Dutch Right
Prevails on Guantanamo Detainees (de Volkskrant, The Netherlands)
"This once again shows how national politics has been hijacked by Wilders' right-wing populist agenda, and that the centrist parties are using the worst possible tactics to combat Wilders, namely by saying little or nothing about it. ... President Obama, who as a result of the Republicans blocking any of the detainees from settling on the U.S. mainland, is forced to travel the world hat-in-hand knocking from door-to-door to see whether someone wants to help him close Guantánamo. ... If your main ally asks for a favor in which your enlightened self-interest also coincides with the humanitarian interest, you should be able rise above yourself – and your electoral fears – and say: we'll gladly help you."
By refusing to accept
two Guantanamo detainees, Prime Minister Rutte has shot himself in the foot.
When it comes to international politics, the considerations
of political power rarely coincide with humanitarian ones. Yet even when for
once that occurs - as is the case with America's request to the Netherlands to
take in two Guantanamo detainees, the Dutch government manages to gloriously
miss the open goal shot.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
Skepticism over accepting the pair can be found throughout
the House of Representatives. However, it is the ruling VVD [People's Party for Freedom and Democracy], that
guardian of strong NATO and transatlantic ties, which is leading the way -
presumably out of electoral fears that Geert Wilders [leader of
the opposition Party of Freedom] will accuse the government of taking in
"terrorists." This once again shows how national politics has been
hijacked by Wilders' right-wing populist agenda, and that the centrist parties
are using the worst possible tactics to combat Wilders, namely by saying little
or nothing about his agenda.
Of course, the Guantánamo Bay prison is first and foremost
an American mess. Against all advice to the contrary, President George W. Bush
created a legal limbo in which nearly 800 suspected terrorists were detained.
That is precisely the position of current President Barack Obama, who as a
result of the Republicans blocking any of the detainees from settling on the
U.S. mainland, is forced to travel the world hat-in-hand knocking from door-to-door to see whether someone wants to help him close Guantánamo.
To be clear: 53 of the remaining 115 detainees have been
"cleared for release": six American security agencies – including
Homeland Security, the CIA and NSA – have come to the conclusion on these are
people who can be released immediately. They are undoubtedly traumatized – but
so are many others sheltered by our society.
If your main ally asks for a favor in which your enlightened
self-interest also coincides with the humanitarian interest, you should be able
rise above yourself – and your electoral fears – and say: we'll gladly help
you. Whoever defines foreign policy solely by domestic polls would be better to
give up any U.N. Security Council ambitions.
