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Tuesday Guantanamo Roundup

By possum

The complex situation represented by Guantanamo Bay and the detainees there along with other detention centers around the world continues to attract the attention of news outlets across the globe.  Some reports repeat themselves, while others are new to the scene.

After 10 days of hospitalization in Paris Lakhdar Boumediene had his first meal outside detention.  He expressed his feelings saying

I told my wife that for the first time I felt like a man again, tasting things, picking things up in my fingers, eating lunch with my wife and my two daughters.

After 7 years in American hands at Guantanamo with 2 years of forced feeding Boumediene knows the feeling of freedom at last.

watchingamerica.com, Flickr, Creative Commons

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says Italy will consider accepting some detainees from Guantanamo.

We feel that we should do everything possible to support the United States, and we can't expect them to fight for all of us single-handedly.

In Afghanistan a Taliban leader, Mulla Abdul Salam Zaeef, claims abusive treatment in American detention.  Zaeef was held both in Afghanistan at Bagram Air Base and at Guantanamo Bay.  He spoke his feelings about his mistreatmentsaying

Anyone in the world, to be deprived of any kind of human rights, any kind of justice -- he becomes angry, so he will try to get revenge

Congressman John Tierney supports the Obama administration effort to close Guantanamo Bay.Tierney said

The United States cannot expect other countries to take detainees into custody without doing the same.

Some resistance to moving detainees to American soil is still to be found.  Megan Gilliland of Leavenworth, KS, is assistant to the city manager and public information officer for the city of Leavenworth.

Housing Guantanamo detainees would significantly change current operations and the overall mission of the fort.

Congress including many Democrats says to Obama, show us a plan before we give you money for closing Guantanamo.

Democrats and Republicans alike have pushed Obama for specifics on how he could keep a promise to close its Guantanamo prison by early 2010. In a sharp rebuke, lawmakers last week denied Obama's request for $81 million to move suspected terrorists to undetermined alternatives.

The final decisions and choices continue to change on a near daily basis.  What will be the final outcome remains to be seen today.  

Open Democracy, Flickr, Creative Commons

Peace.

Full post as published by Never In Our Names on May 26, 2009 (boomark / email).