Europe gives more reasons to keep Gitmo open

Washington Post:

The Obama administration's push to resettle at least 50 Guantanamo Bay prisoners in Europe is meeting fresh resistance as European officials demand that the United States first give asylum to some inmates before they will do the same.

Rising opposition in the U.S. Congress to allowing Guantanamo prisoners on American soil has not gone over well in Europe. Officials from countries that previously indicated they were willing to accept inmates now say it may be politically impossible for them to do so if the United States does not reciprocate.

"If the U.S. refuses to take these people, why should we?" said Thomas Silberhorn, a member of the German Parliament from Bavaria, where the White House wants to relocate nine Chinese Uighur prisoners. "If all 50 states in America say, 'Sorry, we can't take them,' this is not very convincing."

Interior ministers from the 27-member European Union are pressing the Obama administration to agree to a joint declaration that would commit the United States to accept some prisoners, something Congress has been highly reluctant to do.

European officials involved in the negotiations said Obama administration officials had assured them that some detainees who are not considered security threats would be released in the United States, while others would be prosecuted in U.S. courts.

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Obama needs to admit that closing Gitmo was a bad idea. I don't blame the Europeans for not wanting to host terrorist anymore than we in the US do. Also by refusing to take them, the Europeans have undercut the rationale for closing the facility anyway.

What is so hard about recognizing that these terrorist are too dangerous to release anywhere and that they should be held for the duration of the conflict? Obama needs to get out of his lawfare mode and recognize that we are at war.