Posted on 07/08/2009 7:00:23 AM PDT by SJackson
Island nation is asking its longtime benefactor, the United States, for a 35-year extension to direct aid funding because of its offer to take in 13 Guantanamo Bay detainees.
KOROR, Palau - The tiny island nation of Palau is asking its longtime benefactor, the United States, for a 35-year extension to direct aid funding -- and hinting Washington should say yes because of its offer to take in 13 Guantanamo Bay detainees.
Both Palauan and U.S. officials deny any direct link between the country's willingness to take in the Chinese Muslim Uighurs and American largesse.
But Palau negotiators say they are proposing the three-decade extension in a formal 15-year review of the Compact of Free Association between the two countries that underpins the island state's economy.
The latest round of talks are due to open Wednesday in Hawaii, with a final round due in Palau in September.
"Palau needs a little leniency from strict implementation of the terms of the compact," Palau President Johnson Toribiong told The Associated Press this week.
Toribiong did not specifically mention the Uighurs. But the head of Palau's negotiating team, Joshua Koshiba, said the offer to take the Chinese detainees was "a positive for the negotiation" on the compact.
"I can point my finger at them now and say, 'See, we are helping you too, without asking for help only,"' Koshiba told AP.
If the U.S. doesn't agree to Palau's new terms, Koshiba said, his country will weigh its options.
"When you have a friend, if they don't want to be your friend anymore, what do you do? Don't you look for another friend?" Koshiba said.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Right of Return? US to Re-Settle 1,350 ‘PA Refugees’ from Iraq
Promise them millions...so long as the “detainees” actually step foot on their soil and then send them through the shipping lanes. Along the way, the detainees have an “accident”.
Palau was witness to some very fierce battles in WWII and helped America clear the japanese out at a very high cost to their population. Palau was one of the few Nations solidly behind GW Bushes War in Iraq. If money is handed out I would much rather have it sent to Palau than any other place.
I have a cheaper option! A bullet.
It should be costing the USG next to nothing to have all the detainees held on an isolated atoll and watched over by a couple Navy gunboats and the Marines.
Fortunately Palau is in the Pacific and not too far from China. When we borrow the money from China to send to Palau, we will save on postage.
Yes and their home countries footing the Bills that should discourage this kind of problem!
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