European Countries May Take Detainees

Under Bush, Nations Refused to Resettle Guantanamo Prisoners
By Peter Finn
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 23, 2008

European nations have begun intensive discussions both within and among their governments on whether to resettle detainees from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a significant overture to the incoming Obama administration, according to senior European officials and U.S. diplomats.

The willingness to consider accepting prisoners who cannot be returned to their home countries, because of fears they may be tortured there, represents a major change in attitude on the part of European governments. Repeated requests from the Bush administration that European allies accept some Guantanamo Bay detainees received only refusals.

The Bush administration "produced the problem," Karsten Voigt, coordinator of German-American cooperation at the German Foreign Ministry, said in a telephone interview. "With Obama, the difference is that he tries to solve it."

At least half a dozen countries are considering resettlement, with only Germany and Portugal acknowledging it publicly thus far.

(More here.)