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January 22, on the second day of his presidency, Barack Obama solemnly signed the decree for the closure of the Guantanamo prison facility: since 2002, that damning symbol of the George Bush presidency. “America’s moral example must once again be the foundation of our global leadership,” the American president said then, before clarifying that this closing would take effect within a year.
Can this commitment be kept? At the moment, nothing is less certain. While 223 detainees remain at the American base in Cuba, the legal complexity of the issue, the equivocations of the Obama administration and the guerilla action Congressional Republicans are waging create serious uncertainties.
It is also true that Mr. Obama has hardly been helped, in this instance, by the Europeans. In December 2008, Paris, Berlin and other capitals had committed themselves to help close Guantanamo by welcoming prisoners who may be freed and who have not been convicted – purported terrorists detained for several years, against whom the American legal system has not succeeded in developing sufficient charges. Or against whom any potential evidence had been obtained through torture. Moreover, these prisoners cannot be sent safely back to their countries of origin.
Marvelous demonstration of solidarity with the young American president in the name of the Union’s ideals! But afterwards, the Europeans split. Some have announced their hostility to the principle; others (including France, Great Britain and Spain) have stayed on course. A third camp feared that the debate over receiving the detainees would relaunch the debate over the scandal of the secret CIA flights in which several countries have been involved without ever admitting it.
Europeans finally reunited around three ideas. A reduced number of former detainees would be received – about forty? On the condition that the United States itself agrees to grant residence permits to former prisoners and commits to respecting common values in the anti-terrorist struggle. These principles should be expressed in a common declaration that has still not seen the light of day.
Consequently, on both sides of the Atlantic, the difficulties associated with this poisoned issue have been underestimated. But that cannot serve as an alibi for giving up. Europeans owe it to themselves to respect, even augment, their commitments, if they don’t want to appear weak-willed and pusillanimous.
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Translation: Truthout French language editor Leslie Thatcher.
