Guantánamo Bay Uighurs 'overjoyed' as they arrive in Bermuda

[Old Coot]

Source: The Times

Four freed Guantánamo Bay inmates are “overjoyed” at their new home in Bermuda and yesterday they spent their first day of freedom shopping for clothes after seven years in the US prison camp.

As the men tried to settle into their new surroundings, details emerged of the role of US lobbyists in the secret negotiations to resettle them on Britain’s oldest colony without London’s knowledge.

Sabin Willett, an American lawyer who picked up the four Uighurs — Muslims from western China — from the US detention camp in Cuba on Thursday said the former terrorism suspects were delighted by their new home. “They did not know what Bermuda was. When you have a guy from Central Asia stuck on the island of Cuba and you talk about another island, it sounds like a prison colony,” he said. “What was really great was seeing their reaction as they arrived on the island. They were just overjoyed. We were in a shop with the guys to buy some trousers. Blaring over the radio was talk about these al-Qaeda terrorists. The shopkeeper said: ‘Don’t mind that. Welcome to the island’.”

The Uighurs, who spent seven years in Guantánamo Bay after allegedly being turned over to US forces by bounty hunters in Afghanistan, are now sharing a holiday let and having their expenses paid for by the Bermuda Government, which is reimbursed by the United States.

Read more: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6489381.ece

[ThomCat]

1. I hope they are able to recover from whatever we have done to them

while they were imprisoned for 7 years. I hope they can build good lives in Bermuda. I hope the deck isn't already stacked against them there.

[slipslidingaway]

2. .......

:toast:

http://www.swizzleinn.com/index.html

[Yunomi]

3. Will their families

be able to join them? The Chinese are not too kind to the Muslim population there.

[MasonJar]

4. Seven lost years because of us. I am delighted they are in Bermuda.

I am actually envious. Good luck to them and all the detainees who did nothing to anyone. By the way, without fair trials we will never know who those latter are.

[maxsolomon]

5. i thought they were going to Palau

it was a long story on NPR!

[Coventina]

6. I think some of them are, but it is a little confusing.

There seems to be two groups, each going to a different tropical destination.

:shrug:

[elleng]

7. Sorry about 'row' with Brits, but LOVE it!

The Uighurs are now sharing a holiday flat paid for by the Bermudian Government, which is reimbursed by the United States.

[earcandle]

8. Whew! Thank gopod we are becoming human again. You'd be surprised

how resilient the human being is when given care and attention
that makes them feel balanced and free again.
No doubt, unless they meditate and release that crap, there
will be memories that may result in passionate revelations.
Hope there will be people there to manage them. People from
Esalen, perhaps?  They have good Gestalt Healers at Esalen.

I bet they would go or find that kind of help for them. 

[medeak]

9. "US sending prisoners to paradise" faux news

sorry ... I had to peek over there today