State Department Talking points memo on the screening of Al-Qaeda and Taliban detainees taken in to custody. The points being made in this memo are: i) The Geneva Conventions does not require a review in every circumstance; ii) Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters are not Prisoners of War (POWs); iii) detainees are re-screened for accuracy; and iv) all detainees were screened at least twice before they were transferred to Guantanamo
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" RELEASED IN FULL G0 ~,
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Screening of Detainees
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The Geneva Convention requires that a tribunal make a
determination as to whethe~ a pereon qualifies as a POW only if .there is '~any doubt.M The Convention does NOT require review by a tribunal in every circumstance."
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There is no do-ubt that members of Al Qaida are not POWs. They do not qualify as POW~ under any legal theory. They are terrorists whose main objective is to kill civilians.
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We also believe the~e i~ no doubt that the Taliban . detainees we are holding are not FOWs. Even if the Convention applie~ to the Taliban, the Taliban lack the attributes of a regular armed forces. .
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.; We have a·~ciarefulproces"s--inpiace to screen the people taJ:e~ to Guant~am9. ~~ey were screeneci. at least: tWice.. ' _ before they were·transferred. They were screened by US armed fo~ces before they were taken to Qandahar, and they were interviewed a ~econd time'in Qandahar.
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We are confident that all of the detainees we are holding in Guantanamo are either ~ Qaida terrorists, Taliban leader~, foreign ~ightersl or others who aided Al Qaida.
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Our ongoing screening process has left no doubt that none of these detainees belong to any of the categories enumerated in Article 4 of the convention.
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\'" • We are continuing to question each of the detainees in
Guantanamo to obtain more information about each one.
• Although we :believe there is no doubt that the detainees we are holding are not pows, we are prepared to review individual cases should any doubt arise.
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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE REVIEW AUTHORITY: SHARON E AHMAD
UNCLASSIFIED
DATE/CASE 10; 07 APR 2005 200303827
00S-003107