Fear Prevails Again in the Home of the Brave: Obama Gives Up on Resettling Cleared Guantanamo Detainees in US

by Damozel | So far, more than 50 detainees have been cleared for release based on individual review of their files.  (WaPo)  But where can they go?  Not here, it seems, even though these detainees -- confined at Gitmo for seven years -- never counted America as an enemy.  (BN Pol) 

The island of Palau has agreed to take 13 Uighurs (Chinese Muslim detainees) whom a federal judge ordered released.  Germany, where there is a large Uighur population, balked, asking -- reasonably, let it be said -- why, if the Uighurs aren't dangerous, they can't settle in the US?  The Chinese certainly wanted them back, calling them "terrorist suspects," but the Obama administration declined, fearing that they'd be tortured and executed. (WaPo) 

Four of the Chinese detainees will become guest workers in Bermuda (WaPo), though the British government ain't happy about this wanton display of independence by Bermuda. (Murdoch Times) 

Wonkette, irreverently and rightly, jeers:  "British Royal Empire Simply Does Not Care For Uighurs In Its Colony, Bermuda."

[T]he Britons have learned that one of its commonwealth islands, Bermuda, got drunk last night and accepted four of the seventeen Uighurs from Guantanamo Bay, without asking the Queen’s permission, in an obvious Security Risk. Time to bring in the Lobsterbacks, to slaughter Bermuda into submission....

....Bermuda, Britain’s oldest remaining dependency, is one of 14 overseas territories that come under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom, which retains direct responsibility for such matters as foreign policy and security.....

Whoa! Wait! It’s just that… Bermuda didn’t think you’d really give a shit, right? Four Chinese Muslims? But if you’re going to be like that, “King George III,” then… can Bermuda take the four Chinese Muslims friends for a sleepover PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE?

The Department of Justice points out:

The Uighurs are a Turkic Muslim minority from the Xinjiang province of far-west China. The Uighurs currently at Guantanamo Bay left China and made their way to Afghanistan, where most eventually settled in a camp with other Uighurs opposed to the Chinese government. After the United States conducted aerial strikes in the area in October 2001, the Uighurs from that camp fled to Pakistan and were later apprehended. According to available information, these individuals did not travel to Afghanistan with the intent to take any hostile action against the United States....

"By helping accomplish the President’s objective of closing Guantanamo, the transfer of these detainees will make America safer," said Attorney General Eric Holder. "We are extremely grateful to the government of Bermuda for its assistance in the successful resettlement of these four detainees, and we commend the leadership they have demonstrated on this important issue."

Even so.

[One detainee] thanked the government and people of Bermuda, which is a British territory. "Growing up under communism," he said, "we always dreamed of living in peace and working in free society like this one. Today you have let freedom ring."(WaPo).

Unfortunately, the Obama administration hasn't had any success at finding countries willing to take other cleared detainees. (WaPo)  And there is, of course, huge congressional opposition to allowing detainees to live in the US.

[O]pposition on Capitol Hill to freeing detainees has dramatically intensified since January, when Obama announced plans to close the military prison within a year. Virginia lawmakers, including  Sen. James Webb (D) and  Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R), say they oppose Uighur resettlement as a matter of national security. Some of the Uighur detainees had received rudimentary military instruction at an Afghan camp, which some critics have described as a terrorist training camp but which the detainees' lawyers have said was a village of Uighur refugees.

Wolf, whose Northern Virginia district is home to many Uighurs, has been among the community's closest allies in Congress. But he has found himself at odds with it over this issue.

"There is a clear distinction between those individuals who have received training as terrorists and the Uighurs who are here, who yearn for democracy and fundamental freedom and rights," Wolf told about 100 advocates last month at the Capitol during a meeting of the World Uyghur Congress, an international coalition of expatriate groups.

Uighurs living in Northern Virginia were disappointed that the Uighurs aren't coming here.

"Here we have a big community," said Elshat Hassan, 47, a former university professor, who came to the United States in 2006. "We have lots of Uighurs and organizations. We are willing to help them in any aspect of their lives. It is much better if they were resettled in Virginia."(WaPo) 

Opposition to resettling them here has of course made it all the less likely that anyone else will want to take them. 

The Defense Intelligence Agency reportedly advised against transferring 25 of the 60 Guantanamo Bay detainees deemed eligible for relocation by the Obama administration. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) claimed that DIA’s concerns show that the White House put political considerations ahead of national security.  (Think Progress)

As Steve Benen says, this is yet another instance in which the irrational cowards have prevailed over the intelligent and the brave.

Throughout the debate over transferring detainees from Guantanamo Bay, we've seen an argument pitting fear against fact. One side would say, "We can't have dangerous terrorist suspects on U.S. soil!" The other would point, "We already have many in U.S. prisons!" The first side would say, "The administration would have al Qaeda members living among us!" The latter would point out, "No one has ever even attempted an escape from a supermax facility!"

By every reasonable measure, the fear-based argument was baseless. Every claim, every contention, every accusation was swiftly and easily debunked. When it came to reality, conservative complaints couldn't withstand any scrutiny at all.

But let this be a reminder: never underestimate the power of irrational fear, especially when Republicans are trying to smear Democrats as "soft" on terrorists.

More at Memeorandum....

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