4 Gitmo Uighurs Moved To Bermuda

The Obama administration has created or saved 4 new residents of Bermuda.

Guantanamo detainees are taking a trip to paradise, as the U.S. government divvies up a group of 17 Chinese Muslims between two island nations better known as vacation getaways than safe havens.

Four of the Chinese Turkic Muslims in custody, ethnic Uighurs, have been sent to Bermuda, the administration announced Thursday.

Abdul Nasser, one of the four detainees who landed in Bermuda early Thursday morning, issued a statement through his lawyers, saying: "Growing up under communism we always dreamed of living in peace and working in free society like this one. Today you have let freedom ring."

The rest of the detainees are expected to be sent to the South Pacific island of Palau, temporarily, though the deal is not yet final.

The administration maintains the Uighurs aren't a danger to the US, despite their training in al Qaeda related camps in Afghanistan, but they won't be allowed into the US without prior approval.

There doesn't seem to be a bribe unrelated foreign aid package attached to this transfer as there is with Palau. Maybe Bermuda plans to use the Uighurs in their tourism campaign.

UPDATE: Bermuda's Premier explains decision to let the Uighurs in.

Here's part of the statement.

...the prisoners held there many are innocent men, held without trial or any form of due process; many are refugees from their own lands whose political views are contrary to the regimes in power there. They have committed no crime. They have laid no plans to harm innocent citizens of any nation, but have been caught in a web of reaction to tragic events which at the time of their happening were not well understood.

...The United States Government will bear the cost surrounding this relocation and the Government of Bermuda will facilitate documentation, residence and employment.

I don't like China's government or it's treatment of it's own people but that doesn't mean the Uighurs are innocent. People keep skipping by the fact they were at terrorists training camps in Afghanistan and the organization they belong to has proudly proclaimed its solidarity with al Qaeda. These weren't Boy Scouts on a camping trip when Bushitler swooped in and grabbed them.

posted by DrewM. at 09:28 AM

| Access Comments