The United States and its allies must make sacrifices to close
the Guantanamo Bay detention center, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said
Wednesday in a high-profile appeal for Europe's help.

Holder spoke to the American Academy in Berlin, not long after telling
reporters that the United States had approved the release of about 30 Guantanamo
detainees.

[..]

"The United States is ready to do its part, and we hope that Europe will join
us — not out of a sense of responsibility, but from a commitment to work with
one of its oldest allies to confront one of the world's most pressing
challenges," he said.

There are currently 241 inmates at the facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and
Holder spent the past several days privately asking European leaders in London,
Prague and Berlin for help relocating detainees the United States wants to set
free.

[...]

At another point, a questioner earnestly asked of those Guantanamo detainees
who are believed to be innocent could be put in a hotel somewhere.

"Hotels might be a possibility, it depends on where the hotel is," joked
Holder.

Before the speech, Holder met with reporters, saying the United States has
made decisions on a group of about 30 detainees, but has not yet decided where
it wants to send them.

He said the United States is weeks away from asking certain countries to take
detainees.

"We have about 30 or so where we've made the determination that they can be
released. So we will, I think, relatively soon, be reaching out to specific
countries with specific detainees and ask whether or not there might be a basis
for the moving of those people from Guantanamo to those countries," Holder
said.