Hasina’s son defends ‘controversial appointments’

Sajeeb Wajed, son of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, has said that comparison between him and Tarique Rahman, son of former PM Khaleda Zia, was unfair as “I’ve a masters degree in Public Administration from Harvard University”.

Sajeeb made the comment in an apparent effort to avoid a direct response to a question posed by bdnews24.com about whether he would declare unequivocally that unlike Tarique, and Khaleda’s younger son Coco, he would not become involved in any business deal during the tenure of the current Awami League-led government.

His comment came during the question-answer session at a seminar on “The Bangladesh elections and beyond: Democracy, Security and Development”, jointly organised by the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and US Bangladesh Business Advisory Council in Washington on Wednesday.

He was one of the four panellists at the seminar, which provided an opportunity for the first time for many in the audience to hear directly from the prime minister’s son, since the Awami League-led alliance won a landslide victory in last month’s election.

The organisers described him as “an advisor to Her Excellency Sheikh Hasina”.

Sajeeb’s presence obviously generated a lot of interest among the audience, who were eager to learn more about the election and the country’s current and future course.

Not surprisingly, most of the questions were directed to him and that prompted the moderator Walter Anderson, director of the South Asia Programme at SAIS, to intervene repeatedly in an effort to give the other three panellists a chance to answer some questions.

The other three were Joshua White, a PhD student at SAIS, Imtiaz Habib, a board member of USBAC, and Peter Manikas, Asia Director of the National Democratic Institute. White and Manikas recently visited Bangladesh as election observers.

Smart and articulate, Sajeeb made a generally good impression at the start, but his answers to some of the questions appeared to disappoint many in the audience, especially when he was trying to defend the controversial appointment of Toufiqe-e-Elahi Chowdhury as an adviser to the prime minister.

The PM’s son was asked directly: “Why do you think the prime minister appointed such controversial figures as Toufique-e-Elahi, who was in jail recently on corruption charges, as advisers while there’s no dearth of clean and respectable people in Bangladesh?”

Sajeeb said he didn’t see anything wrong in such appointments. “Some people may say that Toufique-e-Elahi is controversial but there are others who say he is not”.

About his recent incarceration on corruption charges, Sajeeb said the caretaker government imprisoned many innocent people without any credible evidence and “my mother was one of them”.

The seminar was attended by Bangladeshi-Americans, diplomats, academics and others interested in Bangladesh.

Ambassador Humayun Kabir made a brief introductory statement at the seminar about the recent election and future prospects of Bangladesh.

Source: Bdnews

Cabinet expanded: 6 new state ministers inducted

Six State Ministers were inducted in Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s cabinet yesterday, raising her big-majority government’s strength to 38.

The new State Ministers are Adv Shahjahan Mia, Adv Abdul Mannan Khan, Adv Quamrul Islam, Adv Shamsul Haque Tuku, Adv Jahangir Kabir Nanok and Motahar Hossain.

The portfolios of the new State Ministers were not immediately available.

President Professor Dr Iajuddin Ahmed administered their oath of office in a simple ceremony at

Bangabhaban at 7:08pm. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, presidential nominee Zillur Rahman, Cabinet ministers and high civil and military officials were present at the swearing-in ceremony.

This was the first expansion of the cabinet within three weeks of the Hasina government’s assumption of office following a sweeping victory in the December 29 polls.

The general election gave her Awami League party a thumping majority with 230 seats alone and 262 with its grand-alliance partners in the 300-seat parliament, which goes into inaugural session today.

Source: The New Nation

Chief Whip protests Speaker’s decision

Chief whip Abdus Shahid has protested the speaker’s decision on seat arrangements for the parliament and said it equalled “dishonouring the treasury bench and leader of the house”.

Outgoing speaker Jamiruddin Sircar yesterday rejected chief whip’s proposal on seat arrangements and granted two front benches on the left of the speaker to the main opposition BNP and two other parties.

Shahid in his draft seat plan gave the BNP three out of ten seats in the front bench as the main opposition had only 30 seats in 300-seat parliament which convenes today.

“I called the speaker and sought a clarification from him on why he did it unilaterally,” Shahid told bdnews24.com on Saturday evening.

“I have done what I thought right as per the parliamentary practices and rules of procedure. If you think my decision is incorrect, the next speaker can change the arrangement,” Shahid quoted Sircar as telling him.

Sircar had earlier told bdnews24.com at his office the same thing.

Shahid said the outgoing speaker could have invited the ruling and the opposition benches to discuss the seat arrangements.

“Past speakers invited us and made seat arrangements as per the suggestions of two sides. But this outgoing speaker has set a bad example in parliamentary history by using his discretion,” an angry Shahid said.

As per the rule seven of the rules of procedure the speaker will decide the seat arrangement and he can either accept or reject the recommendations of the treasury bench.

Madrassah students, jail guards clash: 40 hurt

At least 40 people including 15 security guards of the Dhaka Central Jail were injured in a clash with Government Alia Madrassah students over possession of a playground at Bakshi Bazar in the capital’s Lalbagh area yesterday.

The Alia Madrassah students alleged that 20 to 25 of jail guards also attacked one of their boarding houses–Shaheed Ibrahim Hostel–a two storied building and ransacked all of its 12 rooms. They also broke the windowpanes of the hostel and took away eight cell phone sets and a computer.

Deputy Inspector General (Prisons) Maj Shamsul Haider Siddiqui told the New Nation “Some fifteen jail guards received minor injuries as a group of the Madrassah students pelted the jail guards with brickbats,”

However, witnesses said at least 25 of the madrasa students were also injured slightly in the incident.

Naba Jyoti Khisha officer-in-charge of Lalbagh Police Station said that some of the jail guards were playing volleyball while a group of the madrasa students were playing cricket at the same time in the playground.

The authorities of the Central Jail and Alia Madrassah had a rivalry over capturing the playground. Finally they had reached an understanding that they both would use the playground.

But the students and jail-wardens locked in altercation in the morning over playing on the playground.

At one stage, a scuffle ensued between the two groups, leading to the clash. Chase and counter chase happened during the period.

The injured received first aid at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, jail hospital and surrounding dispensaries.

An altercation between the two sides ensued at one stage and DIG of prisons Shamsul Haider Siddiqui went to the spot.

But the dispute continued and they started hurling stones at one another. The DIG took shelter at a nearby house at the time.

On information, police rushed in and charged batons on the feuding groups and brought the situation under control.

Source: The New Nation

Dense fog disrupts normal life: Movement of water, land traffic halted

Dense fog halted normal life and movement of water and road traffic from Dhaka to the southern region during the last 18 hours till yesterday evening.

During the time, the wind had been blowing from southern direction to northern direction and formed the dense fog and the clouds over this region. The sun was not visible throughout the day due to thick layers of the fog and the clouds since the morning.

Over 100 big launches carrying about 1.50 lakh passengers from Dhaka failed to ply last night due to the dense fog and anchored in the river Meghna near Munshiganj upazila.

However, the launches started their journey at 9 this morning for their destinations of Barisal, Jhalakathi, Bhola, Barguna, Patuakhali and Pirojpur districts on 27 water routes with their headlights on for avoiding any accidents and reached the destinations between 3.30 PM and 5.30 PM yesterday.

Four luxury launches, including the MV Parabot-7, the MV Kalam Khan, the MV Kirtonkhola and the MV Sundarbans-7 with about 6,000 passengers, reached Barisal at 3.30 pm yesterday. Buses and trucks were found plying with their headlights on on most of the roads and highways throughout the day in the six southern districts of the region.

The newspapers were distributed among people at about 4 pm as the vehicles carrying those from Dhaka reached the city at 3.30 PM yesterday due to the thick fog.

The number of patients suffering from cold-related diseases like fever, pneumonia, diarrhoea, cough, asthma and other respiratory problems is increasing.

Another report from Rajshahi adds: The farmers of the northern region have been facing an awkward situation with their potato farming and boro seedbeds due to dense fog sweeping in the region for the last couple of days.

Farmers said the dense fog has become ruinous to the potato farming and boro seedlings. They are fearing that the farming would be affected badly if the situation continues for a few more days.

Meanwhile, the cold weather marked deterioration following reducing gap between the maximum and minimum temperatures coupled with foggy and cloudy weather that affected normal life and vehicular traffic everywhere in the region today.

Local Met Office recorded the minimum temperature at 14.6 degrees Celsius today against 12.6 degrees yesterday at Rajshahi while the highest temperature further dipped to 19.4 degrees against 24.8 degrees Celsius in the metropolis yesterday.

The sun today remained totally covered by thick layers of fogs till late morning and the city streets and public places remained almost deserted during the morning hours in city.

Normal works including the farming activities were badly affected and vehicular traffic hampered as the cold wave coupled with dense fogs continued sweeping over the region for the third consecutive day today.

Sufferings of the people of the char and rural areas in the river basins of the region started mounting again due to the cooler and stronger winds from the north and northwestern directions.

The public places became partially deserted from this afternoon and less number of people was seen moving in rural hats, bazaars, river ports, bus stands and other spots due to the blowing cooler winds and cold weather.

The vehicles were found plying with their headlights on almost on all the roads and highways throughout the day today to avert accidents amid the foggy weather that substantially reduced visibility.

The number of patients suffering from cold-related diseases like fever, pneumonia, diarrhoea, cough, asthma and other respiratory problems again marked rises at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital and other upazila level hospitals yesterday due to the cooler weather.

Meanwhile, Unprecedented cold wave during the last few days has almost paralysed normal life in the urban and rural areas of Gaibandha district.

Severe cold wave coming from the Himalayas made lives of the dwellers specially the homeless people of the town miserable. The cold wave intensifies its attack after midday and turns extremely unbearable in the evening.

Heavy fog and cloud overcast the whole sky keeping the sun invisible and the plying of the vehicles in all routes has become almost impossible all day long. Although the sun appeared for three days for a while around at 1 pm but it soon disappeared to the dismay of the dwellers.

In order to mitigate the sufferings of the cold victims, the government has distributed 4487 pieces of blankets and warm clothes worth about Tk 4,01,718, so far, among the cold victims of the district,executive magistrate and acting district relief and rehabilitation officer AKM Galiv Khan said.

The young children and the aged people from poor and low income families living in straw huts and fragile dwelling are the victim of the cold wave. Destitute are trying to combat this bone chilling cold through heats generated from burning heaps of straw and old rubber tire.

The residents of the Sandy char areas in the river basins are the worst affected as they are facing blowing of cold winds in those areas.

Only a few people were seen out of their houses on argent need while the day labourers could not work due to bitter cold throughout the day.

Due to severe cold, standing crops like maize, mustard and seedlings of IRRI-BORO paddy are facing damage in the fields, said and official of DAE.

Source: BSS

Law Minister says: Immediate past CG won’t require JS ratification

Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Barrister Shafique Ahmed said that only the essential ordinances would be enacted as laws in the parliamentary sessions that kicks-off from today.

He said this while addressing reporters at a function styled “The 9th Parliament: Expectation of the People” arranged by Dhaka Reporters’ Unity (DRU) as part of its regular programme ‘Meet the Reporters’.

Referring to the 122 ordinances that were promulgated by the President during the caretaker government, Barrister Shafique said these would be raised in the first session of the new parliament tomorrow (Sunday). “Parliament will decide which Ordinances will be enacted as laws considering the public welfare”, he added.

He admitted that some ordinances were promulgated in the last two years without any discussion with the stakeholders. Some of these were unnecessary too.

Law Minister, however, said some ordinances concerning elections; finance and budget will have to be made laws through parliamentary debates.

In response to a question Barrister Shafique said the immediate past caretaker government would not require ratification by parliament for failing to hold general election within 90 days and staying in power nearly two years following a High Court judgment upon a writ petition.

“The High Court examined pros and cons of the 90-day limitation envisaged in the Constitution and gave the decision, and the High Court decision is law,” the Law Minister told a correspondent.

About the scrapping of much talked about Special Powers Act of 1974, which is considered a black law, Law Minister said it was a question of policy decision of the government.

Asked about appointment of judges in the High Court and the Appellate Division, Barriser Shafique admitted that both the divisions of the Supreme Court lack required number of judges.

“I am aware of the problem. Many cases are piled up for long. We will appoint honest and efficient judges in vacant posts as quickly as possible to redress the sufferings of the justice seekers,” he said.

Asked about the holding trial of 1971 war criminals – an election pledge of Awami League, the Law Minister said, “I’ve no information till now. I think the government will be active about it.”

He said a democratic and just society could never endorse use of religion in political activities.

“I firmly believe that the common people of the country always dislike the religious traders, who always tried to mislead them and frustrate the nation,” he said replying to a question on banning the religion based parties. “We will put the issue before parliament,” he added.

Barrister Shafique Ahmed called upon the journalists to work as watchdog on the performances of the government and create public opinion so that it remains alert about the hopes and aspirations of the people.

“I firmly believe that the government will act considering the peoples’ desire and all steps should be taken after discussion in parliament,” he added.

Source: The New Nation

Jute products regain market: Poor show marks int’l trade fair

Traditional jute products have become popular to the visitors of Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF). Both local and foreign visitors throng to these stalls. The selling of the goods is comparatively a bit higher than any other products of the fair.

Different small industrial enterprises have taken part in the fair at the pavilion of Jute Diversification Promotion Centre (JDPC). Handbag, school bag, moneybag etc are found in these stalls. Sellers told this correspondent that visitors thronged to the stalls throughout the day.

Abul Basar Bhuiyan, Researcher of Bangladesh Jute Research Institute said that jute made products figure huge demand among the visitors this time. The disappeared golden fibre retuned as golden dream. Europe and America based companies have ordered for the products in good quantity he added.

Asma Mahbub Moni, owner of ‘Suchili’ said that she had noticed huge demand of jute products among the visitors. “We have received export order for one lakh bags from Singapore and Canada”, she said.

A few stalls like jute made product ones have been able to retain the image of the DITF, which has been held for the last 13 consecutive years as wane by local stuffs, mismanagement of authority, fake stalls and things.

The purpose of trade fair is to represent local products to the visitors instead of making profit. But the purpose is marred. Authority should allocate pavilion only to the manufacturers said Mujibar Rahman, Managing Dircetor of Asian Textile Mills Ltd. “Only a handful organisations are allocated Pavilions and Stalls. Rest of all have come to make business”, he added.

Stalls were allotted to even such organisation whose stuffs were found in the streets, as appears from the actual circumstances.

Cheap and fake stuffs have marred the image of the fair said a visitor. “We have to buy low standard materials like sandal, bungle etc in double the price though the same things are found in the footpaths near New Market, Chadni Chawk “, he added.

The joint force of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) seized illegal roaming SIM from a stall of the fair on January 04.

They caught the sellers of Awal Call Centre at the time of vending ‘World SIM’, a product of an international company, for which they were not approved.

An official of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) Bangladesh said that these organisations got allotment by lobbing and as a result of nepotism.

According to an EPB source, many rules could not be implemented due to irrational interference by it. At the onset of the fair, rules were followed which went on for two years. After, 1997 the fair was opened for the local organisations too and the scenario has changed.

The space of the fair has been more constricted this year. According to EPB 373 stalls were allotted in 2006 while 395 stalls in 2007. But this year 467 stalls were given allotment for the fair, which have made the fair congested.

China tells United States to handle ties with care

China’s Foreign Minister has urged U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to be careful with sensitive issues that could strain ties, calling the relationship between their two nations one of the world’s most important.

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi made the remarks to Clinton, settling into her new job as Washington’s top diplomat, in a phone call on Friday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry website (www.fmprc.gov.cn) reported on Saturday.

But Yang’s published remarks did not mention the yuan currency issue, which has become the first test for ties between his government and the new Obama administration.

“The China-U.S. relationship is one of the world’s most important bilateral relations,” Yang told Clinton, according to the report.

Each side should “respect and show consideration for the other’s core interests and appropriately handle differences and sensitive issues,” he said.

The report did not specify those issues, but Beijing considers Taiwan its most sensitive topic in dealings with Washington.

Beijing says self-ruled Taiwan must accept eventual reunification with the mainland and objects to Washington’s military aid to and political support for the island. China has also been angered by U.S. pressure over human rights and Tibet.

Yang, a former ambassador to Washington, said the two powers should “handle bilateral relations by adhering to a strategic high-point and a long-term perspective.”

TRADE DISPUTES

Ties between the United States, the world’s biggest economy, and China, with its bulging exports and foreign exchange reserves, have also been strained by trade disputes that could worsen during the global economic slowdown.

But in the published comments, Yang did not mention the yuan currency exchange policies, which have already become a sparring point between China and the new Obama administration.

U.S. Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner said on Thursday that China was manipulating its currency to shore up unfair trade advantages.

China’s Commerce Ministry, in a statement to Agence France Presse on Friday, said the Beijing government “has never used so-called currency manipulation.

China’s Foreign Ministry generally avoids wading into trade issues. But the country’s official media were not so reticent.

The China Daily, an English-language paper that often reflects official policy, said Geithner’s position was “a clear move away from the stance of the Bush administration,” which avoided calling Beijing a currency manipulator.

The official Xinhua news agency echoed that view.

“This may signal that with the Obama administration in office, China faces growing pressure from U.S. trade protectionism,” it said, citing Beijing economists.

The People’s Bank of China, the central bank, was preparing a response to Geithner’s remarks, Xinhua said.

The yuan closed lower against the dollar on Friday and traded mostly below the Chinese central bank’s mid-point, with speculation that Geithner’s comments could spark a brief period of modest yuan depreciation.

Source: Internet

History of Guantánamo Bay

The first U.S. presence on Guantánamo Bay was a Marine battalion that camped there on June 10 1898, and the first American casualties of the Spanish-Cuban-American War were two marines killed there the following day.

Five years later, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt signed an agreement with Cuba’s new government, leasing the bay for 2,000 gold coins per year. The agreement was forced on the new Cuban government through the Platt Amendment, which gave the U.S. authority to interfere in Cuban affairs.

The Lease Agreement signed on February 16 1903, granted the U.S. “the right to use and occupy the waters adjacent to said areas of land and water… and generally to do any and all things necessary to fit the premises for use as coaling or naval stations only, and for no other purpose.”

On July 2 1906, (just before the 2nd U.S. military intervention) a new lease was signed in Havana for Guantánamo Bay and Bahía Honda, for which the U.S. would pay $2,000 per year.

The U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, the oldest existing U.S. military base outside U.S. territory, sits on a 45-square-mile area (117.6 square kilometers) about the size of Manhattan Island.

After the Platt Amendment was annulled in 1934, a new lease was negotiated between the Roosevelt administration and a Cuban government that included Fulgencio Batista as one of three signatories. Batista emerged as the strong man on the island over the next twenty-five years.

When the Revolution triumphed in 1959, the U.S. banned its soldiers stationed at the bay from entering Cuban territory. The Cuban government asserts that Guantánamo should have been returned to Cuba at this time.

“It’s no secret,” wrote Rafael Hernández Rodriquez in Subject to Solution: Problems in Cuban-U.S. Relations, “that the main mission of the naval bases in this area of the Gulf is to control, police and spy on Cuba.”

During a speech in Chile on December 3 1971, Castro said, “that base is there just to humiliate Cuba; just like a knife stuck in the heart of Cuba’s dignity and sovereignty… But from a military standpoint, the base is completely useless.”

On January 11 1985, in a speech during a visit to Nicaragua, Castro addressed the potential use of military violence to recover this territory. “What interest can we have in waging a war with our neighbors?” he said. “In our country we have a military base against the will of our people. It has been there throughout the twenty-six years of the revolution, and it is being occupied by force. We have the moral and legal right to demand its return. We have made the claim in the moral and legal way. We do not intend to recover it with the use of arms. It is part of our territory being occupied by a U.S. military base. Never has anyone, a revolutionary cadre, a revolutionary leader, or a fellow citizen, had the idea of recovering the piece of our territory by the use of force. If some day it will be ours, it will not be by the use of force, but the advance of the consciousness of justice in the world.”

In an interview with Soviet journalists in October 1985, U.S. President Ronald Reagan said that the purpose of the base was political: to impose the U.S. presence, even if the Cubans didn’t want it.

On June 14 2002, at the United Nations General Assembly, Cuba demanded that Guantánamo territory be returned to the island.

The issue of returning Guantánamo to Cuba is complicated by the agreement signed by Batista in 1934. The agreement states: “Until the two Contracting Parties agree to the modification or abrogation of the stipulations of the agreement in regard to the lease to the United States of America of lands in Cuba for coaling and naval stations… the stipulations of that Agreement with regard to the naval station of Guantánamo shall continue in effect.”

To the U.S. this means an “open-ended duration” that can only be terminated by mutual agreement. To Cuba it means that Guantánamo Bay is “occupied territory.”

While this paper will not attempt to enumerate the many legal aspects of international law invoked by this “occupation,” it’s important to note that most other “territories held” throughout the world have been returned. The Panama Canal was returned to Panama in January 2000, Hong Kong was returned to China by the United Kingdom in 1997, and Portugal returned Macau Island to China in 1999.

Since 1959, the U.S. sends a check for the lease amount every year, but the Cuban government has never cashed them.

Barack Obama orders closure of Guantanamo Bay prison

In a dramatic second day of his presidency, Barack Obama ordered the closure of Guantanamo Bay, banned the use of torture by US personnel and told the Central Intelligence Agency to shut down its secret “black site” overseas prisons.

The moves, aimed at restoring US moral authority and international standing, repudiate some of the most divisive war-on-terror policies of the Bush administration and meet key promises made in the election campaign.

But the absence of important detail has raised questions about how far removed from the Bush years the new administration’s policies on dealing with terrorist suspects will actually be.

Mr Obama provided no details on where the 248 terrorist suspects detained at Guantanamo Bay would go when the prison is closed, how many of them would face trial, what form trials would take and what steps the US would take to ensure that detainees were not tortured in countries where they might be repatriated.

Retired admiral Dennis Blair, Mr Obama’s nominee to head the 13 US intelligence agencies, graphically illustrated the complexities when he told the Senate intelligence committee that torture was immoral, illegal and ineffective but at the same time refused to say if waterboarding, or simulated drowning, was a form of torture.

Admiral Blair admitted that striking the right balance between protecting Americans and safeguarding US values would be difficult.

To resolve the issues, Mr Obama has commissioned a taskforce to report on where the Guantanamo detainees should be sent, how they should be prosecuted and whether they should have the same legal rights as UScitizens.

A second taskforce will examine whether the 19 interrogation techniques defined in the US Army Field Manual are sufficient in dealing with hardened terrorists. The taskforce, to be led by the Attorney-General, with the Secretary of Defence and the Director of National Intelligence as co-vice chairs, has the power to determine if “different or additional guidance” is necessary for the CIA to deal with terrorists.

It will also look at rendition and other policies for transferring individuals to third countries with a view to ensuring that individuals “do not face torture and cruel treatment if transferred”.

The administration must also consider how to deal with the remaining detainees – including those such as Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of 9/11 – who cannot be transferred to other countries but who could pose a serious danger to the US.

One idea is to rehouse many of them in a military jail at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and on a naval ship in North Carolina.

“Absolutely opposed,” said Sam Brownback, a Republican senator from Kansas. “The community is opposed. The base isopposed.”

Senior aides to Mr Obama have reportedly conceded that intelligence officials in the CIA have expressed serious concerns about the new restrictions on interrogation methods.

Dick Cheney said last week that American lives “have been saved” by intelligence gleaned through harsh interrogations.

Mr Obama said the US intended to prosecute the continuing struggle against violence and terrorism “in a manner that is consistent with our values and ourideals”.

“I think the American people understand that we are not, as I said in the inauguration, going to continue with a false choice between our safety and our ideals,” he said.

“America’s moral example must be the bedrock and the beacon of our global leadership.”

UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay praised Mr Obama for making the closure of Guantanamo Bay a priority and for setting in motion a system to safeguard the fundamental rights of its detainees.

“Waterboarding and other forms of interrogation that may amount to torture, detention for prolonged periods without trial or proper judicial review, and what became known as ‘extraordinary rendition’, these are all aberrations that should never have happened,” Ms Pillay said.

She said those who were innocent or arbitrarily detained should receive “adequate recompense for the six or seven years of their lives that have been lost”. She also called for an investigation into torture at Guantanamo.

The ranking Republican on the house intelligence committee, Pete Hoekstra, said the many unanswered questions meant Mr Obama had placed “hope ahead of reality”.

“Many decisions, made early on after 9/11, were made without a clear plan,” Mr Hoekstra said.

“Is the President risking the samemistakes by making decisions before having a clear plan inplace?”

The executive order closing Guantanamo directs Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to seek international co-operation aimed at achieving the transfers of detainees.

That may come as early as next Monday, when European Union foreign ministers are to discuss the possibility of a collective agreement to take some of the Guantanamo detainees. Human Rights Watch claims Finland, Ireland, Germany, Portugal, Britain and Sweden have shown interest in taking detainees.