Mr Obama has asked us to take a few, should we?

Dear Meredith,

No. Australia should not take any of them.
Our government has already declined, as
has Great Britain. And, with good reason.

These people consider the US (and us, by
association) as their enemy.

They should be sent to a neutral country, in
South America, (they've got many to choose from),
where they would have no grievances
against the local population. The numbers don't
all have to be sent to the one country, they
could be dispersed over several.

It is a bad start for Obama. To ask the Australians to take such haters of democracy is a bit rich. Send them to an Islamic nation where they would feel at home.

I would probably agree with you, Foxy and Runner, if I knew these prisoners had been fairly tried under a proper and impartial court of law. But as far as I know, the only trial they've faced is that conducted by the American military, and I'm afraid I don't place much store in it arriving at an accurate assessment of guilt.

These prisoners have been tortured and kept in the cruellest and most degrading of circumstances for many long years now. Depending on the true nature of their crime, some of them have probably served their time by this stage and deserve to have their situations examined by neutral countries who can afford to take them in.

Yes, Meredith, I think Australia should have at least considered some of the more deserving individual cases, rather than just washing its hands of the issue and turning its back on all of them as it has.

But then again Australia, unfortunately, has form in this regard.

Dear Bronwyn,

It's exactly for the reasons you give why I stated
that Australia should not take them.

As I said in my earlier post, they regard us as the enemy,
(by our supporting the US in their war against terror).
We would be regarded as the enemy, alongside
the US.

Bringing them to Australia would create further
problems for both us and them.

A neutral country would be more suitable.

The majority of these prisoners were kidnapped from friendly countries, transported across international borders illegally and then held without trial by the US as political symbols or trophies.

They created the problem so they should now have to deal with the consequences.