Canada Has Obligation To Afghans In Gitmo

"Just because we turned the earlier detainees over to the Americans does not absolve us of our responsibility. Those Afghans just disappeared into a black hole." Godfrey does not know if any of those detainees have since been released and returned to Afghanistan, or are among the 73 Afghans still stuck in Guantanamo. He raised the issue when I phoned him for his reaction to a campaign by the Canadian chapter of Human Rights Watch that Canada lead a campaign to shut down Guantanamo. The detention camp, opened in January 2002, has been condemned by almost every one of the U.S. allies – Britain, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy and Denmark. Kofi Annan and his successor as UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, have both called for its closure. President George W. Bush has said that he, too, would like to close it. But he doesn't quite know what to do with the remaining 385 detainees there. Only a few dozen, if that many, are likely to be charged with terrorism-related charges. Only two have been, so far, including Canadian Omar Khadr. Most of the rest will likely be cleared for release. Eighty have already been cleared. But their home countries don't want them back or the U.S. does not want to send them there for fear they will be tortured. That's the case with 17 Uighurs held at the camp for five years. Human Rights Watch is proposing that Canada take them, to set an example for other allies to emulate and help the U.S. out of an embarrassing predicament. But why would Canada want any of those alleged terrorists? http://www.thestar.com/opinion/article/214699

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