The United States and France agreed Thursday to cooperate more closely on terrorist cases and combatting organized crime, signing new deals both sides said signaled better relations. Perben and Ashcroft signed two accords updating a U.S.-French extradition treaty and facilitating the transfer of terror suspects. Ashcroft said the agreements were a sign of stronger ties between the two countries following disagreements on how to fight terrorism. The closer cooperation "will allow us to engage in the fight against a wide variety of crimes, not just terrorist offenses, in a way that is up to date and expeditious," he said. Their talks were held on the margins of a U.S.-EU meeting on terrorism. Perben told reporters he had asked Ashcroft "to obtain clearer information" about the detentions of the three French nationals in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo. "Ashcroft said he would examine their situation as quickly as possible," Perben said. Authorities have struggled for months to bring home the three, being held on suspicion of participating in terror-related activities. Four other prisoners held at Guantanamo were returned to France in July.
| Wring them dry and ship the husks to the French. |
France and the United States have been at loggerheads over how to tackle terrorism and the U.S.-led war in Iraq. "These agreements are a powerful reaffirmation that we work shoulder to shoulder in defense of freedom and the rights of citizens," Ashcroft said. "These are historic agreements, both for what they say and what they symbolize."
| Wonder who gets to do the heavy lifting? |
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