The Sofia News Agency has written a series of articles on Bulgaria accepting detainees from Guantanamo. However they've made it sound like Bulgaria is picking out stray-homeless kittens from the pound. Rather than making the difficult and potentially unpopular choice to accept men who have been labeled by the US at worst as terrorists and at best as terror suspects.

Don't get me wrong, I think that what the United States did under the direction President George W. Bush at Guantanamo is inexcusable and inhumane. To deny one's human rights because one is a suspected terrorist is, in my mind, more terrifying than a terrorist.

But the tone, language and focus of the Sofia News Agency articles comes across as kind of <em>off.</em>

Okay, I guess that I am probably hypersensitive to the entire issue seeing as I am an American who's opposed to both the detention camp and the language and rhetoric that has surrounded the detainees in the United States since the beginning.  Fundamentally, the detainees are people.  <!--more-->They have been labeled terrorists or suspected terrorists--they've been subjected to torture and they've been denied a right to due process.  They've been held in a camp for years and now, they have no place go.  These men are truly stateless--homeless now in the worst way.

President Obama has promised to close the camp.  But and it's a big <em>but</em> the question remains what will we do with the prisoners? These men that until recently our government has said are so dangerous that we've been unwilling to give them a day in court or to follow the guidelines set forth in the Geneva Convention. What will we do with them? Well, it turns out we're asking other countries if they will take them.  (Maybe this is where the stray-kitten rhetoric comes from...hey, my cat just had kittens and I can't keep them all, want one? )

Anyhow, since December it's been pretty clear that Bulgaria is going to accept at least one if not two Guantanamo detainees.  Without a doubt, it's a political maneuver. But isn't all of this?

So why the shift in language?  Language and rhetoric that makes it sound like Bulgaria is picking out a stray dog from the pound or a homeless kitten and  promising to treat it well and give it a home.  Here are the highlights from the Sofia News Agency:
<ul>
	<li>Bulgaria has held talks with the US regarding accepting former prisoners of "Guantanamo Bay" on its territory (<a href="http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=110993">SNA Dec 12th</a>).</li>
	<li>Guantanamo prisoners will enjoy a humanitarian status in Bulgaria, which means they will not be put behind bars, but will be treated as refugees (<a href="http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=111147">SNA Dec 16th</a>).</li>
	<li>Bulgarian authorities have looked at two particular prisoners, who display model behavior and profess family values (<a href="http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=112498">SNA Jan 28th</a>).</li>
	<li>Bulgarian officials however have cautioned that Bulgaria's participation would be small, and people who might pose a threat to national security would be not accepted.</li>
</ul>
This last line showed up in nearly every article covering the Guantanamo detainee issue on the Sofia News Agency's website.  I assume that this is because of the rhetoric that has floated around the detainees in the States--terrorists, killers, dangerous and so on. But the language in the articles is so careful--tenuous even.  After years of such a broad paint brush strokes when it came to language and rhetoric regarding the prisoners during the Bush presidency this careful negotiation of language and rhetoric is fascinating--if not still a little frustrating. These detainees are men.They are people; humans made of  flesh and blood.

That's the thing--they are neither soulless-godless-heathen-terrorists nor are they dirty-stray-homeless-kittens that need to be taken in. They are people. People who need a home. They've been poorly treated. Abused. Terrorized. Now, apparently America's opening the doors and saying: here you are, you can have your pick.

But these men are not animals to be poked, prodded, scratched or taken for a test walk around the block  like an abandoned dog you're trying to decide to adopt.  Still somehow the rhetoric has shifted and America all of a sudden seems to be behaving  like the humane society--we seem to be saying: check out this older dog sure, he's no longer young and cute, he may have been abused by his previous owners but at least he's already housebroken.  We're busy pawning off our detainees--or we're letting countries pick their own Guantanamo detainees out.

Either way, this leaves  Bulgaria with what? Well, I guess it depends how you decide to read situation.  First, there's the Bulgaria that's magnanimously taking in a detainee--self-sacrificing and helpful--and they get a detainee.  And second, there's the Bulgaria that's now in the <em>lucky</em> position of being able to pick out the best ex-terrorist or maybe it's better to say the least-bad ex-terrorist.  Neither choice sounds that great.  Thanks, George W. Bush.  <em>Thanks</em>.