsfeld: I --

Myers: (Laughs.)

Rumsfeld: I can say this; he has several bullet holes in him, and our concern is keeping him alive at the present time.

Q: How serious are his wounds? Could he --

Rumsfeld: I'm not a physician. But when you've got three bullet holes, it's not like one, two, three -- it's three is five.

Q: Life-threatening, would you say?

Rumsfeld: I do not believe it's life-threatening, but I am not a physician and I have not been told that it is life-threatening. I know that it is -- it's a lot.

Q: Is it three or several, Mr. Secretary?

Rumsfeld: I think three is several. (Laughter.)