Oct. 19, 2006 - 19:04 MDT

INTERNATIONAL HOT-POTATO

Hmmmm, an editorial in this mornings Rocky Mountain News brings the necessity for thought by someone in the drivers seat. Doggone if I can figure things out. Quoted in full:

U.S. Running out of options for detainees

READY TO BE FREED, BUT NOWHERE TO GO

As if Guantanamo Bay hasn't been enough of a problem for the United States, it now turns out that some of our allies who have been the shrillest in demanding that the United States close the prison are refusing to accept its prisoners."

"There are, according to U.S. authorities, about 435 detainees from 40 countries at the base in Cuba, one fourth of them not considered security risks and eligible for release -- if someone will take them. Almost no country, it seems, will."

"The United Kingdom, especially, both its government and human-rights groups, have demanded Guantanamo's closure. "Behind the scenes, however, the British goverment has repeatedly blocked efforts to let some prisoners leave Guantanamo and return home," reports The Washington Post based on documents released in London."

"The United States wanted to send back 10 former British residents, but London balked, citing the cost of keeping them under surveillance once they returned. The detainees reportedly have agreed to accept restrictions on their liberty if they are freed, but a lawyer for two of them told the Post that the British "do not want these guys back."

"Germany, too, refused for four years to accept the return of a Turk, first on grounds that his German residency permit had expired while he was incarcerated in Guantanamo and later citing the cost of keeping him under surveillance."

"China was willing to accept the return of five Uighur Muslim separatists, but only to try them on terrorism charges. The United States tried 100 other countries before Albania agreed to take them. There another 17 Uighurs still at Guantanamo."

"Congress has authorized military commisions to try those prisoners who may be guilty of war crimes or crimes against the U.S. But what of those the government finds no further reason to hold ? And what about those who are found not guilty -- and further have no place to go because no one wants them ?"

"Keeping them jailed forever because of indecision and inaction on the part of other countries is not an option for a nation that professes reverence for the rule of law. Like it or not, they may have to be released, inder some form of supervision, in the United States itself."

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Wondering what my outlook would be if any of those folks at Guantanamo were beloved relatives of mine, found innocent. Damn right I would want them back and would be enraged that they had been treated as they had.

Looks to me as if we as a nation, or those who were supposedly acting in our interests have bought us a hive of humans who may very well be quite bitter after being at Guantanamo and undergoing the "tough" interrogations that Mr. Bush so ardently pushed to make legal (after the fact). People kidnapped in another country and put in Guantanamo are owed some respect at least and some provision for their welfare should be made here, to my way of thinking.

Sort of a wry situation when other countries are pushing us to free people, but they don't want them back.

Yet, knowing they have been imprisoned and INTERROGATED for quite a spell, I don't think I would want them back either.

But sooner or later we might have to bite the bullet, swallow it and make the best of it.

We seem to haved baked ourselves an INTERNATIONAL HOT-POTATO . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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