Guantanamo ‘glamorising’ terrorism

KEEPING terror suspects locked up in Guantanamo Bay makes them glamorous heroes, according to the head of the EU’s counter- terrorism unit.

They should be given a fair trial and either released or sent to jail, as happened with those responsible for the Madrid and London bombings, said EU counter- terrorism co-ordinator Gilles de Kerckhove.

Europe had tried to help US President Barack Obama close Guantanamo but were disappointed that Congress would not allow it, he said.

“You have never heard the al-Qaida leadership refer to the authors of the Madrid or London bombings. Most have been tried and, after a very fair trial, are in jail, treated like the criminals they are and not like the fighters for a noble cause, like the detainees of Guantanamo, because it is much more appealing and glamorous. But you de-glamorise the jihad through the criminal system,” he said.

The EU will once again push for Guantanamo detainees to be tried or released when Mr de Kerckhove visits Washington in two weeks.

Al-Qaida was finding it more difficult to win young recruits in the Arab world because so many of the victims of their terrorist attacks were Arabs, said Mr de Kerckhove.

Now they were turning their attention to recruiting youngsters in the West.

The number of al-Qaida’s Arabic websites has been declining and the number in English is on the increase as they try to become more attractive to westerners, he said. The EU is considering setting up a virtual library to rebut al-Qaida rhetoric in English, as most of the respected Muslim clerics speak in Arabic “but most of the youngsters most likely to be radicalised do not speak Arabic”, he said.

Overall, al-Qaida had failed and the organisation was downgraded by the death of Osama Bin Laden and by the Arab Spring, which showed that al-Qaida’s rhetoric had been rejected. Instead, people were peacefully demonstrating asking for more democracy and human rights with no reference to al-Qaida, he said. The group splintered into isolated franchises on the Arabian peninsula, Yemen, Somalia and North Africa.

The scale and sophistication of the 9/11 attacks was no longer possible, but while we are safer than before because of the improved response, the threat is more complex and diversified.

Looking back on 10 years of fighting terrorism since the 9/11 attacks on the US, Mr de Kerckhove said that EU developments in the area of security, including greater international co-operation, were amazing.

EU countries that previously would not share information with one another were now co-operating and pooling intelligence and expertise. Europol, Eurojust and Frontex were bringing together the police, the judiciary and border authorities in the fight against terrorism, he said.

On the inconveniences people suffer in the name of security, such as at airports, Mr de Kerckhove said not being able to carry liquids is due to be phased out by 2013.