Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey: US to imprison Al-Qaeda in Cuba

The United States is to use its military base in Cuba to house the Al-Qaeda and Taleban prisoners it has taken in Afghanistan. The US naval base at Guantanamo, which the USA rents for a paltry sum from the Cuban authorities, is to serve as a maximum security prison for the Al-Qaeda and Taleban fighters captures by the US/UK alliance in Afghanistan. The USA acquired the base through lease agreements signed at the end of the Spanish/US war in 1898 and under these treaties, pays 4,000 USD per year to the Cuban authorities, which President Fidel Castro refuses to accept as a matter of pride and national dignity. The US has around 300 prisoners held in a base near Kandahar and a further nine high-security risk captives on the USS Bataan, in the Arabian Sea. Among these are the Californian Taleban, John Walker and the former Taleban ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salaam Zaeff. The US authorities have declared that Guantanamo is to receive around 100 prisoners in the next few days but that the lodgings will be increased to house a capacity of 2,000 captives.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY “PRAVDA.Ru”