peaccenicked
4th February 2002, 19:33
US IS COMMITTING POLITICAL SUICIDE
Hamas leader warns Mirror Camp X-Ray treatment will attract 100s more recruits
By Alexandra Williams in Jerusalem, Tom Parry, Paul Byrne, Stephen White and Alwyn Thomas
US treatment of Camp X-Ray prisoners will boost recruits to Islamic terrorist groups, a Hamas extremist warned last night.
Amid fears that America is committing political suicide by ignoring world concerns about the suspects, Hassan Yousef said: "The US is doing wrong by treating prisoners like this.
OUTRAGE: Guards keep watch on an injured prisoner lying shackled on a strecher at Camp X-Ray as he is taken away to be interogated - the picture has aroused condemnation worldwide
"But in the end it's going to benefit Muslim groups like us because people will sympathise and the number of sympathisers will swell."
Yousef spoke out after pictures of a shackled al-Qaeda suspect being taken for interrogation on a stretcher brought fresh condemnation of conditions at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In Britain, MPs spoke of "barbarism" and "snatching defeat from victory."
Labour MP Tam Dalyell said: "There is a hooligan element in the US administration who take pleasure in defying world opinion."
Writing in the Washington Post Adam Burton, Professor of International Relations at Oxford University, warned the Americans that Camp X-Ray was a "PR disaster" and the row that followed "a dialogue of the deaf."
But the grimmest warning came from Hamas chief Yousef who said there was "no doubt" the shocking pictures would incite young extremists to join a holy war.
Hamas is responsible for most suicide bomb attacks in Israel in the past 16 months. Speaking in the Palestinian West Bank town of Ramallah, Yousef told The Mirror: "America's position to the Arab world after September 11 is encouraging people to join Islam.
"Its treatment of prisoners in Cuba will add to this. They are terrible pictures. Tens of thousands of people have already joined Islam since the US attacked Muslims.
"If the US continues what it is doing then this will keep rising, which will be good for us.
"It is human nature - people sympathise with the weak and those who have been treated unjustly.
"There is an Arab saying 'When someone does something wrong to you, in the end it may benefit you'. This is very true in this case."
Last night it emerged that two of the 158 prisoners at Camp X-Ray are being treated for mental disorders and two for malaria, which they caught in Afghanistan. The other two were "getting better" after treatment for stress and manic depression.
The latest pictures from the base show a suspect who had just had surgery being stretchered away.
Pentagon officials first said prisoners were being transferred around the camp. Then they admitted they were being taken for questioning.
X-Ray Petty Officer Krystyna Johnson said: "If a detainee can walk, he walks. If he can't walk, and must be moved, we carry him on a stretcher."
Base commander Brigadier General Mike Lehnert said prisoners were being treated as close as possible to the terms of the Geneva Convention.
He added: "The questioning is within normal legal procedures.
"There is no torture, whips, bright lights or drugging. These men are dangerous and can hurt you. But they also require humane treatment." But his comments failed to ease fears that America's action in Cuba and its dismissal of worldwide criticism, was storing dire trouble for the future.
Mr Dalyell said: "Pictures like this seem to put the West on the same level as al-Qaeda. They go against everything the US is supposed to stand for."
Labour MP Vera Baird said: "This is quite appalling. If the prisoner is strapped down like this to be conveyed across an already heavily guarded compound, it makes you wonder what happens when he is actually interrogated.
"There are huge human rights questions here. It's about time our government made some very serious representations to President Bush."
Another Labour MP, Paul Flynn, added: "These pictures confirm that the Americans seem intent on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. You can't fight barbarism with barbarism." Lib Dem defence spokesman Paul Keetch said: "We must not stoop to the depths of terrorists. These images will only turn these people into martyrs."
Former MP and war correspondent Martin Bell said: "We are supposed to stand for certain civilised values. We do not shackle prisoners to stretchers."
Professor Burton warned in the Washington Post that the US action could unleash a savage reaction.
He said: "The Bush administration has appeared distressingly impervious to criticism.
"How it handles this crisis has implications for detainees held elsewhere - as well as any Americans, or their allies, who may yet be captured."
Dr Sayed Pasha, of the Union of Muslim Organisations, urged the Red Cross to take legal action against the US.
He said: "These pictures prove once again that America is showing no regard to human rights."
Amnesty International said: "If the prisoners are being moved on stretchers for medical help, that is acceptable.
But if they are shackled and stretchered off to be interrogated, we have serious issues with that."
Sadek Hamid, 30, a Muslim community worker in Manchester, also warned that the Camp X-Ray pictures will rouse passions among extremists.
He said: "What's going on there? Is it a detention centre or a concentration camp? On a wider scale, internationally, it is not helping.
"People are saying 'If you treat our people badly, we'll treat your people badly'."
The US is holding 158 suspects, including three Britons, in open cells.
It says the prisoners are being treated in line with Geneva. But it refuses to give them prisoner of war status, calling them "unlawful combatants."
Hamas leader warns Mirror Camp X-Ray treatment will attract 100s more recruits
By Alexandra Williams in Jerusalem, Tom Parry, Paul Byrne, Stephen White and Alwyn Thomas
US treatment of Camp X-Ray prisoners will boost recruits to Islamic terrorist groups, a Hamas extremist warned last night.
Amid fears that America is committing political suicide by ignoring world concerns about the suspects, Hassan Yousef said: "The US is doing wrong by treating prisoners like this.
OUTRAGE: Guards keep watch on an injured prisoner lying shackled on a strecher at Camp X-Ray as he is taken away to be interogated - the picture has aroused condemnation worldwide
"But in the end it's going to benefit Muslim groups like us because people will sympathise and the number of sympathisers will swell."
Yousef spoke out after pictures of a shackled al-Qaeda suspect being taken for interrogation on a stretcher brought fresh condemnation of conditions at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In Britain, MPs spoke of "barbarism" and "snatching defeat from victory."
Labour MP Tam Dalyell said: "There is a hooligan element in the US administration who take pleasure in defying world opinion."
Writing in the Washington Post Adam Burton, Professor of International Relations at Oxford University, warned the Americans that Camp X-Ray was a "PR disaster" and the row that followed "a dialogue of the deaf."
But the grimmest warning came from Hamas chief Yousef who said there was "no doubt" the shocking pictures would incite young extremists to join a holy war.
Hamas is responsible for most suicide bomb attacks in Israel in the past 16 months. Speaking in the Palestinian West Bank town of Ramallah, Yousef told The Mirror: "America's position to the Arab world after September 11 is encouraging people to join Islam.
"Its treatment of prisoners in Cuba will add to this. They are terrible pictures. Tens of thousands of people have already joined Islam since the US attacked Muslims.
"If the US continues what it is doing then this will keep rising, which will be good for us.
"It is human nature - people sympathise with the weak and those who have been treated unjustly.
"There is an Arab saying 'When someone does something wrong to you, in the end it may benefit you'. This is very true in this case."
Last night it emerged that two of the 158 prisoners at Camp X-Ray are being treated for mental disorders and two for malaria, which they caught in Afghanistan. The other two were "getting better" after treatment for stress and manic depression.
The latest pictures from the base show a suspect who had just had surgery being stretchered away.
Pentagon officials first said prisoners were being transferred around the camp. Then they admitted they were being taken for questioning.
X-Ray Petty Officer Krystyna Johnson said: "If a detainee can walk, he walks. If he can't walk, and must be moved, we carry him on a stretcher."
Base commander Brigadier General Mike Lehnert said prisoners were being treated as close as possible to the terms of the Geneva Convention.
He added: "The questioning is within normal legal procedures.
"There is no torture, whips, bright lights or drugging. These men are dangerous and can hurt you. But they also require humane treatment." But his comments failed to ease fears that America's action in Cuba and its dismissal of worldwide criticism, was storing dire trouble for the future.
Mr Dalyell said: "Pictures like this seem to put the West on the same level as al-Qaeda. They go against everything the US is supposed to stand for."
Labour MP Vera Baird said: "This is quite appalling. If the prisoner is strapped down like this to be conveyed across an already heavily guarded compound, it makes you wonder what happens when he is actually interrogated.
"There are huge human rights questions here. It's about time our government made some very serious representations to President Bush."
Another Labour MP, Paul Flynn, added: "These pictures confirm that the Americans seem intent on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. You can't fight barbarism with barbarism." Lib Dem defence spokesman Paul Keetch said: "We must not stoop to the depths of terrorists. These images will only turn these people into martyrs."
Former MP and war correspondent Martin Bell said: "We are supposed to stand for certain civilised values. We do not shackle prisoners to stretchers."
Professor Burton warned in the Washington Post that the US action could unleash a savage reaction.
He said: "The Bush administration has appeared distressingly impervious to criticism.
"How it handles this crisis has implications for detainees held elsewhere - as well as any Americans, or their allies, who may yet be captured."
Dr Sayed Pasha, of the Union of Muslim Organisations, urged the Red Cross to take legal action against the US.
He said: "These pictures prove once again that America is showing no regard to human rights."
Amnesty International said: "If the prisoners are being moved on stretchers for medical help, that is acceptable.
But if they are shackled and stretchered off to be interrogated, we have serious issues with that."
Sadek Hamid, 30, a Muslim community worker in Manchester, also warned that the Camp X-Ray pictures will rouse passions among extremists.
He said: "What's going on there? Is it a detention centre or a concentration camp? On a wider scale, internationally, it is not helping.
"People are saying 'If you treat our people badly, we'll treat your people badly'."
The US is holding 158 suspects, including three Britons, in open cells.
It says the prisoners are being treated in line with Geneva. But it refuses to give them prisoner of war status, calling them "unlawful combatants."