A detainee is taken to an interrogation area at Guantanamo
Bay:
Should U.S. allies like Germany, who consider the prison
camp to
be synonymous with the downfall of
America, accept these men?
Die Zeit, Germany
Germany
Must Accept U.S. Request on Guantanamo Prisoners
"Reason and humanity demand that we comply with the request of
the United States. Barack Obama was in office not 48 hours when he ordered the
prison camp at Guantánamo closed within a year. For this he is deserving of the
highest recognition - and all the help we can give."
By
Mattias Nass
Translated
By Jonathan Lobsien
May
21, 2009
Germany - Die Zeit - Original Article (German)
The names of nine Uyghurs are on the list that Barack Obama’s special
envoy, Daniel Fried, recently handed over to the German government. They
currently sit along with some 250 other detainees in the U.S. prison camp at
Guantánamo Bay,
Cuba. Germany, according to the request of the Obama government, may take in
the Uyghurs in order to make the closure of the camp
easier. According to a U.S. court, the nine pose no danger, but in their
homeland of China, they would be threatened again with imprisonment and
torture. Should Germany grant the men asylum? A fierce debate has erupted
within the grand [ruling] coalition in Berlin concerning this matter. Foreign
Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (Social Democratic Party) is for hosting them,
while Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble
(Christian Democratic Union), as well as a few SDP
insiders, object.
But of course! Reason and humanity demand that we comply with the
request of the United States. Barack Obama was in office not 48 hours when he
ordered the prison camp at Guantánamo closed within a year. For this he is deserving
of the highest recognition - and all the help we can give.
Finally, after Europeans pushed George W. Bush for years, this
institutionalized breach of the law will end. Angela Merkel put it this way: “The
use of such prisons is incompatible with my understanding of the rule of law.”
Now, at last, this shameful chapter is to be concluded.
Therefore, our answer to the request of the Americans can only be:
Whoever's innocence is proven; whoever survived torture and understandably
doesn't want to make America his new home but cannot return to his original
country because they would be threatened with further persecution, they should
find acceptance among us.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
Now however, hypocritical guardians of domestic and external
security have been unleashed, as if the Americans wanted to see our security
unhinged! As if they're being crafty to protect themselves from lawsuits seeking
compensation (which, by the way, are just as easily conducted from Munich). As
if they wanted to deflect the wrath of Beijing, which sees the Uyghurs at Guantánamo as East Turkestan terrorists, toward
the naive Germans (who nevertheless renewed good business ties with China even after
the chancellor received the Dalai Lama).
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has stated: “These people are truly
innocent. We're ready with all of our power to support them so that they integrate
quickly [translated quote].” Naturally, the Chinese are more believable than
Biden. One can and should investigate possible connections between the Uyghurs and the East Turkestan Islamic separatist movement.
The only thing one hears above the cries for “more information” is
excuses, excuses, excuses! It is the same couldn’t-care-less morality exhibited
by head of the Chancellery Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the case of Murat Kurnaz.
There may even be something to these allegations! Incidentally: what's it to us?
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
SEE ALSO ON THIS:
Die Zeit, Germany:
Germany Must Refuse U.S. on Guantanamo Prisoners
Liberation, France:
How Brave Americans Were Turned Into Torturers
NRC Handlesblad, The Netherlands:
Torture Has No Place in 'Shining City on a Hill'
Le Temps, Switzerland:
Doing Evil in the Name of the Good
Izvestia, Russia:
U.S. and Torture: For Mr. Obama, It's 'Hard to Be Gorby'
Publico, Spain:
Torture Charges Filed Against Bush Legal Team; Judge Garzon Handles Case
Hurriyet, Turkey:
Dick Cheney's Torture Logic is 'Deeply Offensive'
Die Tageszeitung, Germany:
America and Torture: 'Just Following Orders'
Financial Times Deutschland, Germany:
Obama: Inviting the Next Torture Scandal
Jornal de Noticias, Portugal:
Poverty and Torture: Bush Has Company in Europe
Le Monde, France:
'Fussy' Rights Groups 'Wrong' to Be Impatient with Obama
Le Figaro, France:
Obama's Moral Crusade: A Few Words of Caution
The Independent, U.K.:
America Doesn't Need a Witch-Hunt
BBC News, U.K.:
U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture Calls CIA Exemption 'Illegal'
Ottawa Citizen, Canada:
Torture the 'Chicago Way'
Toronto Star, Canada:
Winking at CIA Abuse
But we’re not talking about morals. We’re talking about political
prudence. In the Islamic world, Guantánamo Bay has become synonymous with
Western double standards. And note: the West - not of America alone. Because European
countries were involved; because CIA aircraft made stopovers here; because
there is evidence that even in Europe there were prison-torture sites; and because
from these places, suspects were transferred to Syria, Pakistan and Egypt, with
full knowledge of what awaited them there.
Now along comes Barack Obama, looking to engage Muslims in a conversation,
and he wants to transcend the ignorance, the hatred, of the Bush years. And he starts
the conversation with just the right gesture: closing Guantánamo. And we don't
want to help him with this? If we don't want to gamble away the respect of the
world - and our own self-respect, this would be the way.
CLICK HERE FOR GERMAN VERSION
[Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US May 21, 2:35am]
