|
Reuters – July 1, 2005
OSCE Report:
Guantanamo fuels hatred, boosts al Qaeda
By Sabina Zawadzki
BRUSSELS, July 1 (Reuters) - The United States must close Guantanamo prison, where its treatment of some 500 terrorism suspects encourages hatred towards the West and bolsters Muslim membership of the al Qaeda network, a new report concludes.
The Organisation 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 rumours 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."
The OSCE, consisting of 55 member nations from Europe, North America and the former Soviet republics, is an organisation that aims to maintain security and flag conflicts and human rights issues in its region. The United States is a member…..
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L0143064.htm
|
