Go on, find Palau on a map without Googling it — I double dog dare you.
Its 21,000 citizens have only had a country for 15 years, but the Pacific mini-state of Palau is already distinguishing itself by welcoming 17 Chinese Guantanamo inmates with open arms, and inviting them to settle wherever they like on its 177 square miles of land. I’m sure the $200 million in U.S. aid dollars they apparently received as part of the deal had nothing to do with it.
The Voice of America reports:
Sandra Pierantozzi, Palau’s minister of state, in an interview with VOA, says her nation is glad to have the Uighurs.
“If they want to settle in Palau we would welcome them,” Pierantozzi said. “This is very much in line with the culture of Palau, where people who drift in and who needs settlement and [a place to live] are welcome to our shores and our tradition will take care of them and insert them into our society.”
[…] “We’d like to think it is paradise, but you have to also remember the Uighurs come from a landlocked country in China, and for all intents and purposes, they [may] not like living in a small island surrounded by water,” Pierantozzi said. “So we’re not really sure [whether] they will want to come [or] not.”
The prisoners are Uighurs, Chinese Muslims with an alleged — but apparently unproven — desire to violently break the Xinjiang province away from the rest of China. Obama’s government apparently would have sent them home, if not for China’s nasty record of torturing and killing Uighurs.
As much as Obama deserves praise for shutting down Guantanamo, I can’t help wondering: if they’ve done something wrong, shouldn’t they be charged, rather than sent off to a tropical paradise? And if they’re innocent, shouldn’t we be talking about compensation for their kidnapping and subsequent seven years of imprisonment on a Cuban military base, with no explanations, lawyers or telephone calls?
UPDATE: It turns out that Palau is now only taking 13 of the 17 Uighurs. The other four are off to Bermuda. Seriously, they could do worse…
Image via ABC News.
1 response so far ↓
1 MEJA // Jun 13, 2009 at 5:04 pm
THIS IS SO YOUNG COUNTRY!
THEY ARE LIKE NEWBORN- HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO MANGED OWN EXISTENCE AT FIRST!
THEY HAVE OWN PROBLEMS TO SETLE OWN CITIZENS. IT IS TO SMALL COMMUNITY -
IMAGINE SUDDENLY SOMEONE WILL BE FORCE YOU TO SHARE YOUR BEDROOM WITH STRANGER? IT IS WHAT I SEE CAN HAPPEN IN PALAU.
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