| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Down Under | |
| Australia says considering Guantanamo prison intake | |
| 2009-01-02 | |
| CANBERRA, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Australia is considering a U.S. request to re-settleinmates from the Guantanamo Bay military prison camp, but would apply strict security screening before accepting an unspecified number. Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard said on Friday the government had been approached along with Britain to accept inmates to help U.S. President-elect Barack Obama meet a promise to close the camp in a U.S. enclave on Cuba. "For anyone to be accepted they would have to meet Australia's strict legal requirement and go through normal rigorous assessment processes," Gillard said in a statement. Gillard's office said it had not been decided who would be considered for intake and under what conditions. About 255 men are still held at the Guantanamo naval base, including 60 the United States has cleared for release but cannot repatriate for fear they will be tortured or persecuted in their home countries. Australian media said the government would accept no "wholesale intake" from Guantanamo and conservative opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd should immediately rule out support for the plan. Rudd is currently on Christmas holiday. "What (Rudd) has agreed to, with the Americans, is to accept Guantanamo Bay inmates for resettlement in Australia, in our community, as migrants, and that is completely and utterly unacceptable to the Australian people," Turnbull told local radio. Involvement in a Guantanamo re-settlement could threaten the government's record popularity, as surveys show security consistently ranks among the top concerns of Australians. Keith Suter, a foreign affairs and politics expert at Macquarie University in Sydney, said former U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had effectively painted all Guantanamo inmates as extremists before resigning in 2006. But most, Suter said, had faced no proper charges under the U.S military court system used at Guantanamo and would likely have to be considered by Australia as ordinary refugees. "They'd be granted refugee status and they'd be settled into the community, and hopefully no fuss would be made about it," he said.
| |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #3 Keith Suter was the git on ABC(Australia) radio (Australian Broadcasting Commission) aka Always Been Communists)a few weeks ago saying the pirates off Somalia were a great joke and nothing to worry about as they took care not to hurt anybody! There need to be many more severe job losses at Australian universities. What's wrong with shooting them? |
| Posted by: Aussie Mike 2009-01-02 05:26 |
| #2 Old corrupt Foggy Bottom asking Rudd-erless Ozzie to compete with types like Miliband? |
| Posted by: Duh! 2009-01-02 01:01 |
| #1 We on award tour with muhammad my man Goin each and every place with the mic in their hand New york, nj, n.c., va We on award tour with muhammad my man Goin each and every place with the mic in their hand Oaktown, l.a., san fran, st. john |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2009-01-02 00:15 |