Special Report, Hannity reports focus on detainees access to vaccine, ignore military personnel

Special Report: “Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are very unhappy that detainees at the Guantánamo Bay detention facility will get the H1N1 vaccine before many Americans.” From the November 2 edition of Fox News'Special Report:

BRET BAIER (host): And now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are very unhappy that detainees at the Guantánamo Bay detention facility will get the H1N1 vaccine before many Americans. Missouri Republican Congressman Roy Blunt says, quote, “It's outrageous that in Missouri, expectant mothers, children, and others vulnerable to the H1N1 flu virus do not have access to the vaccine, and our tax dollars are funding vaccines for accused terrorists detained at Gitmo.”

Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak wrote to Army Secretary John McHugh, quote, “As long as Americans must wait to receive the vaccine, the detainees in Guantánamo Bay should not be given preferential treatment.”

The military says the detainees are included in the priority group because prison populations are at higher risk of getting the flu.

Hannity: "[G]et in line" behind “Gitmo detainees” to get H1N1 vaccine. From the November 2 edition of Fox News' Hannity:

SEAN HANNITY (host): If you're hoping to get the H1N1 vaccine, well, you're gonna have to get in line, and you won't believe who gets it before you.

[...]

HANNITY: All right, so you were hoping to get the H1N1 vaccine. Well, if the vaccine hasn't reached a doctor's office near you, that might be because it's on its way to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. That's right: A military spokesman announced Gitmo detainees will receive the vaccine sometime this month. That's well before it's expected to be available to the public at large. Seems the Obama administration has its priorities straight, doesn't it?

Military officials to be vaccinated before detainees

JTF Guantánamo Bay spokesperson: "[D]oses will be administered to active-duty personnel before being offered to detainees and others on the base." An October 30 CNN.com report quoted Maj. Diana R. Haynie, a spokeswoman for Joint Task Force Guantánamo Bay: “Detainees at JTF Guantanamo are considered to be at higher risk and therefore they will be offered the H1N1 vaccination. ... JTF Guantanamo conducts safe, humane, legal and transparent care and custody of detainees. As such, we must provide detainees the medical care necessary to maintain their health.” Haynie also said that while it was unknown when the vaccines would arrive at Guantánamo Bay, “Once the vaccinations are received, doses will be administered to active-duty personnel before being offered to detainees and others on the base.”

CNN: Pentagon and Guantánamo officials “say the base commander will make sure military personnel get the vaccine first.” CNN's Brian Todd reported on November 2: “Officials at Guantanamo and the Pentagon tell us there are no cases of H1N1 at Guantanamo yet. The vaccine has not arrived and don't know when they'll get it. They say the base commander will make sure military personnel get the vaccine first and that it will be voluntary for detainees.” [CNN's The Situation Room, 11/2/09]

Vaccinating detainees helps protect military personnel

Pentagon official reportedly argued that “to protect the military personnel at Guantanamo ... the detainees may have to have access to the shot.” According to CNN's Todd, “One senior Pentagon official calls this a forced protection issue. He says they have to protect the military personnel at Guantanamo so the detainees may have to have access to the shot.” [The Situation Room, 11/2/09]

Bioethics expert: “Prisons like Guantanamo” are “incubators for infection.” Todd reported: “Professor Art Caplan at the University of Pennsylvania has a long-running project on the ethics of vaccines. He says prisons like Guantanamo are what he calls incubators for infection. Prisoners get it, then they give it to the guards, the guards could then come home and spread it to their families. So they say -- he says at least those are populations that are at risk for these viruses.” [The Situation Room, 11/2/09]

CDC: “Correctional institutions pose special risks and considerations due to the nature of their unique environment.” In its “Interim Guidance for Correctional and Detention Facilities on Novel Influenza A (H1N1) Virus,” the Centers for Disease Control emphasizes the “special risks” correctional institutions pose. From CDC:

Correctional institutions pose special risks and considerations due to the nature of their unique environment. Inmates are in mandatory custody and options are limited for isolation and removal of ill persons from the environment. The workforce must be maintained and options are limited for work alternatives (e.g., work from home, reduced or alternate schedules, etc.). In addition, many inmates and workforce may have medical conditions that increase their risk of influenza-related complications.

Some detainees cleared for release still reside in Guantánamo prisons. According to an August 20 Washington Post report, "[A]pproximately 80 detainees [had been] cleared for release so far." At the time, the Post reported that there were “229 detainees” being held at Guantánamo Bay. On September 28, McClatchy reported that there were “223 detainees at Guantanamo, 75 now cleared to go.” After six Uighur detainees were released to Palau, a November 3 Associated Press article noted that “seven others are still at Guantanamo. One of them did not receive an invitation to resettle in Palau over concerns about his mental health.” The AP noted that the 22 Uighurs who were detained by the United States “were approved for release after a federal court ruled they were not enemy combatants.” An earlier version of this AP article reported that "[b]efore this transfer of the Uighurs, about 221 prisoners remained at Guantanamo."

Republicans previously touted health care given to detainees

Cheney in 2005: Detainees “are well-treated. Their medical needs are attended to.” On the June 13, 2005, broadcast of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, former Vice President Dick Cheney argued that Guantánamo detainees “are well-treated. Their medical needs are attended to. They're well-fed. They've got -- their religious requirements are catered to.” From the June 13, 2005, edition of Hannity & Colmes (accessed via Nexis):

CHENEY: The important thing here to understand is that the people that are at Guantanamo are bad people. I mean, these are terrorists for the most part. These are people that were captured in the battlefield of Afghanistan or rounded up as part of the al Qaeda network. We've already screened the detainees there and released a number of them, sent them back to their home countries. But what's left is hard core.

HANNITY: About 550 people.

CHENEY: That's right. And they are well-treated. Their medical needs are attended to. They're well-fed. They've got -- their religious requirements are catered to. If they want the Koran, they've got the Koran. These people are very well treated for terrorists. If you put them out on the street now and if you were to take action to release them, then you'd find yourself in a situation where the -- you may well find them back trying to kill more Americans.

So we need a facility. If it's not Guantanamo, it's got to be something else. The function has to be performed.

Gingrich cited detainees' access to “medical care” to argue against closing Guantánamo Bay: From Newt Gingrich's May 29 Washington Examiner column, “Mr. President: Keep Gitmo open”:

The case for keeping Guantanamo Bay open begins with the almost universal acknowledgement today that the facility itself is an orderly and humane place; a place where detainees receive better food, medical care and respect for their personal dignity than they would in prisons in the various countries they hail from.

Col. Robert Maginnis argued against closing Gitmo: “They get better medical care than most Americans.” In a January 28 Human Events column, Maginnis, a former Fox News military analyst and participant in the Pentagon's controversial media military analyst program, argued that “President Obama insults our service members by suggesting that closing the center is partly to end torture there.” He added:

They are treated better than any prisoners in the world. They get better medical care than most Americans and they are treated with kid gloves. Many detainees have access to recreation 12 hours a day; they all have intellectual opportunities, including DVDs, books, and magazines. Some of them even take classes in art, English, Arabic and gardening. To suggest that we need a review of our treatment policies at GITMO is a slap in the face to our troops who serve there and are not allowed to even look menacingly at a detainee.

Wall Street Journal's Pollock cited “state of the art” medical care while defending detention center. In a January 17, 2007, column, Robert L. Pollock defended the detention center at Guantánamo Bay after visiting the facility. Pollock specifically cited the “state of the art” medical care offered to detainees to argue that their treatment is humane. From Pollock's January 17, 2007, WSJ column:

When it comes to medical care, almost no expense is spared -- as I discovered after spotting an overweight man lounging in the rec yard of Camp Five. “Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?” I inquired (he was some distance away). “No, that's Paracha,” came the somewhat exasperated reply.

Saifullah Paracha is a Pakistani businessman and media owner who claims two meetings with Osama bin Laden were purely for journalistic interest. He is believed to be an important figure in the case against Majid Khan, one of the 14 “high value” detainees recently transferred to Gitmo from CIA custody. Last year Mr. Paracha's son Uzair was sentenced to 30 years in a U.S. prison for aiding an al Qaeda operative in a plot to bomb U.S. targets.

Maybe terrorism is stressful work. But whatever the reason, the elder Paracha also suffers from heart disease. So late last year -- at an expense of some $400,000 -- the U.S. government flew down doctors and equipment to perform cardiac catheterization. Mr. Paracha's response was to refuse treatment and file a petition in U.S. federal court for transfer to a hospital in the U.S. or Pakistan. At least his lawyers were frank about their cynical motives: “His death in U.S. captivity would be a blow to American prestige.”

The medical care at Guantanamo seems state of the art. All detainees over 50 are offered colonoscopies; at least 16 have been performed. Gitmo's psychiatrist told me that fewer that 1% of detainees suffer from mood disorders, a rate lower than that of the general population. That would appear to undercut claims that indefinite detention is itself a form of “mental torture.”

Sen. Bill Frist: "[I]f you look at the care that they get, the healthcare that they get, it's better than the healthcare that the typical American gets in the states." On the September 11, 2006, edition of Special Report (accessed via Nexis), correspondent Major Garrett reported that after a visit by three Republican senators to the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, the senators “appeared satisfied.” Garrett aired a clip of Frist saying: “The detainees, if you look at the care that they get, the healthcare that they get, it's better than the healthcare that the typical American gets in the states.”

Rep. Duncan Hunter cited detainees' “access to top-notch medical facilities” as a reason to keep detention center open. In a June 29, 2005, report on Special Report (accessed via Nexis), correspondent Molly Henneberg reported that “Duncan Hunter, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, told a hearing today that Guantanamo Bay is not a gulag and will stay open. He and 15 other lawmakers visited Gitmo on Saturday.” Henneberg then aired a clip of Hunter saying: “We saw a world-class detention facility where detainees representing a threat to our national security are well-fed, given access to top-notch medical facilities, and provided an opportunity to obtain legal representation.”

Sen. Jeff Sessions argued that detainees “are well taken care of medically” as a defense of “what is going on in Guantanamo.” In an interview on the June 15, 2005, edition of Fox News' The Big Story (accessed via Nexis), Sessions stated: “We are not abusing prisoners at Guantanamo. They have an annual review to determine whether they should be released or not. Over 200 have been released. They have had full reviews by tribunals; 200 of the 500 that are there now have habeas corpus petitions pending in federal court. They are well taken care of medically. They're not being abused. Really, we can defend what is going on in Guantanamo and we should do so.”