US wants to export 30 Guant谩namo inmates but Europe is balking
Berlin 鈥� European countries widely praised the Obama administration鈥檚 decision earlier this year to close down Guant谩namo Bay, which was a major friction point in transatlantic relations during the Bush presidency.
But few are rushing to offer help relocating about 30 prisoners 鈥� of 241 still held in the prison 鈥� the US says will be released soon but cannot return home for fear of persecution.
Last month, France said it would take one Guant谩namo detainee. In the past, Albania and Sweden have stepped up (click here for more Monitor coverage, as well as here for coverage of Sweden's recent asylum grant to a Uighur prisoner). But major European powers like Germany, Britain, and Italy are still on the fence.
US Attorney General Eric Holder completed a brief tour of several European capitals last week, making backroom appeals for European leaders to take Guant谩namo detainees.
During a speech at the American Academy here on Wednesday, Mr. Holder spoke of the need for both the US and Europe 鈥渢o make sacrifices鈥� and the 鈥渦npopular choices鈥� needed to close Guant谩namo. Holder said his talks in Berlin, Prague, and London were positive. 鈥淭here were no definitive no鈥檚 anywhere,鈥� he said, according to Der Spiegel.
Holder says the US expects in a matter of weeks to begin asking European countries to take prisoners. Detainees to be released have all been cleared of wrongdoing and pose no danger to society, the US says. Yet European nations are balking largely because they insist they would not know who they are getting, and why they were detained in the first place.
During Holder's trip last week, Spanish judge Baltasar Garz贸n opened an investigation into "any of those that executed and/or designed a systematic plan of torture" at Guant谩namo. Is he targeting Dick Cheney and George Bush? ( for a Monitor story about the Spanish case.)
In Germany, Europe鈥檚 most outspoken opponent of Guant谩namo, the debate over whether to take detainees has turned fierce. The influential weekly newspaper, Die Zeit, is calling Holder鈥檚 European visit 鈥渁 diplomatic begging tour.鈥�
German Interior Minister Wolfgang Sch盲uble is maintaining a 鈥測ou broke it, you fix it鈥� view of the detainee issue, telling Die Zeit, 鈥淭he responsibility for those who have been held in Guantanamo for years lies with the USA.鈥�
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is running to unseat Chancellor Angela Merkel in national elections this September, is pushing for Germany to take detainees that pose no security risks.
鈥淥ver years we clamored for the closing of Guant谩namo,鈥� Mr. Steinmeier told the S盲chsische Zeitung newspaper recently. 鈥淲e cannot hide in the bushes, not now when they mean business.鈥�
Indeed, there's growing evidence of the role of European governments in US renditions and torture. Der Spiegel has a compelling investigative story on their website about where Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the architect of the 9/11 atttacks, was taken for interrogation. The story says it was there that he was waterboarded 183 times.
