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Blair tells Bush: Send the British al-Qaeda suspects back for trial
EFLTONY Blair is to press for the repatriation of the two British al-Qaeda suspects held at Guantanamo Bay when he meets George Bush next week, in an effort to defuse the most serious transatlantic rift since the end of the Iraq war. The Prime Minister will raise the issue personally with the United States president in Washington, Downing Street said yesterday. "Thanks for sharing, Tony, but unfortunately the answer is no." The two British suspects at the camp are due to be tried by a military commission, directly appointed by Mr Bush and without access to basic standards of justice. It meets the standards for a military tribunal anywhere in the West. With more than 160 MPs, mostly Labour, protesting at the summary justice, Mr Blair was caught between mollifying back-benchers or offending his closest international ally. The Prime Minister has so far adopted a diplomatic silence on the matter, but Downing Street indicated yesterday that he will now raise the fate of the British detainees at next weekâs meeting. The government has previously refused to intervene on behalf of the "British Taleban" - Feroz Abbasi, of Croydon, and Moazzam Begg, from Birmingham, who have been held at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for more than a year. With the issue threatening to provoke further divisions within the Labour Party, Downing Street made clear the British government had "strong reservations" about the use of a military commission which would see the trial conducted behind closed doors with the suspects defended by a lawyer hand-picked by the US military. Hereâs a potential compromise: the Brits can appoint a co-counsel for each of the rat-birds, but they have to play by the rules. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, has spoken twice in the last week to his counterpart, Colin Powell, to make representations about the means of justice, which the British believe will not try the suspects humanely, and the prospect of them facing the death penalty if found guilty. "We have made clear to the United States that the detainees should be treated humanely," said the Prime Ministerâs official spokesman. "We have also got strong reservations about military commissions and those reservations have been raised and will continue to be raised with the US at various levels." The spokesman denied that David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, had rejected an offer by the US to repatriate the two men if the British could guarantee they would stand trial.
An MoH? What?? A Downing Street official said negotiations on Guantanamo were being conducted in a mature manner, but admitted: "The US have their views and we have ours. We have repeatedly said this is a highly unusual and difficult situation and obviously we would want to bring an end to it as swiftly as possible." In addition to differences over Guantanamo, the close relationship forged by Mr Blair and Mr Bush is in danger of unravelling in the face of growing sceptism over whether Saddam Husseinâs weapons of mass destruction will be found. There is increasing frustration in Britain that the White House and the Pentagon have undermined Downing Streetâs defence of its intelligence-gathering operation by refusing to stand by the claim that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa for a nuclear weapons programme. It was an erroneous report, and Bush did right to backtrack on it. In another setback for Mr Blair, Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, raised doubts about whether No 10 had exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam by conceding the US had "no dramatic evidence" about Iraqâs weapons of mass destruction before the war. Downing Street yesterday shifted its position by downgrading claims that chemical or biological missiles will be found, saying the Iraq Survey Group may only turn up evidence of "products" linked to the weapons. Posted by: Steve White 2003-07-11 |
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