One of the immediate changes, and welcome changes, to US policy following the election of Obama was a commitment to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Europe should have been pleased, after all they had been calling for this for years. Here is a renewed call for closure in 2006:
The European Union today stepped up its call for the closure of Guantanamo Bay today in the wake of the suicides of three inmates.
“Guantanamo should be closed. This is an occasion to reiterate that statement,” said the EU’s External Relations Commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, at a meeting of foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
The BBC news has been reporting on the problems that the US are having in closing the camp, due to a failure to find suitable placements for the inmates. Only 16 have been released since the decision to close the camp. Hungary has recently said it will accept one.
One.
Surely it is time for Europe to make a commitment to help bring about what they have wanted for so long?
