Guantanamo is an image problem for everybody who is considered close to the Bush administration. As soon as the news about the suicide of three prisoners at Guantanamo spread, the German government stated that it assumes it will be briefed by the United States on the circumstances involved, although none of the three was related to Germany in any way. The press release continues:

The German government’s critical stance with regard to Guantanamo remains unchanged. The German government was informed of the suicide death of the three detainees by President George W. Bush’s National Security Advisor, Stephen Hadley. (…) In an interview granted to the news magazine “Der Spiegel” earlier this year Chancellor Angela Merkel urged that the prison camp be closed down, saying an institution like Guantanamo cannot and must not be allowed to go on existing. Ways must be found to deal in a different manner with the prisoners.

The government’s press release, however, does not mention Murat Kurnaz. For background on him read our post about The Guantanamo detainee from Germany. About half a year ago, Chancellor Merkel promised to work on his release. There have been press reports in recent months stating that the US and Germany were close to a deal, but nothing happened so far.

Mr. Kurnaz’ lawyer, Prof Baher Azmy, describes his visits to Guantanamo in an op-ed for Die Zeit (translation at Dialog International) and claims:

The U.S knows he has no connection to terrorism, and logged this fact no less than five times in his classified “file.” According to his file (that I saw but which was not shown to Murat) the U.S military itself concluded that “Kurnaz has no connection to al Qaeda, the Taliban or any terrorist threat,” and “the Germans have confirmed he has no connection to al Qaeda.” (…)
Recent reports have confirmed what Murat’s representatives have long suspected – that the Germans took advantage of Guantanamo to interrogate Murat and, even after the U.S. offered his release, the German government chose to leave him there, knowing he had done nothing wrong.

I am not sure how credible the last claim is. The parliamentary commissions to investigate the German federal intelligence service might reveal more soon. A more clear case of flip-flopping is Innensenator Thomas Röwekamp, a senior city government official from Bremen where Murat Kurnaz used to live, before he made the fateful decision to travel to Pakistan to study Islam in October 2001. He was arrested on a bus (not on a battlefield) and sent to Guantanamo, where he has been detained for the last four years without charge or trial.
One and a half years ago, Röwekamp said that Kurnaz could not return to Bremen, because he failed to renew his residence permit during his stay in Guantanamo, which is very cynical. This decision was then overruled by the courts. Two days after the suicides, however, Röwekamp, who is a Christian Democrat, reversed his position on Kurnaz and said that Kurnaz’ continued detention is a violation of international law and unacceptable and that he has to be released because there is not any indication that he has been involved in terrorist activities, according to die taz.

The Los Angeles Times writes about the increasing opposition to Guantanamo after the suicides and quotes some helpless and desperate responses from US officials:

Colleen P. Graffy, a senior official in the State Department’s office for public diplomacy that is charged with improving the U.S. image in the world. Graffy told the BBC the suicides were “a good PR move to draw attention.” (…)
Navy Rear Adm. Harry Harris’ characterization of the suicides as acts of “asymmetrical warfare” and a State Department official’s assertion that the first deaths among Guantanamo inmates were “a good PR move” brought renewed outrage in the Muslim world as well as among U.S. allies in Europe. But Durand [a Navy Cmdr. and spokesman for the prison and interrogation compound] said the admiral in command of the detention operations here stood by his view that the deaths “were not acts of despair but coordinated efforts by three committed combatants.” (…)
Ten of the 460 prisoners have been charged with criminal acts, and the fate of those trials awaits a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the tribunal’s legitimacy that is expected by the end of June. (…) European allies seized on the incidents to heap fresh scorn on Guantanamo for what they see as violations of detainees’ basic rights and a counterproductive force in the U.S.-led global war on terrorism.

Republican Senator Arlen Specter, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is quoted by Deutsche Welle:

“Those people have to be tried. There are tribunals established. Where we have evidence they ought to be tried, and if convicted they ought to be sentenced,” said Specter, who said some inmates have been detained based on “the flimsiest sort of hearsay.”

Bloomberg writes:

“We’d like it to be empty,” Bush said June 9. “We’re now in the process of working with countries to repatriate people, but there are some that, if put out on the streets, could create grave harm to American citizens and other citizens of the world.”
Guantanamo has drawn international criticism since it opened to hold those described by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as the “worst of the worst.”

Republican Senator Mel Martinez said already in June 2005 that Guantanamo has become an icon for bad stories and suggested the Bush administration do a cost-benefit analysis. Guantanamo makes it difficult for America’s friends to support the United States.

Post by Joerg Wolf
http://atlanticreview.org