Former Chinese Gitmo Detainees: "We Don't Have Any Hard Feelings Toward The U.S."

New York Times:

ST. GEORGE, Bermuda -- Almost exactly seven years after arriving at Guantánamo in chains as accused enemy combatants, and four days after their surprise predawn flight to Bermuda, four Uighur Muslim men basked in their new-found freedom here, grateful for the handshakes many residents had offered and marveling at the serene beauty of this tidy, postcard island.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[karela]

I'm glad that these men finally have a chance to build a happy life for themselves­--apparent­ly for the first time since birth. I'm very proud of the good people in Bermuda who have reached out a hand of welcome based on the actual men they see before them rather than on fear of an unreal thing. And I am not proud of our Congress or the other fear mongers here at home. I think the reason many Americans are afraid of these men is that we have a guilty conscience for the things we have done. We know that our government is responsible for doing some terrible things and we have allowed that knowledge to make us fearful of helping people who would traditionally have received a welcome to our shores----­----politi­cal refugees from harsh governments. It is a weight off the heart to see them in sunshine and water and with smiles on their faces. At last.

[brandnewstuff]

I am sure after the abuse they received they would be to damn terrified to express their true feelings

[Bam-Bam]

Who released that picture of them getting waterboarded?

[paganmist]

Lakhar Boumediene, just like these men, expressed no hard feelings towards the United States. Lakhar added, however, that he only held hard feelings towards five people in particular: Bush, Cheney, Rice, etc.

It seems that these people, unlike most of the Americans I know (and I'm American), are able to distinguish bad people from good, instead of lumping all of us together the way our media and leaders have done to them.

Islam is a peaceful religion. It is a forgiving religion. My boyfriend lived in Qatar where he witnessed traffic related incidents where two men who were yelling at each other would suddenly stop and say, "Allah would wish for us to be nicer to each other," and then clasp hands or hug each other. He saw this happen more than once, which is telling.

What we did to these people is worse than just capturing them. We've turned our country and the rest of the world against them on the basis of their religion. We're *making* them into terrorists that hate us.

How long can you demonize someone before they become a demon in truth? That's the question.

[wadenelson1]

"Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free...

If we wanted to be honest we should dismantle the Statue of Liberty and ship it to Bermuda.

[Pennsanic]

I'm pretty sure Bermuda didn't make the deal based on their desire to be a good neighbor to the US. They are scrambling to get the US from revoking favorable tax legislation. US tax laws have enabled a LOT of US insurance companies to duck taxes by being based in Bermuda.

[FdaLef]

Nice work...and very true.

Especially in the current economy, does any sane person think Bermuda is happy about potentially losing tourists and their $ by having the public announcement that released Gitmo folks (regardless of whom) are drinking Swizzles and bouncing around the surf of Horseshoe Bay unless their was something else more important going on here?

The reason they did it is noted succintly by Pennsanic above...once again, WAKE UP, it's not about Bermuda being "kind" or some other nonsense "feelings based" decision. It's about money. Does everyone on this site have the world view of a Kindergarten teacher?

[karela]

I don't know if you're correct about why the Bermuda government went along. You may be. But that isn't why the local people came up to them with a smile and a handshake and welcomed them. I'd like to think that there are still places in America where we would do the same instead of hiding our children, but I can't be sure because our Congress never gave us a chance to find out. I'm proud of the people of Bermuda. Don't be so cynical that you forget the smiles and the handshakes from every day people who gave them because in their hearts they wanted to.

[wadenelson1]

I'm absolutely sure you're right, we probably offered to drop some tax evasion case dealing with Bermuda,

HOWEVER..

Bermuda accepted folks who by ALL RIGHTS should have been granted asylum in the United States.

End of story.

[Patricia84]

The Uighurs became "Isl_____amist" fighters when the 21st century version of the Cru____sades began. It's all about relevancy. They got to have help from Is.la.mi.sts and China got to join the global war on ter...ro..rism. It's the same thing with Russia and the Ch3chnya or even with what's happening in Dar__four. It is just much more hip nowadays to brand a conflict as a religious/ethnic one. The difference here being that once again, one's ter__r0rist is another one's freedom fighters ... the Uighurs got mixed up as the wrong kind for a while. That's it.

[Patricia84]

The Uighurs became "Isl.amist" fighters when the 21st century version of the Cru.sades began. It's all about relevancy. They got to have help from Is.la.mists and China got to join the global war on ter.ro.rism. It's the same thing with Rus.sia and the Chechnya or even with what's happening in Dar.four. It is just much more hip nowadays to brand a conflict as a religious/ethnic one. The difference here being that once again, one's ter-r0rist is another one's freedom fighters ... the Uighurs got missed up as the wrong kind for a while. That's it.

[lafrance]

It's so nice to see those men, who were innocent and 'sold' for the bounty, find a home. It's nice to see that the residents of Bermuda are far more open hearted, caring and willing to accept these wronged men, proving themselves to be much wiser then the ignorant and bigoted Americans.
We have a dark stain on our legacy and yet, we cannot even try to make it right because ignorance wins out in the country over common sense.
How tragic.

[dillydawg]

Well said. These tortured people just want to put this terrible experience behind them and live in peace. However, I don't believe the $100k they rec'd will be enough to sustain them for the rest of their lives. This settlement is far too little. Hopefully it is $100k a year and not a total lump sum payment.

[ProfessorDuh]

Translation: "Please don't kidnap and torture us again."

[wadenelson1]

Exactly.

[Meggie]

Thank you Bermuda. It was quite embarrassing to have our republican politicians tell the world just how afraid they are of these people.
And thank you Uigher men, for your graciousness after we destroyed your lives.

[Cambridge9]

Seconded. Right on!

[flapjack]

Were you embarrassed by the democrat politicians too?

[confidance government]

No hard feelings? Seriously? Dàmn; I have to go move to Bermuda, if its nice enough to make for years of being a prisoner.

[karela]

Perhaps the Uighers are wise enough to see that all of their lives up until now have been eaten up by persecution and they have decided not to waste the life they have left to them in this beautiful place by being eaten up with anger. I hope they eat lots of fresh fish and fruit and boat and swim and fish and look at the stars. Blessings on them. It is surely their turn.

[mcantwell]

I'm glad to read that the Bermuda residents are treating these men warmly. I dare say they would not have been treated as kindly, by the GOP fearmon gers, had they come to here to the U.S.

[buckeyedave]

Yes lets blame the GOP for capturing these men and turning them in as Taliban fighters, because we know those dogone Afghan villagers belong to the GOP.

[ProfessorDuh]

The GOP administration bribed those Afghan warlords to round up warm bodies, remember? There's no end to Republican crimes.

[Pennsanic]

There is quite a lot of resentment in Bermuda about this middle-of-the-night deal made by the Premier.

[karela]

And also quite a lot of welcome.

[xtiangodloki]

"During interrogations at Guantánamo, these four and other Uighurs said they had ended up in Afghanistan after fleeing Chinese persecution and had wanted to work for the “liberation” of the Uighur people — a position regarded as treason in China.

Many said they had been shown how to fire a Kalashnikov rifle at the Uighur encampment, but had no real training, knew nothing of Al Qaeda, and did not fight the Americans or consider them the enemy. "

I like the quote around the word "liberation' because let's be honest, these guys were getting trained in Afghanistan by terrorist groups to fight against the Chinese. Yes, they certainly did not consider US the enemy, but they were terrorists in training nonetheless and should not have been released.

[TheImpaler]

By your standards US government should detain 20% of US population. We have more dangerous people hosting radio and TV shows who do consider US government to be the enemy.

[kassandrasduplex]

When do you think a revolution is justified? Perhaps Jefferson et al should have been detained in the London Tower for 7 years until the colonial uprising passed away. These men could have been executed in China for cheating on their taxes, or perhaps for calling for genuine democracy at Tiannenmen (sp?). So we did the wealthy Chinese a favor in jailing them illegally for almost a decade?
And since the Taliban had nothing to do with the 9-11 attacks but Saudis did, why again are we in Afghanistan? It was a bad when the Ruskies were there but it's OKfor us to be there...and exaclty why were the Ruskies in Afghanistan again...?

[kassandrasduplex]

Maybe Jefferson should have been detained in the London Tower for 7 years? One of the detainees incarcerated at Gitmo was 12 when he first arrived there. The US is becoming no different than any other totalitarian authoritarian mess.

[karela]

We did take a detour in that direction under Bush and the politics and policies of fear, BUT we've veered away from that now and are working our way back to the main street of America where American ideals are once more in play. There are messes to clean up, but we're moving in the right direction again.

[Meggie]

Because the only way you're acceptable asaterrorist is if you're a Christian?
Not sure your logic here given the US sustains terroristactivities from christian rightwing groups all the time, and there has never been an outcry from people like you to round them all up.
No enough! moment yet.

[yoshi99]

Gee -- didn't WE bomb the snot out of the Iraqis to "liberate" them?

[aramos]

Those who lie down with dogs will wake up with fleas.

By taking in hardline Militant Islamic extremists, Bermuda has opened itself up to future terrorist attacks.

[Cambridge9]

Are you trying to say that the mere existance of Gitmo didn't do the same for the USA?

These people were turned over to US troops (for a bounty) while they were trying to flee persecution in their own country of China. No charges were ever levied against them and Bush said they were free to go a couple of years ago, but he failed to release them because he would not lower himself to find a safe place for them to renew their lives.

I wish these new Bermudan residents a better life.

[flapjack]

No Gitmo hasn't hurt us at all. We have not been attacked in 7.5 years thanks to Bush taking a hardline on terrorism. BTW, I'm no fan of Bush, but he did perform his primary function well.

[TheImpaler]

LOL!

[munki]

any evidence?

[parallel51]

What a bizarre conclusion. These are people who wanted freedom from Chinese occupation, not Bermuda shorts!

[Meggie]

Lots of flea ridden christians who have been sleeping with OpRescue & other militant groups.

[DKLabRat]

I note that there's been no coverage of the other main point of this story here on HuffPo. The fact that the UK's 'bestest buddy', the US, deliberately kept the UK in the dark about sending these men to Bermuda, even though Bermuda had no right as a British protectorate to accept them on their own. It was for the UK to decide. The Americans knew this, but were worried the UK would say no, so decided to do the deal with Bermuda and fail to notify the UK until it was all over.

With friends like the US....

I was also intrigued to read that when the UK asked them about this, they said there was little security issues involved in the transfer as these men had been judged innocent and harmless four years ago. In which case - why were they kept in Gitmo for four more years?

[SurrealPumpkin]

No one wanted them because Bush made such a big deal about how terrifying the detainees were. Don't forget that Guantanamo exists because Bush/Cheney were too scared of the terr'sts to bring them into the US.

Security? Consider that it might have been for the security of the prisoners. Considering how many wacko's we have wandering around killing people would you be willing to guarantee the safety of these guys?

[1dogs2]

Hello??? First you note the difficulty of getting these men accepted by a British protectorate and then ask why they weren't released four years ago???