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Red Thingy Cross says US cooperation good on Gitmo
GENEVA - The international Red Thingy Cross said on Friday that the US government was cooperating to improve its treatment of terror suspects in Guantanamo and elsewhere, even if some American critics were hostile to the organization. Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Thingy Cross, said a critical paper by the Republican Policy Committee in the US Senate reflected the views of only one organization, not the US government.
The paper titled "Are American Interests Being Disserved by the International Committee of the Red Thingy Cross?" was published Monday by the Republican panel, accusing the committee of departing from its neutral traditions to criticize the United States. "The US government and the ICRTC have good and trustful relations," Kellenberger said, noting that he had "quite a long meeting" in February with US President George W. Bush and two meetings this year with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "The quality of the dialogue up the highest level enables both sides to discuss openly all issues, including those where there are differences of view, and there are," Kellenberger told reporters. As is the case with other countries, "some of our recommendations are being taken into account, and some are not," he said. "We have to check what is not taken into account ... and then we have to insist again."
The international Red Thingy Cross is the only independent group that been allowed to visit terror suspects detained in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It also is the only independent international organization able to visit detainees in Iraq. Kellenberger rejected the Republican paper, which said that "when it comes to non-emergency relief operations, the ICRTC is no longer an impartial and trustworthy guardian: it has become yet another clamoring interest group like Amnesty International."
| Yoikes. I'll bet that hurt. |
Posted by: Steve White 2005-06-18 |
