They look like ordinary tourists as they stroll along the seafront on the British territory of Bermuda, but these four men are far from regular sunseekers for they have spent the last seven years locked up in Guantanamo Bay.
The former terror suspects are Uighurs – members of China’s Muslim Turkic-speaking minority – and hail from a rugged province in the far west of the country.
They were detained by the Americans, who eventually determined they were not a threat to the United States. But because no country volunteered to take them and it was feared they would be detained and tortured if they were returned to China, the men were left in limbo.
The little fucksticks trained in Tora Bora al Qaeda camps and fought against American troops, but they’re ‘not a threat’.
Gee, good thing we put ’em on a British island.
Now they have been given a chance by officials in the millionaire’s playground – an island paradise that doubles as one of the wealthiest countries in the world.
And already they have dreams of opening the first Uighur restaurant.
Much of the proceeds will finance more terrorism, I’m sure.
Embracing the delights of their new island home, the Uighurs have already taken a sunset swim and caught a fish at their first attempt at fishing. They have also reverted to their real names after using pseudonyms since leaving China.
…..(They) have traded drab prison jumpsuits for comfortable cotton pants and knit shirts, and razor wire-encircled jail compounds for beach cottages, where they are staying at U.S. taxpayers’ expense.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1192872/Guantanamo-4-hit-shops-day-freedom.html
Let’s see: Covert to Islam, train and kill for Allah, get captured, and finally hit the jackpot courtesy of American taxpayers.
Welcome to Obama’s ‘man-caused disasters’.
Oh, and guess what? The Brits are a tad miffed:
David Miliband has telephoned Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, to express the government’s disappointment at the deal.
British officials were informed the four Chinese Uighurs were heading to the United Kingdom’s oldest dependency only as they boarded their plane for Bermuda on Wednesday night.
A British diplomat said: “The Foreign Secretary registered his surprise. It was a regrettable mistake. Bermuda, the UK and the US now need to work together to fix it and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
A senior State Department official said this diplomatic understatement masked a real anger over the Obama administration’s oversight among British officials, telling ABC News: “They’re pissed”.
The State Department denied it had bypassed Britain but admitted that it dealt directly with Bermuda, a territory under the sovereignty of the UK, which is responsible for foreign policy and security.
And some of the Bermuda population ain’t too pleased, either:
Hundreds of demonstrators protesting against the transfer of four Guantanamo Bay inmates to Bermuda branded their prime minister Ewert Brown a “dictator” and demanded he step down after negotiating a secret deal witht he United States.
About 600 people gathered outside Parliament in Hamilton, the island’s capital, chanting “Brown must go” and waving banners as they marched to the Cabinet office.
But Mr Brown was defiant. “As some of you might know, I grew up in the protest era,” he shouted at the booing crowd. “This is nothing new to me. I have seen them larger and longer,” he said.
Mr Brown negotiated a secret deal with the US last week members of China’s Muslim Uighur minority to be sent to the British. The Foreign Office was not informed and the Obama administration also bypassed the British.The US, which is desperate to unload the prisoners to fulfil a promise made by president Barack Obama to close the jail by next January, said it could not send the Uighurs to China because they faced persecution there.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/bermuda/5554927/Bermuda-protestors-call-for-dictator-PM-to-step-down-after-secret-US-Guantanamo-deal.html
A couple more terrorists were sent to Chad and Iraq.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/5510000/Two-Guantnamo-detainees-sent-to-Iraq-Chad.html
This is going to get real interesting considering the NIMBY policies of foreign countries.
Sane Americans don’t want the Islamic bastards here, either. I can hardly wait to see who gets duped into taking the next group of ‘non-threatening’ terrorists.