CNN Inside Politics - Transcript

CNN Inside Politics - Transcript
Monday, June 27, 2005

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CROWLEY: I just discussed a congressional trip to the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay with Democratic Senator Ron Wyden.

Republican Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina was also on that trip to Guantanamo. Congressman Wilson joins me from Capitol Hill. I want to ask you, Congressman, is the first question -- what I asked the senator, which is, when you got there and over time did you learn anything different from what you thought going in?

REP. JOE WILSON, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: Well, I did in one respect, Candy. I found out that the terrorists who were there are highly educated. They come from a background who I felt should know better than what they were doing, of trying to kill American citizens. Because some have visited the United States, they have visited Europe. They've -- they're people who have access to millions of dollars through different charities. And so what really surprised me to find out that these were not people who were uneducated and didn't know what they had been involved with. These were people who are very committed as hardcore terrorists.

CROWLEY: Congressman, the U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said that a U.N. rights experts ought to be allowed to go into Guantanamo Bay to look at the facility, if nothing else to tell the world what you and also the senators seem to have seen there, which is that it's a well-run place there is not torture. Do you think it's a good idea to let the U.N. go in there? WILSON: Well, actually, Candy, incredibly enough, I do think that the U.N. should visit. I think, though, that the terminology is so important because there's been some misinterpretation. For example, the Red Cross has a facility adjacent to the detention facility. They are there 24 hours a day. And they have determined that there was torture going on. And you say, well, what do you mean, torture? Well, they have determined by interpretation, that if you do not identify to detainees when they are going to be released, that that is considered torture. I humbly disagree.

I believe that they are going to be held until the war on terrorism is completed, but that is not torture. And so I do have a concern that good and well-meaning people could visit and use terminology which simply would inflame people, not knowing that they're talking about legalisms rather than reality.

CROWLEY: But on the other side, you leave open the possibility that you could have gone at a time when, obviously, they would have been on their best behavior. I mean, they brought Congress down there. It's quite unlikely they'd do something you disapprove of in front of you.

WILSON: Well, in fact, you need to be aware, I served 31 years in the Army National Guard, so I felt like I was speaking the language of the military. I know that we've had guard units from South Carolina who were sent to serve at Guantanamo. These are patriotic Americans, these are not persons who would inflict injury.

And the best example of that is that of the nearly 700 people who have been detained, not a single person has died at Guantanamo. I think that's an amazing record. In fact, I met with the medical personnel and found out how they had saved lives of people who'd attempted suicide, people who had severe medical problems. And, as proof of that again, there has not been a single death at Guantanamo.

CROWLEY: And I certainly take your description of what went on there. I'm just wondering, you have other people saying it's a gulag, it's a -- you know, terrible things have gone on there. And in the eyes of the world, there has to be some way to settle that huge gap between what's -- about what's going on there.

WILSON: And Candy, it distresses me that there is this gap, because 400 newspaper reporters, and also electronic media, have visited the detention facility. There have been ten different reports about the facilities. And as I mention, I was not aware that the Red Cross has 24-hour access and is actually there. But there -- I also understand that there are some people who just never will be satisfied.

But I believe that we are making efforts to protect the American people. In fact, 10 people have been released -- over 100 have been released, but 10 have been released and subsequently found that they were involved in terrorists activities, attempting to kill Americans. And so if the mistake was made, and the chairman of the Armed Services Committee Duncan Hunter pointed this out, we had too open a process of letting the terrorists go. But I am confident that members of Congress can go and they can see the process and find out how the detainees are being treated. The intelligence information which is being received is leading to arrest of cells throughout the world, in North America and Europe and in the Middle East, which are saving lives. And so instead of costing lives, it's saving lives.

CROWLEY: Republican Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina. We have to leave it there. I thank you for your time.

WILSON: Thank you.

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