The other day I touched on the reaction of relief and jubilation in the German press to the ruling of the US Supreme Court that upheld the right to due process under US law for the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The sanctimonious headlines in the German press continue to flash on Google-Nachrichten: "The Nightmare is Over; Allerhöchste Zeit (It’s about Time) screams a commentator on Deutsche Welle; "A Slap in Bush’s Face; 5 to 4 for Human Rights. Don’t get me wrong, the ruling did put the spotlight on the unlawful actions for the Bush Administration, and was a victory for human rights advocates around the world.
But what was has been missing from the commentary I’ve read so far in Germany is the admission that Germany was complicit in violating human rights at Guantanamo and elsewhere. Even Spain has been more open in acknowledging its role in legal abomination at Guantanamo. The Spanish daily El Pais wrote on Friday, the day after the ruling:
We should not forget that Spanish
police officers and secret service agents [also] interrogated prisoners who are
now at that prison. Nor should we forget that Spanish airports and military
bases were used to transport the prisoners to Guantánamo. It is time for Spain
to put an end to this legal shilly-shallying and investigate how [Spanish]
functionaries and politicians were involved [in this affair]."
(13/06/2008)
I recently wrote a review of the book by Murat Kurnaz – "Five Years of my Lift: an Innocent Man in Guantanamo" – in which the writer describes being interrogated by at the camp by two representatives of the German BND intelligence. Rather than trying to help the young man secure his release from wrongful captivity, the agents participated in his inhumane mistreatment. We now know that the US military had determined as early as 2002 that Murat Kurnaz was did not have any terrorist connections and asked Berlin to take him
back. The Red/Green Government at the time refused. Frank Steinmeier – now Germany’s foreign secretary – was involved in the decision. The details surrounding this decision remain murky even now, but Steinmeier has not suffered any consequences. We know that the mother of Murat Kurnaz wrote to the former foreign secretary Joschka Fischer, pleading that he intervene with Washington for the release of her son. Fischer wrote back that his hands were tied since Kurnaz was not a German citizen.
Article One of German Basic Law (Grundgesetz) reads: (1) Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar (The dignity of the human being shall be invoilable). But with respect to the actions of the German government in Guantanamo it should read: Die Würde des Deutschen ist unantastbar (The dignity of the German shall be inviolable.)
