Thread: Judge orders release of Chinese Muslims into U.S.

Judge orders release of Chinese Muslims into U.S.
By HOPE YEN
Oct. 7, 2008, 11:56AM
WASHINGTON — A federal judge ordered the Bush administration Tuesday to immediately release a small group of Chinese Muslims from Guantanamo Bay into the United States.

In a landmark decision, U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina said it would be wrong for the Bush administration to continue holding the detainees, known as Uighurs, since they are no longer considered enemy combatants.

The Uighurs have been in custody for almost seven years and have been cleared for release since 2004, but the government has not been able to find a country willing to take them in. Bush administration lawyers argued Tuesday that Urbina did not have the authority to order the Uighurs released into the United States.

Urbina called the detention unlawful saying the Constitution prohibits indefinite imprisonment without charges.

The Uighurs have been at Guantanamo Bay, a naval prison in Cuba, since the U.S. military took custody of them in Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2001. Efforts by the Bush administration to find a home for the detainees has been complicated by fears in many countries of diplomatic reprisals by China.

Five of the Uighur detainees were released in 2006 to Albania, which offered refuge over protests by the Chinese government.

In Beijing Tuesday, before Urbina's ruling, the government demanded that all Uighurs held at Guantanamo be repatriated to China.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the Uighurs are suspected of being members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which the United States lists as a terrorist organization.

"China has urged the U.S. to repatriate these Chinese terrorist suspects to China on many occasions. We hope the U.S. will take our position seriously and repatriate these persons to China sooner rather than later," he said.

A spokesman at the Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Urbina's order.

Uighurs are from Xinjiang — an isolated region that borders Afghanistan, Pakistan and six Central Asian nations — and say they have been repressed by the Chinese government. China has long said that insurgents are leading an Islamic separatist movement in Xinjiang.


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6044457.html

he Uighurs have been in custody for almost seven years and have been cleared for release since 2004, but the government has not been able to find a country willing to take them in. Bush administration lawyers argued Tuesday that Urbina did not have the authority to order the Uighurs released into the United States.



I would say that the Bush administration lawyers are 100% RIGHT!!

Since when are we obligated to make legal immigrants out of terror suspects?



The Uighurs have been at Guantanamo Bay, a naval prison in Cuba, since the U.S. military took custody of them in Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2001. Efforts by the Bush administration to find a home for the detainees has been complicated by fears in many countries of diplomatic reprisals by China.



Hey, they picked these folks up in Pakistan and Afghanistan, they can take their asses right back where they found them.

And I don't want to hear that they can't manage it. If we can get covert operatives and special forces troops into those places with no difficulty, then this should be a snap......just load them onto military aircraft and voila. How hard is it?

Originally Posted by azwreath

he Uighurs have been in custody for almost seven years and have been cleared for release since 2004, but the government has not been able to find a country willing to take them in. Bush administration lawyers argued Tuesday that Urbina did not have the authority to order the Uighurs released into the United States.



I would say that the Bush administration lawyers are 100% RIGHT!!

Since when are we obligated to make legal immigrants out of terror suspects?



The Uighurs have been at Guantanamo Bay, a naval prison in Cuba, since the U.S. military took custody of them in Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2001. Efforts by the Bush administration to find a home for the detainees has been complicated by fears in many countries of diplomatic reprisals by China.



Hey, they picked these folks up in Pakistan and Afghanistan, they can take their asses right back where they found them.

And I don't want to hear that they can't manage it. If we can get covert operatives and special forces troops into those places with no difficulty, then this should be a snap......just load them onto military aircraft and voila. How hard is it?

Amen AZW! Better yet, give them $200 bucks gate money, open the prison gates at Gitmo and tell them they free to leave. Let them roam the streets of Cuba for awhile. Let Cuba deal with them, much like Cuba has sent many of their citizens to our country to deal with....

The Uighurs have been in custody for almost seven years and have been cleared for release since 2004, but the government has not been able to find a country willing to take them in.

In Beijing Tuesday, before Urbina's ruling, the government demanded that all Uighurs held at Guantanamo be repatriated to China.

"China has urged the U.S. to repatriate these Chinese terrorist suspects to China on many occasions. We hope the U.S. will take our position seriously and repatriate these persons to China sooner rather than later," he said.

More sloppy MSM reporting, how can they write: "no country is willing to take them in", and then: "China has urged the U.S. to repatriate these Chinese terrorist suspects to China on many occasions"?

I would say the judge is also out to lunch on this one, along with the reporter.

Originally Posted by NoBueno

Originally Posted by azwreath

he Uighurs have been in custody for almost seven years and have been cleared for release since 2004, but the government has not been able to find a country willing to take them in. Bush administration lawyers argued Tuesday that Urbina did not have the authority to order the Uighurs released into the United States.



I would say that the Bush administration lawyers are 100% RIGHT!!

Since when are we obligated to make legal immigrants out of terror suspects?



The Uighurs have been at Guantanamo Bay, a naval prison in Cuba, since the U.S. military took custody of them in Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2001. Efforts by the Bush administration to find a home for the detainees has been complicated by fears in many countries of diplomatic reprisals by China.



Hey, they picked these folks up in Pakistan and Afghanistan, they can take their asses right back where they found them.

And I don't want to hear that they can't manage it. If we can get covert operatives and special forces troops into those places with no difficulty, then this should be a snap......just load them onto military aircraft and voila. How hard is it?

Amen AZW!


LOL........Hi there NoBueno!!! In case you may not have noticed, I'm not feeling particularly PC today




Let Cuba deal with them, much like Cuba has sent many of their citizens to our country to deal with...


Sounds like a plan, except for one wrinkle........the only people Cuba has historically ever technically SENT us have been the criminal, insane, criminally-insane and other "undesireables" with assorted flaws and screws loose.

If we tried to pawn them off on Cuba, Cuba would have them on a boat motoring their way toward us anyway before we could collectively say "Guantanamo Bay".

Better to just put them on a plane, give them all a parachute, and.....while flying over the Middle East somewhere......make an announcement that it's time for an in-flight emergency evacuation drill. :P