Republican road trip must not derail prisoner resettlement

The sceptic in me was outed this morning when I read the latest from the war of rhetoric surrounding the Obama administration's effort to close the Guantánamo Bay detention centre.

Republican staffers on the US Senate Intelligence Committee have apparently traveled to Europe to probe the security arrangements in place for former Guantanamo prisoners resettled there.

There is precious little substantive detail about the content of these visits. There is however plenty of insinuation. In Germany, France and Spain they refused to comment on whether there was any evidence that the men had been in touch with suspected al Qaeda affiliates. I wonder why?

Perhaps because the men who have been offered international protection in Europe were never members of al Qaeda to begin with? They were released precisely because, after more than seven years of illegal imprisonment, interrogations and torture, the Americans had no evidence to the contrary.

Staff from the Life After Guantánamo team have been visiting these men across Europe over the past year. We’ve accompanied them as they go shopping, we’ve shared their first visit to an art gallery and walked in the park with them, and seen them remember what it’s like to go for a drive just for the sake of it.

Sounds mundane? It is. I doubt any of these activities made it into the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report. Whilst the substance of their visit is vague, the timing is clear. Late August is a great time to soak up the rays in the Mediterranean or catch up on some old world culture in Germany.

And when better to release a report full of fear, but no evidence, than just before the mid-term elections next Tuesday?