Ireland puts itself in danger
The Irish government has agreed to take in 2 Guantanamo inmates:
DUBLIN – Ireland has agreed to accept two inmates from the Guantanamo prison camp in Cuba within the next two months, Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern announced Wednesday.Whoops, looks like even France may have put themselves in more danger than need be too. For how do we know these men really aren't deadly anymore?
Ahern said the two men belong to a group of about 50 prisoners who are "no longer regarded as posing a threat to security but who cannot return to their own countries." The United States has appealed to European Union countries to give most or all of those men sanctuary, but until now only France has stepped forward to accept a specific detainee.
In January after taking office, U.S. President Barack Obama announced his intention to close the 7-year-old military prison. He specifically appealed to European countries such as Ireland — long critical of the Guantanamo prison and demanding its closure — to shelter inmates who have been cleared as terrorist suspects but would face prison, torture or execution if deported to their homelands.But how do we know they wouldn't plot behind the scenes to commit more acts of terrorism within these European countries? The reason why many of them are being sent to European ones and not released in the US/Canada is because the controversy that would result there is already clear. But what about in Europe? Do the citizens there not care enough to protest this? And think of the costs it could take to keep these terrorists under surveillance.
Ireland is the second EU member to reach agreement with the Obama administration on the issue. France received one Algerian ex-inmate in May in a gesture timed to an Obama visit.
Several other European governments say they are willing in principle to take ex-Guantanamo inmates eventually. But they stress that any delays are down to the Obama administration, which has struggled to forge a plan to close Guantanamo that resolves legal and political obstacles — particularly grassroots opposition to permitting any resettlements on American soil.
Portugal, which was the first nation to call for a coordinated EU role in helping to close Guantanamo, said last month it still plans to take two or three prisoners, but has no agreement yet with the U.S.
The only group of Guantanamo inmates to receive enthusiastic third-country offers for resettlement are Chinese Muslim separatists called Uighurs.
Albania took five Uighurs in 2006, Bermuda took four more in June, and the tiny Pacific island of Palau has offered to take the 13 remaining in Guantanamo. The U.S. has yet to accept that offer.
Most of the approximately 230 men still locked up in Guantanamo are from Yemen, which the United States says lacks reliable prisons and terror "rehabilitation" programs. Negotiations are continuing to transfer most or all of the Yemenis to neighboring Saudi Arabia instead.
Ahern said the two Uzbeks coming to Ireland would receive permanent residency rights and would not be treated as refugees, a legal status that would allow them to work and move freely.
