C.I.A. Will Lead Interrogation of Hussein, Rumsfeld Says
By BRIAN KNOWLTON
and DAVID STOUT
Published: December 16, 2003
ASHINGTON, Dec. 16 — Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said today that the Central Intelligence Agency would be in charge of interrogating Saddam Hussein, and he strongly defended the treatment of the former Iraqi leader since his capture Saturday as legal, proper and humane.
The decision to entrust the C.I.A. with Mr. Hussein's interrogation was an easy one, Mr. Rumsfeld said. "It was a three-minute decision," he said, "and the first two were for coffee."
Mr. Rumsfeld did not rule out a Pentagon role for keeping the deposed dictator in custody, or for questioning him. But he said he and George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, had agreed that the C.I.A. should be the agency to decide just who questions Mr. Hussein, and where and when.
"They have the competence in that area, they have professionals in that area, they know the means that we have in terms of counterterrorism, they know the threads that have to come up through the needlehead," he said.
The intelligence agency will serve as "the regulator" of information flowing from the questioning, Mr. Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon news briefing. The secretary strongly defended the treatment of the captive, declaring that it has been humane and that showing pictures of the bedraggled ex-dictator to the world in no way violated international standards on handling prisoners.
Noting the fear that Mr. Hussein and his cronies inspired in their decades of rule, Mr. Rumsfeld said, "It's terribly important that he be seen by the public for what he is: a captive" and thus a man unable to claw his way back to power, Mr. Rumsfeld said.
After the dramatic capture on Saturday, some critics had suggested that the disturbing images of a wild-looking Saddam Hussein being examined by an Army medic — televised around the world — or the fact that his captors had permitted four Iraqi officials to question him, might constitute banned acts of "parading" or humiliating prisoners of war.
No aspect of Mr. Hussein's handling came even "up on the edge" of violating the Geneva conventions, said Mr. Rumsfeld, adding that he was being treated "professionally" and "humanely."
Mr. Rumsfeld said that while Mr. Hussein was being afforded full protection matching Geneva convention standards, he had not been classified as a prisoner of war. That could change, he suggested, if it is learned that Mr. Hussein had helped guide the Iraqi insurgency since the end of major combat in Iraq.
So far, Mr. Rumsfeld said, he could not say whether documents found with Mr. Hussein showed that he had held such a role in guiding the insurgency. In any case, the defense secretary said, if there was any prospect whatsoever that the televising of images of Mr. Hussein in captivity would help deflate or discourage those fighting against the coalition led by the United States, "then we opt for saving lives."
"He has been handled in a professional way," Mr. Rumsfeld said in a Pentagon news briefing. "He has not been held up as a public curiosity in any demeaning way."
Regardless, he said, "It's terribly important that he be seen by the public for what he is."
Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that American forces had temporarily slowed the pace of patrols immediately after Mr. Hussein's capture, in hopes that it might inspire other high-ranking Iraqis to surrender. He would not say whether he was referring to specific Iraqis.
Now, he said, the pace of patrols had returned to its previous average of about 1,000 a day.
Mr. Rumsfeld said American soldiers had been given no special instructions on what to do if and when they came across Saddam Hussein. "No one was told, `Don't kill him.' No one was told, `Kill him,' " Mr. Rumsfeld said. But unlike his sons, Uday and Qusay, who went down shooting, Mr. Hussein chose to surrender.
The secretary offered a bit of new information on Mr. Hussein's days as a fugitive, disclosing that for at least one stretch Mr. Hussein spent several hours in what appeared to be a taxi. "He didn't have the meter running," Mr. Rumsfeld said.
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