Next Stop Nowhere [Gitmo]

Newsweak ^ | 05/23/09 | Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball

[freespirited]

... Obama Administration officials were poised in late April to make a bold, stealthy move: they instructed U.S. Marshals ... to fly two Chinese Uighurs, and up to five more on subsequent flights, from Gitmo to northern Virginia for resettlement. In a conference call ... Justice and Pentagon officials had been warned that any public statements about Gitmo transfers would inflame congressional Republicans ... Then GOP Rep. Frank Wolf got tipped off. Furious, he fired off a letter to Obama, charging that [these releases] could " threaten the security of Americans." White House officials were not happy. One accused [Wolf] of playing politics. ... The flight never took off.

The blowup illustrates the challenge Obama faces to meet his goal of shuttering Gitmo—a problem that grew last week when the Senate voted to strip money for the closure from a funding bill. "This may be harder than health care," said one official...

A federal court has ordered the release of Gitmo's 17 remaining Uighurs. But they can't be returned to China because they would likely be tortured or executed. Sending them to northern Virginia seemed to make sense: a -Uighur community is located there, and Wolf has been a critic of China's human-rights record and has championed the Uighur cause. But Wolf told NEWSWEEK he fears the detainees might attack Chinese diplomats in D.C. "Let them go to some other country," he said.

So far, there are no takers. Since Albania accepted five in 2006, the Pentagon has been rebuffed repeatedly by other countries. Last week the State Department asked Germany to resettle nine Uighurs. But its government is expected to stall until after a September election, if not longer ... The Germans, [an] official said, "want the U.S. to take detainees first." That could be a long time coming.

[freespirited]

As part of their efforts to shut down the Guantánamo Bay detention center, Obama Administration officials were poised in late April to make a bold, stealthy move: they instructed the U.S. Marshals Service to prepare an aircraft and a Special Ops group to fly two Chinese Uighurs, and up to five more on subsequent flights, from Gitmo to northern Virginia for resettlement.

Just what we need: an administration that considers it appropriate to resettle terrorists into our neighborhoods by stealth.

And an MSM that sees no need to editorialize on such tactics.

[Paladin2]

Put them in a tent camp in S. Chicago on the Rezko lot next to the 0be Mansion.

[angkor]

>>>> But they can’t be returned to China because they would likely be tortured or executed. <<<<<

Maybe because they’re terrorists.

[chs68]

"Last week the State Department asked Germany to resettle nine Uighurs. But its government is expected to stall until after a September election, if not longer ... The Germans, [an] official said, "want the U.S. to take detainees first." That could be a long time coming."

Isn't Berlin in Germany?

Wasn't Candidate Barack Obama greeting by hundreds of thousandss of wildly cheering people when he gave a major speech (adjectives courtesy of US Media) in Berlin during the 2008 campaign?

So I guess the solution would be to have the wildly popular (with Germans) and charimsatic Barack Obama (who won an historic election and who has really cute kids and a cuddly dog and a Jackie-Kennedy-esque wife!) ask the Germans to take the Uighurs.

Certainly, given the way the new, young, (did I mention "historic"?) President who has already taken so many steps to improve America's damaged relations with our long-term allies, has returned America to its values, the wildly-enthusiastic Germans would leap at the opportunity to do what the historic President requests.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Send one of the terrorists to a super max for a week. They’ll be beggin’ the US to keep Gitmo open!

[ChicagahAl]

"Wasn't Candidate Barack Obama greeting by hundreds of thousandss of wildly cheering people"

Other than the rock concerts that preceded Ø's speeches (and drew the large crowds), I believed then that the cheering was in hopes that Americans would be stupid and elect Ø. The cheering (anti-american) crowd, was smart enough to know that electing Ø would damage America. Maybe even fatally.

They weren't cheering because they liked Ø.

[Bernard]

Hopefully the MSM will clamor for pictures of the actual transfers, as they happen. Isn’t that what a free press is suppposed to do?

[Nachum]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ftV7W9DIUw

[freema]

Ping

[Marine_Uncle]

"A federal court has ordered the release of Gitmo's 17 remaining Uighurs. But they can't be returned to China because they would likely be tortured or executed."
They are in Gitmo because they where caught doing something against US or NATO forces or the Afghan people. In short they are combat terrorist. So the answer should be... send them to China for torture or execution. Less mouths to feed on the US tax payer.

[freespirited]

IIRC an appeals court issued an order contrary to the order of the original court, but neither Obama nor the MSM bothers to mention that.

They are in Gitmo because they were picked up at an al Qaeda training camp. But according to the latest spin, they arent terrorists because their target is China, not us.

Got that? You can train with al Qaeda but not be a terrorist, depending on whom you claim as your target.

[Marine_Uncle]

"Got that? You can train with al Qaeda but not be a terrorist, depending on whom you claim as your target."
All things are relative in the minds of the far left, of course always seeking a position and marketing/sales gimmick that favors their twisted line of reasoning.