LONDON — As President-elect Barack Obama takes office Tuesday vowing to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp as soon as possible, European politicians are debating whether their countries should help him shut it down by accepting some of the remaining detainees who are living in limbo. Europe rebuffed the Bush administration when it asked for help resettling detainees who were cleared for release but are unable to return to their home countries for fear of persecution. Eager to get off on the right foot with a new U.S. administration, however, some foreign ministers have indicated that they’d be more flexible - if their national police ministries agree and if Obama asks. ‘We have definitely seen a shift since Obama’s election,’ said Camilla Jelbart of Amnesty International in London, which has lobbied governments on the issue. Before the U.S. election, she said, the attitude in Europe was ‘this is the U.S.’s mess. Why should we step forward?’ Portugal took the lead last month when Foreign Minister Luis Amado agreed to accept Guantanamo detainees and urged his European colleagues to do the same. Britain, too, sounds willing to consider resettling additional detainees beyond the nine British nationals who were […]