WSJ, By EVAN PEREZ June 17, 2009 (see sig)

WASHINGTON -- European Union countries made their most explicit promise to date to accept some men held by the U.S. at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in an effort to aid Washington's plan to close the detention facility.

A statement issued Monday by the EU and the U.S. included pledges to cooperate on future counterterrorism legal strategies. The joint effort, it said, is meant "to help the U.S. turn the page" on detention policies that the Obama administration has criticized and promised to dismantle.

The statement doesn't specify how many detainees could be resettled in Europe or which countries may accept them. President Barack Obama said Monday after meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that Italy had agreed to accept three detainees.

Since Mr. Obama ordered a review of each prisoner's case, government lawyers have reviewed the files of more than half the 232 men remaining at Guantanamo. The detainees were sent to the U.S. military base there after being captured in various countries as suspected terrorists.

Several have been recommended for prosecution in U.S. criminal courts and their case files are being reviewed by Justice Department lawyers to determine what charges may be brought. More than 50 have been approved for transfer to other countries.

U.S. officials are in talks with several allies in Europe and elsewhere, hoping to persuade them to accept some of the men. In recent weeks, Guantanamo detainees have been transferred to France, Chad, Saudi Arabia and Bermuda. In some cases, the transferees are freed; in others, they are handed over for prosecution.

Saudi Arabia is in talks to possibly accept a group of Yemenis, who make up the largest single nationality at the facility. The government of Palau, a Pacific island nation, said it will accept a group of Uighurs -- a minority ethnic group from China -- who have languished in Guantanamo for years despite being cleared for release.

[...]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124510293314616503.html

Where Anti-Semitism Is Mainstream

RealClearPolitics, Richard Cohen, June 16, 2009 (see sig)

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/06/16/when_anti-semitism_is_mainstream_97010.html