James Chamblee
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 Posted:
Sat Jul 02, 2005 4:02 pm Post subject:
Guantanamo fuels hatred and boosts al Qaeda -report |
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Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Reuters - July 1, 2005
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2005-07-
01T154707Z_01_N01246711_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-SECURITY-GUANTANAMO-DC.XML
Guantanamo fuels hatred and boosts al Qaeda -report
By Sabina Zawadzki
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States must close Guantanamo prison, where
its treatment of some 500 terrorism suspects encourages hatred toward the
West and bolsters Muslim membership of the al Qaeda network, a new report
concludes.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) commissioned
the report from its human rights representative, Belgian senate president
Anne-Marie Lizin, and will vote next week whether to accept its findings.
"A generation of young Muslims, fed on the images of Abu Ghraib, of the
treatment reserved for the Guantanamo detainees and rumors about profanation
of the Koran, will have filled the al Qaeda ranks and those of other
extremist groups," said the report made public on Friday.
"The longer the detention is in the camps the more the hatred against the
U.S. and the West becomes anchored in hearts and minds," it said.
"Being fully aware of the U.S. authorities' dilemma between national and
world security and long procedures, we recommend terminating the Guantanamo
detention facility by announcing a calendar of closure."
In June, the U.S. military described cases of mishandling of the Koran by
U.S. personnel at Guantanamo naval base in Cuba, including splashing it with
urine and kicking it. Muslims view the Koran as the literal word of God.
U.S. UNDER PRESSURE
The U.S. government, increasingly under pressure at home to close the prison
down, has said it is key to protecting the country from further attacks.
Last week it said it was addressing abuse claims and holding prison staff to
account.
The OSCE, consisting of 55 member nations from Europe, North America and the
former Soviet republics, is an organization that aims to maintain security
and flag conflicts and human rights issues in its region. The United States
is a member.
Guantanamo mostly holds prisoners scooped up in Afghanistan during the U.S.
offensive there in retaliation for the Sept. 11 al Qaeda attacks on the
United States.
Human rights groups as well as institutions such as the European Parliament
and the Council of Europe have criticized the United States for holding
detainees there for indefinite periods and not assigning them "prisoner of
war" status.
Instead, suspects are labeled "enemy combatants," something the new report
called a legal nonentity under international law. If charged with crimes,
they stand in front of a military tribunal which can demand capital
punishment.
On Thursday, Lizin made news this week when she canceled a meeting in
Brussels with the Iranian parliament speaker after the visitor, a strict
observer of Islam, said he would not shake hands with the female senate
president.
) Reuters 2005.
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