Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Malaysia wants US to close Guantanamo Bay

Malaysia believed that it is better for the United States to close down the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba following the disclosure of it becoming a torturing camp.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said the US itself had admitted the offences committed against the detainees there.

The United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan had called for the detention to be closed down but the US refused to do so.

Who on earth can tell the most powerful nation in the world what to do and what not to do? If the US decided to do something and the rest of the world disagreed, let it be.

Take the Hamas recent victory in Palestine's parliamentary elections as example. The US is not happy although it is pushing for democracy in the Middle East. Israel is with the US, so much for democratic freedom and human rights.

As chairman of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC), Malaysia is spearheading efforts to extend financial aid to Palestine.

Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said he had spoken to some leaders of the OIC about it after the Israeli government decided to stop payment of about $50 million a month in tax money, collected on behalf of the Palestinians, to the Palestinian Authority.

The Americans too had asked for the return of some US$50 million in aid meant for infrastructure projects in Gaza as it did not want the money to be used by a Hamas-led government.

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