Posted on 01/07/2006 6:08:02 AM PST by mcg2000
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in an interview published days before her first visit to the United States, said Washington should close its Guantanamo Bay prison camp and find other ways of dealing with terror suspects.
"An institution like Guantanamo can and should not exist in the longer term," Merkel said in an interview with the weekly magazine Der Spiegel published on Saturday. "Different ways and means must be found for dealing with these prisoners."
Merkel has vowed to repair ties with the United States, severely strained over the U.S.-led Iraq invasion, which her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder strongly opposed.
But her comments to Der Spiegel -- also covering ties with Moscow and the European Union -- suggested she would not shy away from speaking out on issues where disagreement exists.
There is widespread skepticism in Germany about the way the United States is fighting its "war on terror", compounded by the recent scandal over the CIA's abduction and detention of German citizen Khaled el-Masri -- later acknowledged to be a mistake.
Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. detention center in Cuba denounced by human rights activists and many governments, is deeply unpopular in Germany.
Merkel travels to Washington next week for her first visit since becoming chancellor in November, and will meet U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday.
Merkel told Der Spiegel she expected to speak to Bush about the fight against terrorism. "But I want to accentuate that our relationship with the U.S. will not be reduced to talking about fighting terrorism and the Iraq war," she added.
NO FRIENDSHIP WITH RUSSIA
Merkel described relations with the United States as a "friendship", but said the term "strategic partnership" would be more fitting to describe Germany's relationship with Moscow.
"I don't think we share as many of the same values yet with Russia as we do with the United States," she said. "But we have a huge interest in seeing Russia develop in a sensible way." Continued ...
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Umm how should we deal with them then? Imprison them in our prisons on the mainland and let them out after a few years like the germans? Sorry, these guys are terrorist and deserve either isolation as an "enemy combatant" designation or death. These people are not part of a nations army or a uniformed combatant, and they arent covered by the geneva convention. It irritates me to no end that we have to fight terrorist already with one hand tied behind our back, all the while our so called allies take digs at everything we do. We will do what we must and europe can bitch endlessly.
We know how she deals with captive terrorists.
She trades them for German hostages.
If I was the Reuters reporter that wrote this story and saw this thread, I'd be laughing my a++ off.
Because it's a bloody stupid thing to say. BTW, Michael, they're enemy non-combatants and as such are not covered by the Geneva Convention.
You´re all taking her words too important. What´s the fuss about? Is she deciding about the closing of Guantanamo? No. Has Bush never given "chill pills" to you or to fellow-citizens (such as Muslims, when he referred to the "religion of peace")??
She's your head of state, Michael.
Cool! Ship them all to Germany!
Mark
Germany isnt important enough to have an opinion on anything.
I know that they´re not protected by the GC IV. And I would have said that Camp Gitmo is America´s problem. But I understand and share the concerns about this camp. Not all inmates there were captured on the battlefield, and those should be brought to a judge. After all, we shall not give up what makes our societies just and modern.
LOL, your comments are continously funny. I pray for you.
Do you think were at war with Al Qaeda? If you do, can you name another war where POWs let alone enemy-combatants were "judged" while the war was still going on?
And Germany's contribution to the WOT is Zilch.
And am I taking her words too important? Definitely not, because I know how politics work.
Which part of the term enemy non-combatant did you not understand?
And, BTW, just where do you think the battlefield in the WOT is, Michael?
Actually, she´s only my head of government. Head of state is Federal President Prof. Dr. Horst Köhler, former chief of the IMF.
And not terribly important apparently.
Yeah, you´re damn-d right, Sir!! I´m reading the comments with increasing fun, too.
There's nothing more to it than that.
Let's send Merkel a Club Gitmo tee shirt.
The battlefield in the WOT is everywhere. People have reportedly been "kidnapped" from Macedonia and brought to Guantanamo.
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