Guantánamo Detainees Will Drink Borjomi Mineral Water

On Wednesday, the U.S. transferred three detainees from the military prison at Guantánamo Bay to Georgia. Their identity and citizenship are concealed. Gia Arsenishvili, chairman of the Human Rights Defense Parliament Committee, stated, “on the basis of their own interest, the names and surnames of the detainees have not yet been revealed.”

In Georgia, the transfer of the detainees was announced on T.V. only in the morning news edition. Virtually all the national television channels broadcast the speech of Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley, who officially thanked Tbilisi for its help.

Practically nothing is known about the detainees, except the fact that all three of them were born in the Near East. Their relocation only took place after security issues were settled, just in time so that the Arab guests did not have to try the prison menu. According to Shota Utiashvili, head of the Georgian Interior Ministry Analytical Department, the detainees will live “like common citizens” with the right to talk to their families at any time. The only restriction is that the former inmates of Guantánamo cannot leave the territory of Georgia until the expiration of “imprisonment.”

Negotiations about Georgia’s acceptance of a couple of prisoners suspected of terrorism first arose last August, when Daniel Fried, the special envoy facilitating the closing of the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, visited Tbilisi. At the end of September, President Mikheil Saakashvili confirmed that he will “accommodate guests” in an interview with Fox News Channel.

The Georgian opposition met Saakashvili’s notion with hostility. Incidentally, the hatchet was buried quickly. By now, the response of the presidents’ opponents is not especially harsh, at least so far. Maybe they are getting together their ideas. Or they are confident in the assertion of the officials that the detainees do not pose a threat, that they do not support terrorist activities, but simply sympathize with al-Qaida and believe that they will live peacefully in their new homes while eating Khinkali (Georgian dumplings), drinking Borjomi mineral water and improving their shaky health.