WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush said on Monday he was willing to consider Saudi Arabia's request to return on a case-by-case basis the 100 Saudis who are among 158 Afghan war detainees at a U.S. base in Cuba, but U.S. officials doubted this would happen any time soon.
At the same time, Bush defended his decision not to grant POW status to al Qaeda and Taliban fighters at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The European Union, Germany, the Netherlands, some British legislators, Amnesty International and the International Committee of the Red Cross have demanded the detainees be given prisoner-of-war status subject to the Geneva Convention.
"Al Qaeda is not a known military. These are killers. These are terrorists. They know no countries. And the only thing they know about countries is when they find a country that's been weak and they want to occupy it like a parasite," Bush said.
In Riyadh, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef said 100 Saudi men were among prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay and that "we demand that they be subject to the kingdom's laws."
Bush said: "There's a lot of Saudi citizens that chose to fight for al Qaeda and/or the Taliban that we want to know more about. And so we'll make a decision on a case-by-case basis as to whether they go back to Saudi Arabia or not."
A senior U.S. official said the request would be given "all due consideration" but doubted action soon. It was not immediately clear how such a move would effect detainees who are nationals of other countries.
"We still have much work to do to ensure we've gotten all the information there is to be had to help prevent any future terrorist attacks, and that at the moment is our first priority with these detainees," the official said.
The United States is calling the captives "illegal combatants." By not declaring them POWs, it means they can be interrogated more extensively. U.S. officials fear the captives would launch new attacks on American targets if freed.
DECISION SOON
Bush and his national security team held a meeting to discuss how the captives might otherwise be covered by the Geneva Convention. He said he would make a decision soon.
Secretary of State Colin Powell had requested a review on whether to follow the Geneva Convention's stipulations for treatment of prisoners in wartime out of concern that any U.S. troops captured in battle could be mistreated.
A senior State Department official said State Department lawyers believe the Geneva Convention covers the Taliban and al Qaeda detainees at Guantanamo Bay but does not give them the status of prisoners of war.
"Our lawyer reached the view that the Geneva Convention applies but these people do not qualify as prisoners of war," said the official, who asked not to be named.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the United States does not want to comply with Geneva Convention provisions requiring the host country to pay POWs advances on their salary and stipends for the purchase of tobacco.
"They're lucky to be in the custody of our military, because they're receiving three square meals a day, they're receiving health care that they never received before. Their sleeping conditions are probably better than anything they've had in Afghanistan," Fleischer said.
He said the captives will be allowed to receive and send correspondence, and receive food and clothing, subject to proper security clearance.
Vienna Colucci, a spokeswoman for Amnesty International, said her organization was concerned the Bush administration has taken it upon itself to make the determination as to the status of the Guantanamo detainees.
"That is something that is not within their authority. In the words of the Geneva Convention, a 'competent tribunal' is to decide. We're calling for an independent U.S. court to make this decision," she said.
U.S. District Judge Howard Matz of Los Angeles has set a deadline of this Thursday for the U.S. government to file a response to a petition demanding the charges against the detainees be clarified.
The petition was filed by a group of Los Angeles clergy, journalism professors and civil rights lawyers including former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.
The prisoners are held in 8-foot-by-8-foot cells with concrete floors, wooden roofs and chain-link fence walls.
A photograph released by the Defense Department showing the captives, kneeling, shackled and wearing blacked-out goggles and masks stirred international criticism over their treatment.
Pentagon officials said the picture was taken during a brief period after the prisoners arrived at the camp and were being processed before being moved to their cells.
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