When U.S. President Barack Obama in his first few hours in office announced the closure of the military detention base at Guantanamo Bay, many in Europe rejoiced. It seemed that a new era of U.S. politics was upon the world, whereby the inner workings of the "war on terror" (a term used sparingly by the new president) would become more transparent and just.
Now things are becoming a bit murkier.
Instead of facing the problems presented by Guantanamo Bay head on by taking responsibility for injustices, the U.S. seems to be trying to get the problem out of sight and out of mind as quickly as possible.
Instead of ending the indefinite detention of all but the most extreme cases, the U.S. seems to want to simply hand off former detainees, whose legal status is still unclear in most cases, to friendly countries around the world 's including the Baltics.
The situation being what it is, the Baltics are, of course, happy to help. The U.S. has been a staunch ally and when they need the Baltics to take a few "hard cases" off their hands, there is really no way to refuse 's even if it is still not clear whether these so-called "hard cases" will be classified as asylum seekers, detainees or POWs.
The new U.S. administration needs to follow through with the cases surrounding those currently incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay before it starts looking for other countries, especially small Eastern European allies, to pass its problems off on.
If no charges are going to be pressed against some inmates, then it is time to set them free with an appropriate apology. They can then legitimately seek asylum in whatever country they wish.
If charges are to be pressed, then the detainees need to be given a fair trial, either in the U.S. or in their home country, so that their legal status can finally be made clear to the world. Although, this need not necessarily involve a trial open to the public if state secrets are on the line. But nevertheless, there must be a trial.
The problem has been highlighted by the fact that many states are now pushing to block Guantanamo prisoners from being housed there. If the U.S. states doesn't want these former Gitmo prisoners, why should the Baltic states?
The only way the Baltics could in good conscience accept these prisoners would be if they were given a fair trial and their status became clear. But conscience has never played a very important role when U.S. national security is on the line.
