The Bush administration is holding preliminary discussions with the British government to potentially ship additional inmates to the U.K. from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba, according to a senior U.S. official. The discussions come as European countries, particularly Portugal and Germany, are displaying a greater willingness to assist Washington in addressing the status of some 258 detainees held at the Guantanamo facility, European and U.S. officials said. On Friday in Australia, the government said it was considering a similar move. The Pentagon has already cleared 60 of these detainees, including Chinese Muslims and North Africans, for resettlement in their own, or third, countries, according to U.S. officials. American and European diplomats said Europe’s shift on Guantanamo is being accelerated by the election of Barack Obama, who pledged during the campaign to break from the Bush administration’s detention policies and shut the Cuba facility. Jay Solomon and Alistair Macdonald report.
