Closing Guantanamo: US Attorney General Asks Europe for Help - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - ... - 0 views
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Fresh in office, US Attorney General Eric Holder made his first visit to Berlin on Wednesday and asked for the German government's support in the closing of the Guantanamo prison camp. "Just as we joined hands with our international allies to bring down the Iron Curtain that divided this great city, so must we join together to close Guantanamo," Holder said during a speech on Wednesday night given at the American Academy in the German capital.
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"I know that Europe did not open Guantanamo, and that, in fact, a great many on this continent opposed it," Holder said in Berlin, before making a direct appeal to Germany to provide its backing. "But as we turn the page to a new beginning, it is incumbent on us all to embrace new solutions, free from the rancor and rhetoric that divided us in the past. To close Guantanamo, we must all make sacrifices and we must be willing to make unpopular choices."
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He said the talks were "open and productive" and that he was leaving Europe with a "very good impression." "There were no definitive no's anywhere," he said, adding that the groundwork had been completed for Washington to make concrete requests for Europeans to take in former Guantanamo prisoners. Holder said he would return to Washington hopeful.
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In recent weeks, the expected request from Washington to take in former prisoners has been the subject of contentious debate within the German government. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) has expressed his support for taking in prisoners, citing humanitarian reasons. But Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) has at times been hesitant about the proposals while at other times rejecting them outright. Schäuble fears there will be incalculable security risks for Germany and he feels some of the legal issues still haven't been addressed.