Frankie Boyle's hunger strike illustrates the profound delusion that infects much of the political discourse surrounding Guantanamo Bay.
A few points.
The detainee that Boyle is acting in support of- Shaker Aamer, has been cleared for release due to the US Government's desire to close Guantanamo and placate the UK.
But let's be clear, Aamer is not some harmless guy who was simply caught up in Afghanistan. He's a terrorist.
Before taking his legal team's word at face value, it's worth considering Aamer's November 2007 detainee threat assessment. Here, the US Military found that Aamer posed a ''high'' threat and that his continued detention was of ''high'' intelligence value. This is an individual, who by his own admission, harbors extremist intentions towards the United States. In addition, evidence suggests that Aamer acted in substantial roles alongside Al Qa'ida facilitation and operations networks in Europe and North America. Aamer has major connections to known mass casualty plotters including Richard Reid - the December 2001 shoe bomber and Zacarias Moussaoui - the 20th hijacker. Further, although it somehow fails to escape the attention of western media outlets, the Guantanamo Bay hunger strikes are a well known AQ counter-interrogation technique.
In short, like Mos Def, I believe that Boyle is allowing himself to become a pawn for Al Qa'ida propaganda. Frankly, it's not surprising, Boyle's anti-Americanism is well known.
Anyway, if interested, my other thoughts on Guantanamo - Daily Caller article, BBC World Service radio debate, BBC World News discussion.
I assume if you had any evidence for these random assertions you'd have provided it.
ReplyDeleteOne can only assume you're speaking utter bollocks then, about an innocent man that even the US have admitted was for unconditional release.
The evidence is provided in the links
DeleteTom Rogan Thinks.
ReplyDeleteI see no evidence of that.
"This is an individual, who by his own admission, harbors extremist intentions towards the United States."
ReplyDeleteIt's all very well saying that "the evidence is provided in the links", yet when I read words such as the detainee "claimed", "asserted" and "reported", in the NOFORM doc you link to, and that he was "unco-operative", then my instincts are immediately aroused - this is NOFORM paranoia. Where are the facts?
As for 'connections' with known "mass casualty plotters", linking your readers to the Wikipedia pages for Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui in no way lends credence to your assertions.
What you have invited us to read via your comment on the Guardian is, to put it mildly, utter bullocks.
The links are provided in the intelligence briefing. It's not my fault that you trust terrorists more than the US Military.
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