Bermuda's Newest Proletariat

Two former Guantanamo Bay detainees, Salahidin Abdulahat and Helil Manuit, tooling around Port Royal Golf Course. (Bermuda Royal Gazette photo)

The four Chinese Uighurs who were released from U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay and accepted by Bermuda back in June have found a little temporary work doing landscaping, according to the Bermuda Royal Gazette (Uighur men working at Port Royal Golf Course):

Mr. Brown [chairman of the board of trustees for the golf course] told The Royal Gazette: "They have been offered a temporary position at Port Royal until the Grand Slam [golf tournament]. They are doing projects to clean up areas. We wanted to try to make the course as pretty as possible so there are projects they can do. All four of them have been given a job there. It's on a temporary basis."

Seems OK. However, the Uighurs are about to be taught a lesson in the ways of the West.

But Attorney General Kim Wilson told this newspaper last month that the men did not yet appear to have the right to get jobs, though she said they could live indefinitely here with the Immigration Minister's permission.

Senator Wilson said at first glance it was unclear how they could be granted work permits under the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act 1956.

"It would seem they are precluded from working," said the Justice Minister, adding that she would need to study the legislation in more depth to determine if it did give the Minister discretion to allow them to work.

Mr. Brown said yesterday: "I know that the administration at Port Royal worked with the Immigration Department to sort it out. I know there wasn't a formal application."

He said the trustees agreed that the Uighurs could replace five Filipinos who were doing the same jobs, after the workers decided to return to the Philippines.

"We actually needed somebody anyway," said Mr. Brown. "The Filipinos had committed to stay to October. Then in July they all gave their notice so it was almost opportune."

Labour and Immigration permanent secretary Derrick Binns said: "I can confirm that the Department of Immigration has granted the four men permission to work in Bermuda under provisions of Part V of the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act 1956."

He did not answer questions about whether the jobs were advertised and, if so, whether any locals applied.

The Island's strict immigration rules usually require employers to ensure that no qualified Bermudian is available to fill a post before a non-Bermudian can be considered.

"This Ministry is not able to speak on behalf of the trustees of the golf courses with regard to the application process or the conditions of employment," said Dr. Binns.

Well, well, well. So the capitalist class in Bermuda was already exploiting the surplus labor value of imported Asian peasants - those five Filipinos who fled - when the Uighurs so opportunely came along and became the golf club's newest wage slaves. I'm surprised the Uighurs didn't learn about this sort of thing while growing up in the People's Republic of China, but I guess they were too busy making bombs when they should have been studying Marx.

And speaking of wages, I assume the Royal Bermudian Inland Revenue Service, or whatever they call the tax police, will be having a little chat with the Port Royal Golf Club's board of trustees, and that will cost the Uighurs. By the time capitalism is done with them, the Uighurs might end up wondering why they ever left Guantanamo.

Gitmo's Uighurs Balk at Going to Palau

Refuge in Palau is not a done deal for Gitmo's Uighurs, it seems, and Bermuda might be having second thoughts about the four would-be entrepreneurs that it accepted last week, as well.

According to the Wall Street Journal today:

The Obama administration's drive to close the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has hit a new snag: At least some of the 13 detainees accepted for resettlement by the island nation of Palau don't want to go there.

Meanwhile, protests have erupted in Bermuda over its recent resettlement of four Uighur detainees, with the country's leader facing a no-confidence vote by his parliament. Dissent in the British island territory, which sits in the Atlantic Ocean east of North Carolina, came after Bermuda's acceptance of the men strained relations with London, which complained that the island's home-rule government failed to advise it about the decision.

Why would refugees be so choosy? Because it looks like if they go to Palau, they might have to stay there.

George Clarke, a Washington lawyer who represents two Uighurs cleared for release, said his clients "are both very interested in getting out of Guantanamo and they are very open to the idea of going to Palau." But other Uighurs aren't interested in transfer to the islands, he said. "There's a difference of opinion," he said.

Palau has no Muslim community, and the majority of residents are Roman Catholic. Mr. Clarke said his clients are particularly concerned about the legal status they would hold on Palau, and whether they could obtain documentation such as a passport.

"You cannot be a Palauan citizen unless you have Palauan blood. That's just the way their constitution is written," he said. Palau hasn't ratified the international refugee conventions that allow countries to issue travel documents to refugees.

Mr. Clarke said U.S. and Palau diplomats are looking into ways to address the concerns, and that the Palauns are expected to reply by early July.

I'm sure Palau is a nice spot for a vacation and all, but as a place for Turkic Muslim terrorists to stay indefinitely, well, just damn. Evidently Guantanamo's Camp Iguana looks pretty good to them by comparison.

Opening Soon: Four Guys Noodles n' Lamb Restaurant

My suggestion of a Uighur restaurant in Aruba was right on the nose, except it turns out I had the wrong island. It's the four Uighurs we sent to Bermuda who now want to open a restaurant.

The four former Guantánamo inmates — members of China’s Muslim Turkic-speaking Uighur minority — are dreaming of opening the first Uighur restaurant, serving noodles and lamb in the millionaires’ playground. “Uighur food is delicious. These kind and generous people of Bermuda, we want to do something for them. Of course, we want to have a Uighur restaurant,” Mr Abdulqadir said.

Why not? Here's a killer slogan for their first advertisements:

Noodles n' Lamb don't GITMO Better!

"Hi, I'm Abdul from Aruba, Where Happiness Lives"

It too bad that Guantanamo is fresh out of Uighurs now that Bermuda and Palau have snapped them up. I'm sure Aruba (tourism slogan: "90,000 friends you haven't met yet") would have loved to have a few.

Carlos'n Charlie's might reopen as Carlos'n Charlie's n' Abdul's. Surely there must be a market for a beach bar that offers non-alcoholic tequila shots and halal chicken wings in an atmosphere free of unescorted women. They might even resume those 'Charlie from Aruba' commercials that were so popular a few years ago.

Will the Uighurs Feel the Love in Bermuda?

We learned today that four of the Uighurs held at Guantanamo Bay have been shipped to Bermuda. See the Department of Justice press release: United States Resettles Four Uighur Detainees from Guantanamo Bay to the Government of Bermuda.

Four detainees, Chinese nationals of Uighur ethnicity who had been held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, have been resettled in Bermuda. These detainees, who were subject to release as a result of court orders, had been cleared for release by the prior administration, which determined they would no longer treat them as enemy combatants. The detainees were again cleared for release this year after review by the interagency Guantanamo Review Task Force.

-- snip --

This marks the first time since 2006 that the U.S. government has successfully resettled any of the Guantanamo Uighur population. In 2006, five Uighurs were transferred to Albania; there have been no reports of post-resettlement engagement in criminal behavior or terrorist activities.

Here's a Bemudian local news story on the detainee transfer, and a statement by the Bemudian Premier.

I wonder how comfortable the Uighurs will be in Bermuda (tourism slogan: "feel the love")? It's pretty much the polar opposite of their Chinese Muslim homeland. They are certain to encounter women wearing shorts and skimpy tops, which will no doubt send them into culture shock. Let's hope the authorities will keep them in some kind of halfway house where they can be slowly acclimated to a subtropical tourist playground, and won't let them out unescorted until they can tolerate the sight of a woman in a bikini without going all Jihadi.

Enchantment Awaits the Uighurs in Palau; U.S. Taxpayers Billed $200 Million

It is being reported today that the State Department has named Ambassador Daniel Fried our Special Envoy for Closure of the Guantanamo Detention Facility. In other words, he's our man in charge of resettling homeless Guantanamo detainees someplace other than in the United States. Lucky him.

The Obama administration is planning to appoint a special envoy to oversee the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, senior U.S. officials said Wednesday.

Two officials told The Associated Press that veteran diplomat Daniel Fried will be named to the new post in a move intended to demonstrate the administration's seriousness in shutting down the controversial facility that President Barack Obama has pledged to close by the end of the year.

Fried currently is assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, a position he held during the Bush administration. Part of his new job will be negotiating the transfers of inmates from the U.S. naval facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to third countries, mainly in Europe, the officials said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because specifics of Obama's plan to close the prison were still being worked out.

As Guantanamo envoy, Fried will be working with officials from the Pentagon and Justice Department as well as foreign governments on the specifics of closing the camp. He also will work with the State Department's ambassador-at-large for war crimes, Clint Williamson, who has been leading negotiations on detainee transfers, the officials said.

Fried declined to comment on the expected job offer.

Fried has close relations with governments throughout Europe, where the change of U.S. administrations has increased the likelihood that European governments will accept custody of some Guantanamo inmates. Prisoners transferred to Europe would be those determined to pose no threat but who cannot be sent back to their homelands because of the risk of persecution.

Several European nations, including Portugal and Lithuania, have said they will consider taking such detainees.

Fried may soon have his first success, but it isn't in Europe. The Associated Press is reporting today that the government of Palau might be persuaded to take in the 17 Uighur detainees that we are too delicate to send back to China. Palau will take them in, that is, if the price is right.

Two U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. was prepared to give Palau up to $200 million in development, budget support and other assistance in return for accepting the Uighurs and as part of a mutual defense and cooperation treaty that is due to be renegotiated this year.

I wonder how that will work out. Palau (tourism slogan: "enchantment awaits") is the kind of place where women do not dress modestly, and there are reports that Uighur detainees at Gitmo flew into a rage at the sight of women soccer players with bare arms. They will see a lot more skin than that in Palau. Are the Palauan authorities prepared to make the Uighurs mind their manners?

At least this deal has established the current market value of taking the Uighurs off our hands: $11,764,705 and 90 cents apiece. Portugal and Lithuania shouldn't agree to a penny less for taking in any of our 200 or so other detainees.

You Don't Have to Go Home, But You Can't Come Here

SCOTUSBLOG was not asleep at the switch last night - unlike most of the news media - and caught this late Friday night filing by the U.S. Solicitor General that opposes a petition to release into the United States the Uighur detainees now held at Gitmo.

The Obama Administration urged the Supreme Court on Friday to turn away the plea by 17 Chinese Muslim Uighurs for release from Guantanamo Bay for settling temporarily inside the U.S. The U.S. Solicitor General’s brief in opposition in Kiyemba, et al., v. Obama, et al. (08-1234) can be downloaded here. Although no longer considered enemies, their continued confinement at Guantanamo is constitutionally valid, the brief asserted.

The Uighurs, Solicitor General Elena Kagan wrote, “have already obtained relief. They are no longer detained as enemy combatants, they are free to leave Guantanamo Bay to any country that is willing to accept them, and in the meantime, they are housed in facilities separate from those for enemy combatants under the least restrictive conditions practicable.”

The Obama administration is now 100% in agreement with the previous Bush administration position on this matter, holding that the Uighur have no legal right to be released into the United States. The political irony of the situation is examined here.

If none of the detainees are admitted into the U.S., the chances are that no European country - like German, which apparently is now home to the largest Uighur community outside Asia - will accept them either. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has been trying to shop the Uighur detainees to Germany for some time now, but hasn't been able to close the deal. After Friday's filing, he ought to finally give up.

Incidentally, I can't help but notice that the Secretary of State is nowhere to be seen on this issue (although evidently the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs is engaged on it). I can just imagine the scene at the cabinet meeting when action was assigned on the matter of persuading foreign governments to accept the Gitmo Gang.

POTUS: Ah, Hillary, what do you think about approaching our allies on accepting detainees that we can't admit to the United States?

SECSTATE: [long uncomfortable silence]

POTUS: Ah, do you think any of them will help us out on this?

SECSTATE: [sound of crickets chirping]

POTUS: I mean, if you, um, make a personal appeal .....

SECSTATE: [somewhere in the distance, a small dog whimpers]

POTUS: Ah ... Eric! This is really a law enforcement matter, I suppose. How about you handling the foreign angle on this one?

AG Holder: OK, yeah, sure. You da man.