Mark H. Buzby

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Mark H. Buzby

Admiral Buzby at Guantamo Bay, 2007
Service/branch	United States Navy
Rank	Rear Admiral
Commands held	deputy director, expeditionary warfare, N85B, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations Commandant, Joint Task Force Guantanamo (2007-03-29 — 2008-01-11) deputy director, U.S. Fleet Forces Command (2008-01-11 — present)^[1]

Admiral Mark H. Buzby is an officer in the United States Navy.^[2]^[3]^[4] On January 11, 2008 Buzby was appointed the deputy chief of staff for Global Force Management and Joint Force Operations at the Norfolk-based U.S. Fleet Forces Command. Rear Admiral David M. Thomas replaced Buzby as commandant of Joint Task Force Guantanamo.

1 Education
2 Notable appointments
3 Guantanamo service
4 References

[edit] Education

According to his official biography Buzby studied at:^[1]

Admiral Farragut Academy	1975	graduate
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy	1979	Bachelor of Science degree in Nautical Science USCG Third Mate License.
U.S. Naval War College	1991	Master of Arts degree in Strategic Studies and International Affairs.
Salve Regina University		Master of Arts degree in International Relations
Armed Forces Staff College		graduate

[edit] Notable appointments

According to his official biography Buzby held the following appointments:^[1]

post	position	rank	year	notes
USS Connole	Damage Control Assistant	Ensign	1979
USS Aries	Combat Systems Officer			A hydrofoil
USS Yorktown	Weapons Officer and Combat Systems Officer
OPNAV staff	Point Defense AAW Section Head for Surface Warfare Division (OP-352E).
USS Shiloh	Executive Officer			Ship's first commission
OPNAV staff	Aegis Combat System Development Officer (N865G3)
Joint Staff	Joint Operations Division (J-33/JOD) as an Operations Officer and Chairman's Briefer
USS Carney	Commanding Officer	Commander	1997
Sixth Fleet	Assistant Operations Officer
Destroyer Squadron 31	Commanding Officer	Commodore
Office of the Chief of Naval Operations	deputy director, expeditionary warfare, N85B
Joint Task Force Guantanamo	Commandant	Rear Admiral	2007-03-29 – 2008-01-11
U.S. Fleet Forces Command	deputy director	Rear Admiral	2008-01-11 –

[edit] Guantanamo service

The Department of Defense issued a press release focussed around comments from Buzby on June 27, 2007.^[5] The press release repeated the DoD's assertion that the captives "were captured on the battlefield", and attributed a paraphrase to Buzby:

The men being held at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba, would kill again if given the chance.

The press release directly quoted Buzby as saying,

“They were apprehended there and brought to us so we could keep them off the battlefield and gain intelligence from them. “We are keeping them off the battlefield, What is unique about this situation is that in a time of war we’re actually transferring many of them out of this facility -- many back to their own countries for release or to go into custody in their own countries.”

On January 23, 2008 the Savannah Morning News published an interview with Buzby.^[6] In this interview he asserted:

“We have everyone from the higher-ups to the trigger-pullers, and everybody in between. Basically, I have a rebuilt al-Qaida cell inside my camp.” “For a Subway BMT, they will talk a whole lot.” “Some, if willing, will go to an interview or interrogation that can last two to four or five hours.” “Waterboarding, to the best of my knowledge, is not in accordance with the guidance of the Army field manual concerning interrogation - which is what I have to go by. So it would never be allowed and has never been allowed at Guantanamo and has never been done at Guantanamo. I have never had it done to me personally. The description of it sounds pretty gruesome, and it would not be something I would want to endure.”

An article on the website of WSAV also quoted Buzby's comments on his visit to Savannah^[7]:

“Most of what they have read and what has been reported is probably not exactly true, there are elements of truth in a lot of what is reported but Guantanamo has been painted very negatively.”^[7] “We are closely governed by what we can and can't do down there. We follow the army interrogation field manual to the letter.”^[7] “They are literally inches away from dangerous people who have demonstrated a propensity for violence. Who on a daily basis will attempt to bite the guards, spit on them, throw cocktails made of feces and urine at them in their face.”^[7]

In contrast to earlier accounts that captives were allowed showers only once a week, and only one 20 minute exercise session per week, Buzby asserted captives received daily opportunities to shower, and a two hour recreation opportunity per day.^[6]