America will not forget Lithuania’s determination in taking in Guantanamo inmates
February 6, 2009 at 5:34 pm 2 comments
This blog already mentioned about Lithuania’s first attempts to fight for President Obama’s attention. Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Usackas has mentioned that Lithuania could possible accept few Guantanamo inmates. Then reaction from MP Kaseta followed that Vilnius has not discussed about this possibility yet.
Discussion has starter in Lithuania about possibly providing ‘hospitality’ to some of the Guantanamo inmates here. Even the USA Ambassador to Lithuania Mr J. Cloud has entered the discussion by publishing an article in Delfi.lt on February 5 with a heading ‘America will not forget Lithuania’s determination in taking in Guantanamo inmates’. He mostly referred to the Foreign Minister’s remarks, who starting to have his own agenda meanwhile running the Ministry.
Lithuanian Members of European Parliament, which on February 4 welcomed President’s Obama decision to close down the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp and urged the European Union to be ready to take in detainees, but also are sceptical about this possibility, however all for different reasons.
Lithuania should opt against taking in Guantanamo inmates under some exclusive right, Social Democrat MEP Aloyzas Sakalas told BNS, adding that the Migration Department should keep in mind their potential affiliation with terrorists.
As the BNS writes it hasn’t been proven that they’re in no way connected to terrorist groups, Conservative MEP Vytautas Landsbegis explained his argument for maintaining a cautious position on hosting Guantanamo inmates. “My stance is one of caution. I don’t know whether Lithuania is prepared to examine those detainees. The fact that they’re not connected with the events of September 11 doesn’t at all mean they’re not connected with terrorist organizations. Their having seemed suspicious and gotten caught is already grounds for worry. I believe that Lithuania doesn’t need prisoners, whose affiliation with terrorists cannot be refuted, and there’s nothing to refute that at this point”.
Entry filed under: Baltic States, Estonia, EU, Great Britain, Latvia, Lithuania, Northern Europe, Politics, Terrorism, USA. Tags: .
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