PARIS, Nov 8: In a surprise change of position that may be symptomatic of a general turnabout in its overall foreign policy with regard to terrorism and the United States, France has let Washington know, that it expects to have information soon with regard to the six French nationals incarcerated for the past two years at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

According to Quai d’Orsay spokesman Herve Ladsous, France is expecting to send shortly to the United States an official mission to gather information as to what formal charges, if any, have been levelled against the six men, all of them French Muslims.

The decision was greeted with satisfaction by William Bourdon, the lawyer for the families of some of the Guantanamo detainees, who noted that “it’s high time after two years’ imprisonment that we are able to find out not only what is happening to these young men who have had no contact with their families since late 2001, but also why they have been detained at Guantanamo in the first place, for, according to independent information obtained by France, they are if anything nothing but small fish.”

“We are now telling Washington,” he continued during an interview today on French radio network RTL, “that enough is enough and that we find the situation of the young men to be incomprehensible. A minimum of information will certainly provide their families with a minimum of relief.”