[Marxism] German leader faults Cuba prison ofrevolution

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(We need a few more conservatives like Angela Merkel, that's for sure!)
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German leader faults Cuba prison
Guantanamo Bay 'should not exist'
By Karin Strohecker, Reuters  |  January 8, 2006


BERLIN -- Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, in an interview before her first 
visit to the United States, said Washington should close the US prison at 
Guantanamo Bay and find other ways of dealing with suspects.

''An institution like Guantanamo can and should not exist in the longer term," 
Merkel said in an interview published in yesterday's edition of the weekly 
magazine Der Spiegel. ''Different ways and means must be found for dealing with 
these prisoners."

Merkel has vowed to repair ties with the United States, severely strained over 
the US-led Iraq invasion, which her predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, opposed.

But there was no sign she would hesitate to speak out on issues where 
disagreement exists. Asked about her comments at a news conference later in the 
day, she said:

''That's my opinion and my view, and I'll say it elsewhere just as I have 
expressed it here."

She said she would not demand the immediate closure of the US prison when she 
meets President George W. Bush on Friday. ''My talks with leaders of other 
countries don't consist of my expressing demands, but of exchanging views," she 
said.

Guantanamo Bay is deeply unpopular in Germany.

There is widespread skepticism in Germany about the way the United States is 
fighting its ''war on terror."

This is compounded by the scandal over the CIA's abduction and detention of 
German citizen Khaled el-Masri -- which was later acknowledged to be a mistake.

Merkel told Der Spiegel she expected to speak to Bush about the fight against 
terrorism. ''But I want to accentuate that our relationship with the US will 
not be reduced to talking about fighting terrorism and the Iraq war," she added.

She also commented on Germany's relationship with Russia and the European 
Union. Merkel described relations with the United States as a ''friendship," 
but said the term ''strategic partnership" would be more fitting to describe 
Germany's ties with Moscow. ''I don't think we share as many of the same values 
yet with Russia as we do with the United States," she said. ''But we have a 
huge interest in seeing Russia develop in a sensible way."

Merkel, who will meet President Vladimir Putin in Moscow days after her 
Washington trip, often criticized Schroeder for forging ''exclusive" ties with 
Russia at the expense of relations with smaller EU countries.

In the interview, she said developments like the new law giving the Kremlin 
more control over nongovernmental organizations worried her, while the recent 
row between Ukraine and Russia over gas prices, which has made Germans question 
their reliance on Russia for gas, had reinforced the need for stable relations. 
''We need to do everything to save as much energy as possible and diversify our 
sources," she said, adding that Germany would avoid letting Russia be its only 
supplier.




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