 Germany's Interior Ministry agreed to consider accepting former inmates from Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. detention center for terrorism suspects that the Obama administration plans to shut down.
The change of position from Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, who had resisted the idea, came after a meeting Wednesday with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
| So what did we offer in return? |
Mr. Holder said he will "relatively soon be reaching out to specific countries with specific detainees." He also visited the U.K. and Czech Republic to lay the groundwork for Guantanamo's closure. He said he hasn't formally requested that either of those countries receive detainees, and that none of his European counterparts refused to take former inmates.
President Barack Obama ordered the closure of the Guantanamo prison because it makes him unhappy it offers a propaganda boon for terrorist recruiters and weakens national security, Mr. Holder said. But the U.S. needs to find homes for the inmates, he said, making Germany's new willingness to consider acceptance of one or more inmates an important step to closing the detention facility.
The U.S. hopes to relocate detainees who are being set free as well as prisoners who could face trial in other venues. Mr. Holder said 30 detainees have been cleared for release from Guantanamo, out of the 241 people still at the military prison. Some of those remaining could face trial in federal court, he said.
| Where they'll make a farce of our legal system, since that's what they're trained to do. |
The German Interior Ministry said in a statement that it will give "careful consideration" to any U.S. request, although it prefers Guantanamo inmates be returned to their home countries ...
| Unless there's even a small chance that they'd be 'tortured'. |
... or be accepted by the U.S. The U.S. hasn't made a specific request for the release of any Guantanamo inmate to Germany, the statement said.
| "Nein ist er eklig. Nein ist er auch eklig. Nein ist er auch eklig. ..." |
Mr. Schäuble had previously said Germany shouldn't accept Guantanamo detainees, arguing that it was a U.S. problem to fix.
| "We just want to complain, we don't want to help." |
By contrast, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in January that Germany would be willing to take in individual detainees if it helped Mr. Obama close Guantanamo.
Previewing a speech he was to make in Berlin on Wednesday evening, Mr. Holder said "mistakes have been made" with regard to Guantanamo, and pledged the current administration would follow the rule of law.
| Even though the Bush administration also followed the rule of law. |
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