The New Villain at Guantanamo Is Canada

/the-new-villain-at-guantanamo-is-canada

  • Fermer Guantanamo ? Ça n’est pas aussi facile que d’obtenir un Prix Nobel de la paix. The New Villain at Guantanamo Is Canada
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-15/the-new-villain-at-guantanamo-is-canada.html

    Canada’s hesitation has had a dangerous ripple effect at Guantanamo. The chief U.S. prosecutor, Brigadier General Mark R. Martins, has wisely sought to reach plea bargains with detainees willing to testify against inmates considered higher up the al- Qaeda ladder. By leaving Khadr in limbo, Canada has jeopardized similar deals with other inmates.

    One detainee, Soufiyan Barhoumi, a minor al-Qaeda figure from Algeria, is willing to testify against Abu Zubaydah, the Palestinian whom President George W. Bush accused of being al- Qaeda’s chief of operations. Yet Zubaydah, who has been held without charges for a decade and was waterboarded 83 times, has also been described by military and law enforcement sources as little more than a travel agent for the terrorist group.

    Charging and trying Zubaydah could resolve the questions about his past and shed light on the torture he suffered. That seems less likely to happen without Barhoumi’s cooperation, which is contingent on repatriation to Algeria. His lawyer told the New York Times, “the fact that Khadr remains at Guantanamo beyond when he was supposed to be transferred is a significant hindrance in my client’s willingness to participate in negotiations with the government.”