Obama says no talks yet on specific numbers of Guantanamo detainees going to Germay

Obama: Talks ongoing with Germany on closing Gitmo

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says he and Chancellor Angela Merkel have not yet gotten down to a discussion of just how many Guantanamo detainees might be sent to Germany.

Merkel agreed with that, answering a question Friday at a joint news conference the two had at the White House amid a day of bilateral talks. Merkel said her country won’t shirk its responsibilities and that she is confident there will be a satisfactory resolution.

For his part, Obama said he respects Germany’s national security concerns, and he said that he has been pleased by the “general” response in Europe to his request that countries help take detainees so the much-criticized Guantanamo prison can be shut down.

Obama said he thinks the prison “has become a symbol, internationally, of the United States straying from some of our core ideals in our very legitimate pursuit of our national security and our concerns about international terrorism.”