Some Guantanamo Detainees Resisting Move to Palau (Want Passports)

WSJ via Fox ^ | June 20.2009

[gusopol3]

The Obama administration's drive to close the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has hit a new snag: At least some of the 13 detainees accepted for resettlement by the island nation of Palau don't want to go there.....

Palau has no Muslim community, and the majority of residents are Roman Catholic. Clarke said his clients are particularly concerned about the legal status they would hold on Palau, and whether they could obtain documentation such as a passport.

[ketelone]

Why the devil must Palau have to put up with this menace? Why cant they just go back to their holes of countries?

[BradyLS]

Just stick ‘em on Bikini.

[element92]

what did Bush have in mind
for these people

nobody wants them

[gusopol3]

Only alternative to capture was to kill them where they were is the argument.

[gusopol3]

The Obama administration official said the Palauans understand the U.S.—which subsidizes Palau's economy and oversees its defense—is under pressure to transfer detainees.

This is the best answer I've seen.

[element92]

>Only alternative to capture was to kill them <

that sounds like great idea.

did our military mutiny, or what?

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Just stick ‘em on Bikini.

It's probably 50 years too late.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Only alternative to capture was to kill them where they were is the argument.

Which exactly what they, as irregular combatants, are entitled to under the Geneva Convention. They'd get their 77 virgins and we'd be rid of them.

[pennyfarmer]

I say we give them a passport and then kick them over the side when we get real close to the island, like 1000 miles.

[ScottinVA]

“Palau has no Muslim community, and the majority of residents are Roman Catholic”

So why infect a society with a virus where none currently exists? The people of Palau should be a against this all the way. Send the knuckledraggers back to their home countries!

[gusopol3]

They probably want passports so they can come here; after all, they apparently can’t go back home to visit the family.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Your post stimulated me to google “bikini atoll”. It's interesting, while the atoll is still unpopulated, it has a “population in exile”, a government, officials and a regular income from the United States. (Reparations!) and a thriving tourism industry.

Apparently short stays are permitted and the diving is outstanding, with the added attraction of having the panache of being a truly unique destination.

If you aren't radiation-phobic it might actually be a pleasant place to pass one's days. You might even get to "date" Eurotrash chicks looking to indulge their anti-Americanism two ways, by visiting this poor atoll which the Americans (quite literally) devasted and by giving "some" to these poor victims of American imperialism.

[wiggen]

“A U.S. official said about 50 of the 229 detainees at Guantanamo have been cleared for release. Dozens have preferred to remain at Guantanamo rather than be repatriated to countries where they expect to be persecuted, the official said.”
So horrible Gitmo is better than being sent to various countries.
“Palau has no Muslim community, and the majority of residents are Roman Catholic. Mr. Clarke said his clients are particularly concerned about the legal status they would hold on Palau, and whether they could obtain documentation such as a passport.”
Forget the audacity about wanting passports. They seem to find their legal status at Gitmo preferable to what it might be on Palau.
They understand that the wheels are in motion and the administration just wants the issue to go away so they’re holding out for whatever concessions they can wrangle. Amazing! they went from prisoners to holding all the cards under this idiotic administration we have.

[17th Miss Regt]

So why infect a society with a virus where none currently exists?

So that Obama can infect a society with a virus where none currently exists.

[gusopol3]

google “bikini atoll”

good thing you remembered the "atoll"

[RU88]

I say put them on a ship at sea with a broken rudder that only goes in one direction. They can do donuts until they run out of water, food, and fuel and start killing themselves. Problem solved.

[john drake]

Agreed. I say return them to the battlefield, give them a AK-47 with one clip of ammo with one bullet in it and 10 seconds to run; wipe ‘em out and bury them right there. Battlefield casualties, end of story.

[Recon Dad]

They Muzzies probably found out the people of Palau are also practicing cannibals. (I hope)

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

good thing you remembered the "atoll"

Maybe not. Especially if I had searched "images". Now if instead of "atoll", I had substituted, "thong", well that's definitely NSFW. Or for my wife peaking over my shoulder.