Why Bulgaria Should Not Accept Guantanamo Prisoners

The infamous detention center of Guantanamo, or ‘Gitmo’, as it has come to be known, has long been condemned by people of all races, nationalities and religions. Except, of course, by so many Americans, those champions of liberty.

George Bush signed the place into existence as a detention camp in 2001, with an executive order allowing the US military to detain indefinitely any non-citizen believed to be involved in international terrorism. His administration also ruled that detainees had no protection under the Geneva Convention, a callous decision later overturned by the US Supreme Court, which decreed there should be limited recognition of prisoners’ rights.

Over the years, allegations of physical and mental abuse of prisoners, of torture – remember water-boarding? - of degradation, became commonplace. Europe’s human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe, condemned the US in 2005 for its use of torture, and urged European governments not to collude in illegal activities on behalf of the US.

And, of course, there was the business of ‘extraordinary rendition’, where a few red-faced European states got caught out, with disclosure of secret flights and detention centers on their territories. From 2001 to the end of 2008, a sorry state of affairs - to put it mildly - especially for over 750 detainees.

Then, a new US president appeared, borne along on a tsunami of popular support. One of the first acts of the newly-elected Barack Obama was to order the closing of Guantanamo by the end of this year.

In May 2009, Obama stated in a key speech: “Guantanamo Bay has weakened American national security, and has become a rallying call for our enemies… We are cleaning up something that is, quite simply, a mess - a misguided experiment… “I refuse to allow this problem to fester. I refuse to pass it on to someone else”. Cheers all around the world! Especially when 420 inmates have been released without charge.

But there’s still a fundamental problem as the year draws to a close. Not so much the fact that, for a range of technicalities and legal issues, Obama admits he won’t make his deadline; rather, the problem of what to do with so many of the remaining inmates.

America is terrified to have to keep those 200 or so detainees on its own soil. So, Obama has now ordered the US government to take over an Illinois high-security prison. Problem solved, then? Well, not quite – the prison will take no more than 100 persons, leaving just over 210 to be sent – where?

Well, to Europe, and anywhere else that will take these unfortunates. Six EU countries have already stated they will accept detainees; four others have apparently made a commitment to doing the same; and there are five maybes, including Bulgaria. 15 member states, out of EU’s 27. Maybe ‘Old Europe’ is still smarting from those insults traded by the Bush regime, or maybe there’s something else in the air.

Early in December, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates confirmed that 116 Guantanamo prisoners out of 211, who are still in prison, might be transferred to “other countries”. It’s recently come out that the US has now officially asked Bulgaria to consider taking in an undisclosed number of Guantanamo inmates. Bulgaria’s Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, has confirmed that talks about a possible transfer were under way. He added the total number would be small, and assured the Bulgarian public that people who might pose a threat to national security would be not accepted. It also transpired that the previous, Socialist government had apparently received the same request but had turned it down.

Daniel Fried, Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure of US President Barack Obama, is reported to have sent a letter to PM Borisov, asking Bulgaria to accept three Guantanamo prisoners following his brief visit to Bulgaria from December 2-3 when he met with (unnamed) Bulgarian officials.

In his December letter, Fried was reported to be stating that the relocation of the remaining Guantanamo inmates was “critical” for the realization of Obama’s plan to shut down the infamous prison on the Cuba Island.

In his only public response so far, PM Borisov has - wisely - stated it is a matter for the Bulgarian Parliament to consider, but has also said that accepting a Guantanamo inmate would be “a strong gesture of cooperation” between Europe and the US.

This is the Prime Minister who recently stubbornly stood up to the EU to defend Bulgarian energy interests, who last week committed only a “symbolic” sum of his country’s money to climate change until the EU restored frozen funds to Bulgaria. In other words, a man who, whatever one may think of his politics, has already shown himself to be a macho defender of Bulgaria’s interests.

Given this apparent flurry of activity of international diplomatic activity, and given the secrecy and lack of public information to date, there are several questions to be posed.

Why on earth should the Bulgarian Prime Minister, the government, the Parliament, the Bulgarian people, help the Americans solve their self-inflicted domestic problems (“not in my back yard”) by allowing them to dump one detainee (or three) on Bulgarian soil?

Humanity, one could say: certainly it would be a humane gesture to any such person, whatever his nationality, ethnicity or religion.

But “gesture of cooperation”? What exactly does this mean? Behind-the-scenes pressure on tiny Bulgaria? Investment promises? Military “cooperation” and the economics of expanding American bases on Bulgarian territory? Straightforward, old-fashioned coercion and blackmail?

In May, as cited above, Obama declared: “I refuse to pass [the problem] on to somebody else”. We believed him then, but that was six months ago. Since his rather ignoble Nobel acceptance speech, we have all seen a tougher side of the US president. One with a hint of ruthlessness, even, regarding his own world view, and his domestic ratings – his public approval in America dipped below 50% in December, for the first time since his assuming the position of president.

Bulgaria, arguably a small player in world terms, needs to remember and affirm its strategic importance, both within the EU and on the world stage, particularly as far as the US is concerned, with its current paranoia about world terrorists and fundamental Islamists – all directed at itself and its own citizens, of course. Note Obama’s concern for “American national security” and “our enemies”, as cited earlier.

Bulgaria needs to remember that the US, even under a charismatic Obama, remains a nation concerned primarily with its own safety, very willing to relegate any and every other nations’ legitimate concerns to the back-boiler, if it deems it necessary for its own expediency.

This small but not insignificant country should be very wary, in making the crucial decision of accepting or rejecting Guantanamo prisoners, of making “gestures of cooperation”, and not confusing them with cleaning out someone else’s filthy stables.

Or, to put it in plain diplomatic language: “What’s really in it for Bulgaria”?

Why Bulgaria Should Accept Guantanamo Prisoners READ HERE

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