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• Tuesday, January 13, 2009 01:32 PM

  The outgoing administration and the transitional government of the USA has been trying to off-load

  some of those men imprisoned in Guantanamo without benefit of judge/jury. The favoured place to hide America's embarrassment is Europe although the prisoners come from such divergent places as north-west China and Yemen. It's the USA that created this mess and it's the new President's job to do the honourable thing and provide a home for those prisoners that cannot be charged for lack of evidence but cannot be deported to their country of origin. One of the most important to be charged (excluding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed) was another "high value" prisoner Osama bin Laden's former driver. Whether he had been exceeding the speed limit or was d.u.i isn't clear. The charges have been undermined by the admission of State-sponsored torture or by practices deemed to be cruel and unnatural punishment.

  Guantanamo is one of the worst legacies of the Bush Administration but Bush was elected by the American people twice, whether you're willing to be reminded of that or not. He will certainly have a chapter, at the very least, in American history. He was not elected in any European country with a parliamentary democracy and it's highly unlikely that he would have been if he'd sought election. Obama has a huge mountain to climb but there's a belief "Cometh the hour, cometh the man". The next twelve months will show whether Obama is that man. He shilly-shallied a lot when interviewd by George Stephonopoulos but we'll find out soon enough whether he's made of straw or not.

  —maureenodonnell Read maureenodonnell's other letters
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