Obama may release Guantanamo inmates in the U.S.
On January 12th of this year, I wrote an article about the probability that then President-elect Obama would order the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba closed by executive order in his first days in office. At the time, I didn’t necessarily disagree with him about the closing of the prison, simply because I believe the prison has hurt the image of the United States tremendously. As a country, we have always taken the moral high road when it comes to how we treat prisoners and the prison at Guantanamo has put us in the same category as a lot of other nations who have not had the best record on human rights. So, I can honestly say I am in agreement that Guantanamo Bay needs to be closed.
With the order issued and the process started to close the prison, the question arises about what to do with the prisoners who have been cleared of the charges against them. I have to say I was very troubled by a report last week that President Obama is not only considering releasing some of them on American soil, but also financing their new start in America. From Yahoo:
President Barack Obama’s intelligence chief confirmed Thursday that some Guantanamo inmates may be released on US soil and receive assistance to return to society.
“If we are to release them in the United States, we need some sort of assistance for them to start a new life,” said National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair at his first press conference.
“You can’t just put them on the street,” he added. “All that is work in progress.”
According to the Yahoo report, there are some twenty men who have been cleared of any terrorism charges against them. Seventeen of those are from China and the Obama administration is loath to send them back to their home country because of possible mistreatment by Chinese authorities.
The men in question were first arrested in Pakistan, after fleeing Afghanistan in the midst of the fighting taking place there. They are Uighurs and originally came from China, where they faced persecution by Chinese authorities. They were captured by locals in Pakistan and turned over to American troops, who were paying $5,000 as a bounty for suspected foreign fighters. They have been cleared of any terrorist activities and were ordered released in October 2008, six years after they had been cleared of all charges. Personally, I would like to see them returned to Afghanistan, where they were living when they fled the fighting. They had settled there after fleeing China in 2001.
Yes, I realize that these prisoners have to go somewhere and it is because of previous policies of the United States that they are in our custody in the first place, but I can not say I am pleased that some of them may be released in America and new lives financed for them by the American taxpayer. The Obama administration is in negotiations with some European countries about taking some of them, but nothing has been finalized. The fate of these prisoners still remains to be determined.
I agree with you about the Uighurs. I feel concerned for them, and I hope we do right by them. I am proud that our country is trying to do the right thing by them, but I worry about them in Afghanistan because it is unstable there. That said, maybe we will be able to help stabilize their country. Maybe it is what is best for them.
ng
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