30 Gitmo Detainees Cleared For Release

(CBS/AP)  U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says about 30 detainees have been cleared for release from Guantanamo Bay.

Holder met with reporters in Germany ahead of a speech appealing for Europe's help to close the U.S. military detention facility.

The attorney general says the United States has not decided which detainees it wants to send to specific countries, adding that those decisions are weeks away.

There are 241 prisoners at Guantanamo, and Holder has been visiting European leaders this week asking for help relocating detainees and shuttering the detention site over the next nine months.

Ivan Langer, the Czech Minister of Interior, told The Associated Press Tuesday he believes some European nations will accept Guantanamo detainees, but not his country.

Previewing his later speech, Holder says closing the detention facility is a shared responsibility for the U.S. and Europe.

[paddyhayes]

"I have read that a large % just go back to killing and terrorist activity."

Ah. I love the the "I have read..." and "I heard ..." lines of argumentation. They are thinly disguised version of "They say..."

Smacks of the logical fallacy of Appeal to Anonymous Authority.

[hamiltongrad]

Why do I feel uneasy about this ?

[hamiltongrad]

WHo will take responsibility if just one person is killed by these "released" terrorists ? Will there be hearings in Congress ?

[gwpegleg]

How do you think these prisoners got there in the first place? Maybe they were in their neighborhood bar or just at home and we came in told them to turn over their AK-47s and fill out the 'Are you a terrorist questionnaire . When captured on a battlefield during a firefight you might be considered the enemy.
The conditions at Gitmo were far from from inhumane they were allowed to pray several times a day, they were supplied with mats to kneel on. Special foods for their religious beliefs. Granted they have been denied their 72 virgins, but when released they can pursue hunting down infidels and get back on track. There's been inspections by the Red Cross and politicians and there's been no reports of inhumane conditions. We have not treated POW, inhumanely no matter how our men were treated. prove to me otherwise.

[ramos1129]

There are now, per the article 214 detainees left. Before there were 60 waiting to be releasedl with these 30 that makes 90 waiting to be released. We would not be releasing them if they were what we originally said they were - terrioists of the worst kind per Cheney/Bush/Rice/etc.

[kastner63]

Holder's remark that they are a "shared responsibility" is an impertinence. The U.S. created the camp, the U.S. detained people they could not prove, were terrorists, the U.S. violated the Geneva convention (that is, international law) to keep these people without legal redress, so the responsibility is 100% a U.S. responsibility!
As to them "going back" to terrorist activities - since most of them are not terrorists to begin with (even the Bush government could charge no more than a few dozen out of almost 700), they cannot go "back" to it. It is of course possible that some of them are just angry enough at having been robbed of their freedom for seven years at inhumane conditions, that they will contemplate joining up afterwards.
It is telling that everybody who was released into lawful states like UK or Germany, was not only not charged with terrorist activities but was exonerated.

[hamiltongrad]

What is the track record for others released from Gitmo. I have read that a large % just go back to killing and terrorist activity. Does not sound like a smart or moral thing to do.

[mjlewis6]

Amazing that so many people, civilians, NOT POWs are incarcerated at Guantanamo?

Suspicion? Rights of accused? Nationality of 'detainees'? All covered under Geneva Conventions....that is a double blessing and curse for Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Alberto Gonzalez....it means they will not be subject to similar waterboarding interrogations when they are indicted, arrested and tried for war crimes...at the Hague.

I expect there will be accountability at the highest level....like Milosevic and Radovan before the court. Milosevic died during his trial, but Radovan will be fully tried....

[inventagod]

When will we investigate DlCK CHENEY for his involvement in 9/11?

UNDER OATH???