well they don't defend it outright, but their intelligence officers seem to appreciate it somewhat.

quote:

Wed Jul 5, 10:24 PM ET PARIS (Reuters) - France has defended visits by officials to a U.S. military camp at Cuba's Guantanamo Bay between 2002 and 2004 following a report which has thrown a terrorism trial into turmoil. Responding to the report that French intelligence agents had interviewed six men on trial in France for links with a network plotting terrorist attacks while they were held at Guantanamo, the French Foreign Ministry said it had made no secret of three visits to the camp between 2002-2004. "These missions, which were of an administrative nature, were aimed at identifying precisely French citizens who might have been at Guantanamo and at assessing their situation in a general manner," it said in a statement dated Wednesday. It added that the aim was also to gather information needed to allow France to prevent terrorism and that representatives of other government officials had taken part in these missions to help achieve both these goals. The Liberation daily on Wednesday published a French diplomatic telegram referring to intelligence agents conducting interviews at least twice while the men were held without charge on the Caribbean island. A top French court has already ruled that the detention of suspects in the U.S. naval base was illegal, and defense lawyers said the prosecution's case was based in large part on information gleaned from the secret interviews. The failure to include the interviews in the case file was a serious breach of defendants' rights which could later see a superior court rule the trial invalid, the lawyers told reporters. Presiding Judge Jean-Claude Kross has refused to halt the 3-day-old trial over a document whose authenticity had not been fully established. He said he would take a view on the issue at the end of the trial, which is expected to last until mid-July >source<

of course there is more to this story than Yahoo news cares to divulge. you can tell by reading between the lines there is a lot more to be said. (i'm suprised they even published it at all, no one else will)
whats funny about this is that the detainees that France interogated and subsequently took custody of are still IN CUSTODY!! after two years! it underscores the fact that some of these assholes are fairly dangerous. something needs to be done about each and every one of them on an individual basis.

Last edited by Q5echo on Jul-07-2006 at 01:26

Well I wouldn't say the French defend it, after all the Socialists are probably up in arms over there and will try to make some political hey of this after the World Cup euphoria wears off. Look for that Swiss senator to pop up again at the EU parliament saying I told you so and more investigations being demanded from Frattini (EU Justice Minister). You know what however I am tired of Bush, Guantanamo, North Korea, Israel and the Palestinians, Al Qaeda, Human Rights this and that, screw it all. That's what I get for paying so much attention to global issues, damn me and my inquisitiveness and yearning for cultural fulfillment

I am of course an ardent quasi isolationist and believe we shouldn't even be in the Pacific or Iraq but that's for another day and rehashed rants. I am one of those who hold that something should be done with those individuals in Guantanamo, I don't know if they are all guilty as sin, but I also don't think they should be given a one way ticket to Stockholm, Oslo or Copenhagen and shacked up in a hotel room with a monthly stipend because they are nothing but victims of the evil imperialists. I am intrigued to see if some of these individuals were to be sent back to say Saudi Arabia, Egypt, etc and risked torture how many governments around the world would have them in their nation to live, interesting. Maybe someday the world will be able to truly stand up for what it tries to pretend to represent at say the U.N.(the epitome of my dissilusionment with international affairs today) maybe one day. I however will not hold my breath if current affairs are any barometer of predictable future inaction.

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