Palau Takes Uighur Detainees
 |
James Joyner | Wednesday, June 10, 2009 |
Remember those 17 Uighar captives at Gitmo being held in a state of limbo because nobody would take them? Palau has come to our rescue.
The tropical Pacific island nation of Palau announced Wednesday it will accept up to 17 Chinese Muslims who have languished in legal limbo at Guantanamo Bay despite a Pentagon determination that they are not “enemy combatants.”
China’s Foreign Ministry had no immediate reaction to the decision by Palau to grant Washington’s request to resettle the detainees from China’s Uighur minority who had been incarcerated at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba. Palau is one of a handful of countries that does not recognize China and maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
President Johnson Toribiong said Palau was accepting the detainees “as a humanitarian gesture” intended to help them restart their lives. His archipelago, with a population of about 20,000, will accept up to 17 of the detainees subject to periodic review, Toribiong said in a statement released to The Associated Press. “This is but a small thing we can do to thank our best friend and ally for all it has done for Palau,” he said.
A former U.S. trust territory in the Pacific, Palau has retained close ties with the United States since independence in 1994 when it signed a Free Compact of Association with the U.S. While it is independent, it relies heavily on U.S. aid and is dependent on the United States for its defense. Native-born Palauans are allowed to enter the United States without passports or visas.
I suppose there are worse fates than being exiled to a tropical paradise.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
Follow James on FriendFeed | Twitter | Digg
- Palau Takes Uighur Detainees
- Senate Not Office of Trust
- Chinese Trade Surplus With U. S. Increases
- North Korea: Choosing the Lesser Evil
- Pentagon Giving Turkey Intelligence on PKK
- Some Guantanamo Detainees Are Terrorists
- China: Replace Dollar as World Currency
- Chinese Ships Join Pirate Hunt
- South Asia: A Matter of Trust
- Obama: Violating Habeas Corpus Okay When It’s Not At Gitmo
- Nathalie Blanchard Facebook Smile Leaves Her Depressed
- Glenn Beck, Community Organizer
- OTB Latenight – Cherry Poppin’ Daddies
- Hacked Climate Scientists Emails Reveal Truth
- Obama, the Recession, and Polls
- Giuliani Running for Senate, Not Governor
- OTB Latenight – The Jesus & Mary Chain
- Fox Fake Crowd Videos
- Congress to Investigate Fake Districts
- Douthat Blogging Again
Obama is giving Palau 200 million dollars to perform this "service". I hope they get themselves a well-trained army before a boatload of militant Muslims attempts a rescue mission.
I hope they get themselves a well-trained army before a boatload of militant Muslims attempts a rescue mission.
You do realize, don't you, that these are a group of people that only Newt Gingrich thinks are dangerous, right?
I'm glad these people are going to be able to find a home that isn't a prison.
I hope they get themselves a well-trained army before a boatload of militant Muslims attempts a rescue mission.
That's my first thought...being the Phillipines (or part of the chain) is a hot bed. Seems like it would be easy pickin's.
You do realize, don't you, that these are a group of people that only Newt Gingrich thinks are dangerous, right?
So does Jim Webb, Jim Moran, Frank Wolf, Robert McDonnell as well as other off the record lawmakers. So almost only.
This is another example of B. Hussein selling out our national security to gain points with his moselm allies.
The Uighars were responsible for 9-11 and represent an existential threat to the homeland.
We damn better hope these guys don't get out of Palau--otherwise we'll all be speaking Uyghur before too long.
The combination of the fact that these 17 guys are sophisticated terrorists and that B. Hussein is intent on destroying our military gives these guys an opening to destroy our country.
This seems to be exactly what Hussein wants to do.
Our long national nightmare is over.
The Obama administration doesn't appear to think they're safe either, having named Abdul Haq, the guy running the training camp for Uighurs at Tora Bora as a designated terrorist. At least ten of the detainees admitted ties to Haq.
I hope they get themselves a well-trained army before a boatload of militant Muslims attempts a rescue mission.
So, the claim is that it isn't safe to let these people into the U.S., nor is it safe for any other country to take them, either. What do you suggest we do, then, shoot them into space?
suppose there are worse fates than being exiled to a tropical paradise
I'm sure the lucky inhabitants at the Club Med on Devil's Island thought so.
What do you suggest we do, then, shoot them into space?
Oh, you're being too charitable...I'm sure some people would suggest that we just shoot them...
They were always free to be returned to their home country, but understandably did not want to.
I suppose there are worse fates than being exiled to a tropical paradise.
Well, I suppose they could put them all on Peleliu. That might satisfy some folks.
The Obama administration doesn't appear to think they're safe either
No, he just thinks they're unpopular, and like most politicians isn't going to risk reelection on something as trivial as morality.
I hereby nominate Alex to keep track of this story.
And not popular in the 100 countries that refused to take them either.
It's amazing how fear adversely affects some people...
