| They're all yours. We have more if you want them ... |
But the joint foreign and interior ministries announcement linked the move to a broad European Union agreement to help the White House empty the prison camps that had been a source of tension between Europe and the Bush administration. It cast U.S. closure of the camps as "a milestone in revitalizing the transatlantic relationship and a victory for all those who advocate and promote respect for human rights in the fight against terrorism.''
| Yeah, yeah, whatever, and remember, no give-backs ... |
| Ship him to Zimbabwe or Burma. It'll spite the judge, and in six months Abdul will be begging to come back ... |
France has already taken in Algerian Bosnian Lakhdar Boumediene, who, like Janko, won an unlawful detention suit heard by Leon in a Washington court. Ireland interviewed two Uzbek citizens at the prison camps last month.
The State Department confirmed the agreement Friday afternoon. "We are very grateful for the efforts of the government of Portugal . . . to join our effort to close Guantánamo through this humanitarian gesture and for the leadership it exhibited in achieving a common European position on resettling Guantánamo detainees,'' said deputy spokesman Robert Wood.
Lisbon's announcement said that Obama's special envoy, Ambassador Daniel Fried, had presented a specific proposal to Portugal to take the two men. In response, it said, the government had balanced humanitarian and foreign relations considerations along with national security to forge the agreement, along with the prospects for a successful absorption of the two specific men selected for special entry visas. It did not specify whether the visas would allow the men to travel abroad, or simply remain in Portugal.
The latest resettlement plans come as Fried is reportedly still negotiating with the Pacific island nation of Palau to provide asylum to some Uighur Muslims from China held in a prerelease camp at Guantánamo. It also comes as the White House is grappling with meeting the deadline as well as recent new congressional limitations and reporting requirements imposed on any future transfers, either abroad or to U.S. soil.