'I Love Guantanamo' Billboards Hit US Capital

[Purveyor]

Billboard image of bin Laden is part of activist campaign seeking to highlight Al-Qaeda uses US detention center as recruiting tool.

WASHINGTON - Travelers on the metro in the US capital risk coming face to face with Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, smiling and wearing an "I Love Guantanamo" T-shirt.

The irreverent billboard image of America's number one enemy, just a short distance from the White House, is part of an activist campaign aimed at highlighting that Al-Qaeda uses the US detention center as a recruiting tool.

The metro billboard is "to remind policymakers that torture is illegal, unethical and a top recruiting tool for the terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda network," creators from the Avaaz activist group said.

Avaaz believes Guantanamo is a potent symbol for the "war on terror" torture excesses of former president George W. Bush and that Al-Qaeda plays on this fact to pull in new members.

Another poster presents former vice-president Dick Cheney, who has ardently defended the controversial interrogation techniques of the Bush-era, begging the question: "Could this be Al-Qaeda's best recruiter?"

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