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.
