The Obama Administration has apparently abandoned plans to free Gitmo inmates who were members of the Al-Qaeda-trained East Turkestan Islamic Movement in the American civilian population. “Obama Bows on Settling Detainees: Administration Gives Up on Bringing Cleared Inmates to U.S., Officials Say,” by Peter Finn and Sandhya Somashekhar for the Washington Post, June 12 (thanks to Benedict):
The Obama administration has all but abandoned plans to allow Guantanamo Bay detainees who have been cleared for release to live in the United States, administration officials said yesterday, a decision that reflects bipartisan congressional opposition to admitting such prisoners but complicates efforts to persuade European allies to accept them.
Four Uighur detainees, Chinese Muslims who were incarcerated at the U.S. military prison in Cuba for more than seven years, arrived early yesterday in Bermuda, where they will become foreign guest workers. An administration official said the United States is engaged in negotiations with other countries, including Palau, an island nation in the western Pacific, to find places for the remaining 13 Uighurs held at Guantanamo.
The Uighurs, who were ordered released by a federal judge last year, never counted America as an enemy, according to the men’s lawyers and human rights groups, giving the administration grounds to argue that they should live in the United States. Picked up in Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2002, the Uighurs were later cleared of the “enemy combatant” label but remained in minimum-security confinement at Guantanamo….
They “never counted America as an enemy”? Then why were they in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the first place? For the golf courses?
They were there, of course, to wage jihad against Americans.
Palauans aren’t unhappy that they’re coming, either.
“Chinese Muslims Trigger Public Backlash in Palau,” from AP, June 12 (thanks to James):
KOROR, Palau (AP) — The tiny Pacific nation of Palau’s decision to allow 13 Chinese Muslims from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp to resettle there has sparked anger among islanders who fear for the safety of the tranquil tourist haven.
The U.S. government determined last year that the Chinese Muslims, or Uighurs, were not enemy combatants and should be released from the U.S. military prison in Cuba. China has objected to their resettlement, calling the men ”terrorist suspects” and demanding they be sent home.
The U.S. has said it fears the men would be executed if they were returned to China.
Palau President Johnson Toribiong explained his decision to grant the Uighurs entry as traditional hospitality, but public opinion has appeared overwhelmingly negative. Some complained Friday that the government failed to consult the people.
”I totally disagree” with allowing the Uighurs onto Palau, Natalia Baulis, a 30-year-old mother of two, told The Associated Press by telephone.
”It’s good to be humanitarian and all, but still these people … to me are scary,” she said….
Uh, yeah.