Rumsfeld denies claims of torture at Guantanamo

By Francis Harris in Washington
London Telegraph
Mar. 04, 2006

Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, has dismissed claims of torture by Guantanamo Bay terrorist suspects, describing them as a calculated attempt to manipulate the western media.

Mr Rumsfeld spoke just before the BBC broadcast claims by a suspect who said that he had been tortured by guards who force-fed him to end a hunger strike.

A second hunger striker has taken his case to the American courts, asking a judge to block the force-feeding regime which had caused him "unbearable pain".

Mr Rumsfeld suggested that the media were playing al-Qa'eda's game. Referring to an al-Qa'eda training manual uncovered by Greater Manchester police, Mr Rumsfeld said: "Of course we know what those prisoners were taught [with] the Manchester document. They're taught to lie, they're taught to allege that they have been tortured, and that's part of the training that they received."

Speaking to a local radio station in Kansas City, Mr Rumsfeld said: "They are getting very clever at manipulating the media in the United States and in the capitals of the world."

He insisted that there was no torture at Guantanamo Bay, adding: "We know that for a fact."

The claims broadcast by the BBC Today programme concerned Fawzi al-Odah, a Kuwaiti. He has been held for four years on allegations that he carried weapons in Afghanistan and attended a terrorist training camp.