Subtle US irony, or an amazing lack of self-knowledge ...

The US is considering the request from the UK to release five people from its detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who although not British citizens have prior to their detention been resident in the UK. I wrote about the British request yesterday.

However it seems, according to the BBC report I link to above, that:

A senior US official said Washington would seek guarantees that the men would be treated humanely and would not be allowed to pose a security threat.

This must be some kind of subtle irony from the US administration that I have hitherto been unaware of! Frankly I think it is a lot less likely that the UK will mistreat these five men than the US, which has held them in legal limbo under grtoesque conditions for some considerable time!

The next bit of the story is equally amazing:

When asked whether the US considered the men dangerous, the official replied: "We believe they are."

OK. So why hasn't the US been able to concoct some credible justification for charging these men with something before a recognised and credible court in the US mainland? I have absolutely no doubt that if these people are released into British custody they will be treated humanely as a matter of course and if the British government has credible reasons to hold them in detention it will do so, but if it does not have such reasons it won't; this country, unlike the US, operates according to the rule of law (even if I don't like some of the laws the Labour government has passed, it is clear that our own judicial system has called our Government to book on occasion in the past few years to force it to act in accordance with the law and don't doubt that such a sanction will be repeated if necessary). What this is all about is an attempt at face-saving by the US - it has dug itself into a very deep hole with its policy of illegal detentions at Guantanmao and as President Bush approaches his final year in power his administration is scrabbling to try and sort out its dirty little 'indiscretions' - it is probably desirable for the UK to [continue to] play along with this charade, at least until the five are released from detention, but at least as pertinently until our troops are able to withdraw from Iraq (and Afghanistan). With the benefit of hindsight, and whilst I don't regret in any way our initial involvement in these two 'theatres', it is clear that our acquiescence in the flawed policy agenda of the current US administration over the past few years (since 2001) has not been wise - nor has it resulted in a diminution of the threat from terrorism which we face, rather the reverse.

UK Government seeks residents' release from Guantanamo

BBC News24 is just reporting the Foreign Office have now requested the US authorities to release five of the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who were legally resident in the UK prior to their incarceration, but are not British citizens. This represents a change of policy by the UK, which has hitherto said that it cannot act on behalf of people who are not its own nationals.

Generally speaking I am very pleased at this development as the continuing existence of the illegal detention regime operated by the US at Guantanamo is a scandal which stains America's democracy. Perhaps the change by the British government is designed to 'help' the US close the site, by agreeing to take off its hands at least a few of those it continues to detain, but the real solution is either for the US to charge those it holds before a court in the US itself, where there is proper recourse to the norms of the US justice system, not to subject the detainees to the 'kangaroo' courts which not even its own military lawyers believe in any more and are becoming more and more vocal in denouncing. If it cannot do these things, credibly, then the detainees should be released. Period.

The US must be aware that should it release these five people into UK custody it is highly unlikely that grounds will exist for them to be detained in the UK if and when they arrive back here, any more than there were with the British citizens who were released from detention at Guantanamo some time ago.

British resident to be released from Guantanamo 'shortly'

(Please see UPDATE at the end pf this post)

Bisher al-Rawi, an Iraqi national and long-term resident of the UK (since 1985), is to be released 'shortly' from the US illegal detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he has been held since he was arrested during a business trip to Gambia in 2002. There is no word if or when his business partner, Jordanian citizen Jamil al-Banna, will be released; he was arrested at the same time as Mr al-Rawi.

Presumably the US authorities have realised that they have been able to gather absolutely no evidence to present before a court (even the ludicrous 'military tribunal' show trials it is still planning for others it holds in its power) that can plausibly be used against this individual.

As I have said here many times before (and a fourth relatively recent post on the matter is here), the US should close its illegal detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, forthwith! If it has evidence against any of those it holds there then it should bring them before a federal court in the US where the 'evidence' they present against any of those detained can be subjected to proper US judicial procedure; the proposed military tribunals are simply show trials which are unlikely to convince anyone other than a few of those who still support blindly the current US President and his Administration.

UPDATE: (Sunday 01APR07 22.50 RST) Bisher al-Rawi arrived back in the UK today, having been released from his illegal detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba by the American authorities. His best friend Jamil al-Banna remains in American detention in the legal limbo of Gunatanamo Bay, Cuba.