Britain's top lawyer demands closure of Guantanamo Bay
The Attorney-General this evening launched Britain's most outspoken attack yet of the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, demanding the closure of what he described as an international symbol of injustice.At a keynote speech in Whitehall, London, Lord Goldsmith QC said that the US policy of detaining terrorism suspects without trial at the prison camp in Cuba was 'unacceptable'.
"It is time, in my view, that is should close. Not only would it, in my personal opinion, be right to close Guantanamo as a matter of principle, I believe it would also help to remove what has become a symbol to many - right or wrong - of injustice," he said.
"The historic tradition of the United States as a beacon of freedom, liberty and of justice deserves the removal of this symbol," he told a terrorism conference organised by the Royal United Services Institute.
The camp, which opened in January 2002 to hold prisoners taken in the US invasion of Afghanistan, has been branded "the gulag of our times" by Amnesty International. Many of the 490 men held at the facility have been there for three years without trial.
Lord Goldsmith, who is responsible for advising the Government on the law, has previously voiced concerns over whether the indefinite detention of so-called enemy combatants is legal or fair. He is now the most senior Government minister to publicly call for its closure.
Source
posted by _H_ at 11:05 pm
11 Comments:
The damage is done now. Nobody can claim to defend freedom and democracy by creating such places..
Even when it goes it will be decades before the US starts to regain any of the credibility it once had
You've all noticed the new spin on Gitmo, right? "We want to close it, and we want to get these guys into a court, but nobody's told us yet which kind of court to take them to...." What a load of bullshit.
1, They have no status under law, per Bush and Gonzo-les, so there is no way for anybody to make that decision.
2, The Bushies have been avoiding that for years now, and will continue to do so until Gitmo is a Democrat President's problem. THEN they will scream that it's time to let those guys go home.
3, it's just another change of lie from the Bush administration, because the old lie wasn't working very well any more.
Why the obssesion with a these terrorists human rights? Bizzare.
At least you're not as bad as Khan head of Amnesty International that compared Gulag (millions executed) with Gunatanmo (none executed).
Because we are the good guys Jonz. why are you assumuing they are terrorists , 91 % of them were handed over by bountry hunters who were simply paid to hand people in.
tell you what , you tell us what crimes they have commited , for they have not been put in a court.
Sounds to me like if your willing to allow places like this to exist then you probably would have allowed hitler and gas chambers too ,
ZZzz
Because we are the good guys Jonz. why are you assumuing they are terrorists , 91 % of them were handed over by bountry hunters who were simply paid to hand people in.
tell you what , you tell us what crimes they have commited , for they have not been put in a court. your simply an appeaser Jonz , just this time the country your appeasing is the US. chamberlain ring any bells . it should do your a brit
Sounds to me like if your willing to allow places like this to exist then you probably would have allowed hitler and gas chambers too ,
ZZzz
LOL.
Yes thats right. Not Gulag, but it's equivalent to the Gas chambers!!
(6 million dead)
I am not happy about Guantanamo but the amount of coverage it gets from the left wing press is completely and utterly out of proportion, as I'm sure, on some level at least, you are aware of.
And what is the truth?
Cuba? It was great, say boys freed from US prison camp
I heard they even played inmates Britney Spears. The horror!
why are you assumuing they are terrorists
Because it is incredibly expensive to keep the holed-up in Cuba.
Some are no doubt innocent. But what are you saying exactly? That most are actually innocent goat-farmers?
Personally, correct me if I'm wrong, they have detained people who they believe are aiding and abetting Al-Qaeda, Bin Laden and Jihad against the West. They want intelligence on Bin Laden. Bit of a waste on detaining the innocoent, no?
the guardian jonz !!! glad to see your reading a decent newspaper :-) try asking Amnesty how many are guilty of any crimes. Torture doesnt work (only on tv) and the geneva convention applies to all human beings. even US Judge Judge Sterling Johnson Jr. declared the camp unconstitutional and if they are treated so fine then why not let the UN visit to confirm.
Please tell me how someone bounty hunted in afghanistan 4 years ago is going to tell you anything about bin laden... thats silly
funny the british guys released have turned out to be real nice people who have since made efforts to save the lives of christians in iraq . how evil eh ... its no wonder the UK government have allowed them to sue the americans for at least ten million a piece..
very typical though Jonz , its not your family (some inmates were as young as 12 and some were in their 70s , real dangerous eh) so you dont care about them.
the us and uk are both guilty of genocide
Moonbat alert!
Yes, I'm sure it's terrible in Gitmo. Funny though, the inmates have put on 11 pounds of weight on average because they are receiving 3 square meals a day. Must be some sort of starvation technique eh?
Oh and nobody has died there. But yes bring on the analogies! Gas chambers! Gulag!
You do realise that some people in Gitmo won't hesitate to saw your head off in the name of Islam?
Hype I'd stay off the halucinogenics if I were you. There's too much fear & loathing in your words.
Jonz why have you connected gitmo and genocide , hype didn't he clearly used Diego Garcia as an example . feel free to attack what people said but attacking what is not there is a little foolish. people can read what Hype said.
You have no idea what the people in gitmo would do to anyone. your just guessing, you don't know them and you like to believe what your told.
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