A chara, – I read with interest about the resettlement of two former Uzbek detainees of the Guantánamo Bay detention centre in Cuba (Home News, September 28th). Their release is to be welcomed, as is the decision by the Irish Government to assist in their rehabilitation. Hopefully the world is one step closer to the shutting-down of this notorious and controversial centre.
However, it seems a touch ironic that the resettled men were flown into Baldonnel and not Shannon Airport, where so many of their fellow detainees had stopovers previously on their way to Camp Delta. These brief visitors to our country (and possibly the Uzbeks themselves at one time), didn’t get the opportunity to experience our famed welcome or a warm reception. Instead, a blind eye was turned to their presence by the same authorities from the Department of Justice who welcomed the Uzbeks on Saturday.
Is this how our nation addresses its guilt for standing idly by for all those years? – Is mise,