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Concession on Guantanamo Britons
The US has hinted it may release the Britons being held at Guantanamo Bay, so they can be tried in the UK instead. The offer was hinted at by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, visiting the UK along with US President George W Bush. Mr Powell told BBC One's News at Ten: "The president is very sensitive to the views of the prime minister and the British people about the detainees." Flanked by his UK counterpart Jack Straw, he said: "We expect to be resolving this in the near future."

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy, who met Mr Bush for 30 minutes on Wednesday, said Mr Bush had told him he hoped the Guantanamo controversy could be resolved "in the next week or two". Mr Kennedy said Mr Bush indicated that he was prepared to address the issue after the US Supreme Court had considered the matter. "He [Bush] has been clear to us that the Supreme Court is looking at the way in which this matter will be handled legally," he said. "But if the British authorities remain unhappy with that, then at the end of the day the Americans will have to accept that they have to come back to our country for trial under our processes."
That would be politically expedient, but it would also mean that nationals of other countries with which we have friendly relations — in some cases, putatively friendly relations — would expect to have their internees returned, too. So there's lots of worms to be found in that can.

Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-11-20
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=21490