Transcript of 5/26 Pentagon news conference, Guantanamo Quaran desecration

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Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Lawrence Di Rita (right) and Army Brig. Gen. Jay W. Hood (left) discuss the alleged mishandling of the Koran by U.S. personnel at the Guantanamo Detention Facility during a Pentagon press conference on May 26, 2005. Hood, the commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo, is conducting an investigation of the allegations of the alleged mishandling. DoD photo by R. D. Ward. (Released)



U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) News Transcript

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Presenter: Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Lawrence Di Rita and Joint Task Force - Guantanamo Commander Brig. Gen. Jay W. Hood Thursday, May 26, 2005 5:17 p.m. EDT

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DoD News Briefing on Koran Mishandling Allegations

LAWRENCE DIRITA (Pentagon spokesman): Good afternoon, folks. As I mentioned to you earlier, we are very happy and pleased to have Brigadier General Jay Hood, who is the commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo. General Hood has been engaged in -- and is currently engaged in the commander's inquiry with respect to the situation involving the use of religious articles at Guantanamo.

I mentioned he continues his investigation -- his inquiry. He's not finished with it. It's not our normal practice, nor will it be our normal practice in the future, to offer interim results of our inquiries. But under the circumstances of this particular inquiry and what occurred as the result of the original story, we thought it was appropriate to do our best to provide such information as we can at a point at which we've got some understanding of exactly what we know. There's more we'll learn, and when we learn that and when we complete the inquiry, we'll provide it.

General Hood was up on the Hill this afternoon speaking to the Defense committees; provided them some detail.

And with that, I'll ask General Hood to make his remarks, and then we'll be happy to take some questions.

GEN. HOOD: Thank you, Larry.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Brigadier General Jay Hood, and I'm the commander of the Joint Task Force at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Since March of 2004, it's been my privilege to command the men and women from across the services who are executing this vital mission in support of the global war on terror. These men and women are some of the finest troopers that the military has to offer. They are highly trained and dedicated to doing their jobs and serving their country with honor. They are honest, hard-working Americans who are sacrificing time away from their friends and loved ones, fulfilling their obligations to this great nation and our ongoing war on terror.

For the last 12 days, we have conducted an extensive inquiry into the allegations concerning mishandling of the Koran. From the beginning of the inquiry, I directed that we look into all alleged Koran mishandling allegations, and specifically focused on whether any member of the Joint Task Force had flushed a Koran down a toilet.

Additionally, I asked the team to identify the documented procedures for handling the Koran from 2002 until the present and identify any incidents where Joint Task Force personnel failed to follow established procedures, and then to make any recommended changes to our current procedures for handling the Koran or any religious items provided to the detainees.

To date, we have reviewed over three years worth of records compiled by Joint Task Force Guantanamo and its headquarter predecessors to answer these questions. We've reviewed approximately 31,000 documents, both electronic and hard copy. And what I'd like to do now is provide you an interim update to my inquiry in terms of our findings.

First off, I'd like you to know that we have found no credible evidence that a member of the Joint Task Force at Guantanamo Bay ever flushed a Koran down a toilet. We did identify 13 incidents of alleged mishandling of the Koran by Joint Task Force personnel.

Ten of those were by a guard and three by interrogators.

We found that in only five of those 13 incidents, four by guards and one by an interrogator, there was what could be broadly defined as mishandling of a Koran. None of these five incidents was a result of a failure to follow standard operating procedures in place at the time the incident occurred.

We have determined that in six additional incidents involving guards that the guard either accidentally touched the Koran, touched it within the scope of his duties, or did not actually touch the Koran at all. We consider each of these incidents resolved.

In two additional incidents, involving interrogators, we found that a Koran was either touched or stood over during an interrogation. The first incident does not to be -- appear to be mishandling, as it involved placing two Korans on a television. The Koran was not touched during the second incident, and the interrogator's action during the interrogation was accidental.

We've also identified 15 incidents where detainees mishandled or inappropriately treated the Koran, one of which was of course the specific example of a detainee who ripped pages out of their own Koran.

As part of this review, we determined that the guidance to the guard force for handling the Koran is adequate and has essentially remained unchanged since the early days of detention operations, including the written Koran-handling procedures from January 2003.

We will continue to review the adequacy of our procedures and develop recommendations that will allow us to improve practices and processes outlined in our standard operating procedures, just as we have from the early days of detention operations at Guantanamo.

We are currently screening other miscellaneous documents for allegations of Koran mishandling that may have credibility; that includes habeas pleadings or accounts filed by habeas litigators, and newspaper accounts.

To gain a better appreciation for these incidents, I think it's important to understand a little bit about the population of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. This is not a benign group of people. These are enemy combatants that are detained because they represent a clear threat and danger to the United States and our allies. These detainees have provided -- have provided and continue to provide valuable intelligence in the war on terror. The information gathered from detainees at Guantanamo has undoubtedly saved the lives of U.S. and coalition forces abroad, and that information has also thwarted threats posed to innocent civilians at home and abroad.

In closing, I want to assure you that we are committed to respecting the cultural dignity of the Koran and the detainees' practice of faith. Every effort has been made to provide religious articles associated with the Islamic faith, accommodate prayers and religious periods, and provide culturally acceptable meals and practices.

That concludes my prepared remarks. I'll be happy to take any of your questions.

Questions and answers follow..........