Italian PM Denounces Torture at the Guantanamo Naval Base

AIN
Feb. 27, 2006

During an interview with Al Jazeera, the Arab radio and TV network, Italian PM, Silvio Berlusconi, supported the statements by international personalities who have called for the closure of the US detention center in Guantanamo.

The Italian official declared that the Naval Base in Guantanamo, illegally-occupied in Cuba by the US, along with Abu Ghraib and other secret penitentiaries around the world should be closed immediately. He also denounced the torture carried on the so-called “enemy combatants” in those prisons, reports Granma newspaper.

PM Berlusconi gave assurances that Italian troops in Iraq will be withdrawn by the end of this year the latest. He said that the withdrawal of 20% of the Italian troops had already begun while the total withdrawal is being negotiated with the allies and the Iraqi government.

After US invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Italy has sent over 30.000 men to war, of whom 21 have been killed.

PM Berlusconi gave these statements during the electoral campaign for the legislative elections to take place on April 9 and when victory seems to be on the side of the opposition coalition Union, according to public opinion surveys.

Guantanamo Naval Base in the Spotlight
By Nestor Nuñez -AIN Special Service-

After Cuba had reiterated its request for the concentration camps in the illegally occupied US Naval Base in Guantanamo to be dismantled, finally the UN Human Rights Commission has demanded the closure of the prisons installed by the Bush administration.

A commission of UN experts, on the basis of testimonies made by former prisoners from that installation, lawyers and press information and other respected sources, prepared a document confirming that many so called enemy combatants" were tortured and abused and their rights violated. The UN demand has already generated protests and threats from the White House.

It must be remembered that on more than one occasion Cuba had requested that the UN Human Rights Commission inspect the illegalities of the military enclave. During that time, "dignified and civilized" Europe with it’s rejection of the Cuban project in advance, placed itself on the side of those who are applying those savage and inhuman methods of torture against the 500 plus prisoners. Curiously, now, the European Union applauds the UN determination and demands justice.

Who can understand them! But beyond the attitude of their allies, the truth is that for Washington the UN's response alone is an important defeat. The alleged defender of human rights is the first to trample all over and ignore them.

The proposal comes at a time when new images of tortured and abused Iraqi prisoners and also a video showing British soldiers brutally beating teenagers who were taking part in a demonstration against the occupation of Baghdad are circulating around the world on international television.

Although accused, what will this arrogant nation do?

Probably ignore the world's verdict as usual. In any event, whatever it decides, the stigma of the “world's greatest violator of human rights” can not be removed by even the finest spot remover that is “Made in the USA”.