Posted on 06/12/2009 3:37:45 AM PDT by tobyhill
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
“The U.S. has said it fears the men would be executed if they were returned to China.”
Ok, so the problem here is?
They want more $$. Apparently $10K per resident is not enough. The fact that we are paying $200M to resettle these guys is a travesty of the highest order.
So Obama send this little island $200,000,000 to make sure that the Chinese Government doesn’t prosecute their own citizens? Liberal politics, what a joke!
public opinion has appeared overwhelmingly negative.
Imagine that a place where public opinion is overwhelmingly negative towards terrorists.
if US lock them up, thats bad
If China lock them up, thats good
If US free them and give them to China, thats bad
If US free them and not give them to China, thats good
I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard that money was being given to bribe some small island to take these evil people in, let alone the amount.
So it would appear their lives may be in jeopardy on this little island, just as much as in China. So send ‘em anyway - let the chips falls where they may. Perhaps the citizenry will mete out its own justice.
Any Gitmo detainees to be release should be let go the same way we do with released convicts here in the states: Give them two changes of clothes, some pocket money to make phone calls, eat and get a bus ticket, then open the prison gate and toss their behinds out onto the street.
Great so the u.S. govt. sends Palau 200 million to take these terrorists and then the chi-coms send their hit squads to Palau to do them in.
Great way to waste tax money.
Just send them back to china.
I guess if Bin Laden hides in China, we could ask them to turn him over to us....right?
Where did we get these guys, if they’re not terror suspects?
Don’t know, but if we have determined that we got their ‘terrorist’ status incorrect, then we should be protecting them from the Chinese.
If I were the Government of Palau, I would take the money, take these guys and then call the Chinese to come pick them up. I wonder if people remember that this quiet little paradise was the scene of one of the bloodiest battles of World War II and had the highest casualty rate of any of Islands in the Pacific campaign.
If we got their terrorist status wrong, we need to release them. We do not, however, need to protect them, especially to the tune of $200,000,000.
Further, I think that “if” is a mighty BIG “if.”
Maybe Palau can round up the Uighurs and sell them to China for $500 million, give Obama back his $200 million ‘stimulus’,and get on with their life.
They were captured at Tora Bora. They were training with the Taliban but weren't signed on to fight the US, or so the story goes, and they found themselves swept up with the rest of the garbage after the Obama Osama ran away and the Taliban fell.
Good point!
This whole “ship ‘em to Palau” thing doesn’t bode well for the theories of the “nirthers”. Think about it. What does shipping these unrepentant terrorists to Palau really accomplish? It drives Western tourists to Hawaii, of course; the fabled land of Obama’s nirth... I mean birth. It all makes sense. Who wants to pay big bucks to go to a resort in Palau when the funny looking Chinese poolboy keeps wrapping the towels around his head and then explodes? It’s better to go to Hawaii instead. There, at least, the local Obamamtons don’t explode.
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