MSNBC Upset Uighurs Enjoying Themselves After Gitmo Release (VIDEO)

You know, I've wracked my memory and have largely been unable to come up with one significant example of MSNBC's dayside coverage devoting any real depth of discussion to the saga of the Uighurs -- those seventeen Chinese Muslims who have been imprisoned at GITMO despite having done nothing wrong -- besides maybe the typical talking head battles over the politics of the matter. Yes, these men had found themselves in a Kafkaesque plight -- cleared of wrongdoing, but with no welcome haven other than prison -- but even so, LET'S GET SERIOUS ABOUT WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY!

Well, finally, the island nations of Palau and Bermuda have agreed to take the Uighurs off of our hands (What's with terrorist suspects and islands? Does the NSA think they cannot travel over water, like ghosts in Noel Coward plays?), and suddenly, MSNBC's on-air talent have all sorts of pointed opinions about the matter! Tamron Hall set up a segment on the Uighurs like so:

HALL: But first from Gitmo to Bermuda, should former detainees, the ones you're looking at there, be living what seems to be a pretty good life on one of the most beautiful islands some say in the world?

What? Are we seriously asking these questions now? They are former detainees, right? Are we begrudging people who are no longer detainees the chance to live "pretty good lives" on "beautiful islands," now?

The segment that followed also bizarre, with Hall asking some strange questions about why the images of the newly released Uighurs enjoying themselves in Bermuda weren't "controlled better, even if they have the rights to start their lives anew?" Well, why weren't there adequate controls to ensure that their previous life was not interrupted?

Hall goes on to worry about the jobs that these four Uighurs will take away from four people from Bermuda. Really? Is that a pressing consideration? I don't understand the newsgathering priorities here!

[WATCH]

Earlier in the afternoon, Andrea Mitchell, while speaking with Jane Harman, seemed to be similarly confused by the whole concept of people no longer being in jail:

MITCHELL: Let me talk about Guantanamo: you raised the point about the murky legal situation, one upshot of that is that we've got four Uighurs who are Muslim minority from China who are now basically getting ice cream and lolling about on the white sand beaches of Bermuda. It's sort of incongruous! To see these four men in their polo shirts, from Guantanamo, eating ice cream in Bermuda...I mean, look at that picture! I'm not sure you can see it, but one of the Uighurs is swimming in the ocean. The first time, we're told, that they had ever been to the ocean. Is this a good outcome?

I mean, LOOK AT THOSE GUYS IN THEIR POLO SHIRTS! SWIMMING? GETTING ICE CREAM? How can they straight up loll around on the sand like that? Can anyone explain this?

Hey, you know what else is "sort of incongruous?" A detainee policy that in no way, shape, or form resembles the principles enshrined in the Constitution of the United States!

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Comments

[Eyeheartfreedumb]

They wouldn't have relocated to the beautiful beaches of Bermuda if MSNBC and the rest of the American press hadn't screamed so loudly that people who, from the start, were as COMPLETELY INNOCENT as you and I couldn't be brought to America. I mean, hey, they could have been relocated to Detroit. I hear everyone's moving away from there (sorry Detroit).
Not to mention, how sick is it that they lived in Guantanomo BAY for seven years and had never been to the ocean. WHAT! It's an ocean bay for crying out loud. I'd say they deserve some ice cream.

[azcamp]

The government of Bermuda has accepted these ex-detainees much like America accepted boat people and other refugees who had no other place to live. They will not be trying to sue the American government for seven years of imprisonment. No one complained of the resettlement of refugees to cities like San Diego when our government reached out to Somali or Laotian people.

We need to able to set a good example as the US negotiates with North Korea for the release of the American journalists who have been sentenced to 12 years in prison. If we hope to get American citizens out of foreign jails, we ought to be willing to admit that these Chinese detainees have been cleared of wrong doing and are refugees in need of resettlement.

[Tom Joad]

Biiiitschhh puhhhlleeeze!

[limber]

We can keep a man for seven years without cause or charge, but god forbid he enjoys his ice cream once he gets out.

Do you have no sense of decency, Uighurs? Can't you just pretend to feel a little bit chastened, look a tiny bit guilty, just to make us feel better about kidnapping you and keeping you in a cage and letting Chinese interrogators threaten you and all that? I swear, people just don't know how to show gratitude for hospitality anymore...

[FairTalk]

My guess is that the reporters may have read a little background about the Chinese Uighurs who were aprehended after we bombed their al Qaeda terror training camps at Tora Bora. I am sure there are those that believe there is nothing wrong with planning terror atacks againts China, blowing up busses, and what not, but I am not one of them. I believe we should have extradited them to China, where they could have a fair trial, then if truely they had done nothing wrong, they could have returned to their families.

http://diggchina.blogspot.com/2009/02/is-china-target-of-global-sponsered.html

[LiberTLover]

China is the biggest creditor of the US. They could bankrupt this nation tomorrow if they so chose. Both the past and current Administrations have investigated these men and found that they were guilty of nothing. If the Chinese actually thought these men were real terrorists, don't you think they would be flexing some of their substantial money muscle over the US?
These individuals had all been turned in by people seeking to get the bounty being offered by the US. What a surprise that people would turn in strangers, eh?
And if you think that they would have had a fair trial in China, I would remind you that Dr. Tiller was put on trial in the good old USA and found innocent of doing anything wrong and is is no longer with his family because of those who think that killing you is okay if you disagree with them. Much like the Chinese Govt. behaved at Tiannamen Square.

[limber]

The article you link to is borderline incoherent. From what I understand, it says that the US has classed Uighurs as a terrorist group since 9/11 (a move largely considered to be an overreaction), that China knows how to take care of its Uighur problem (apparently by "winning hearts and minds" of the general Chinese public so they don't care how many Uighurs are killed), and that we shouldn't really care about what the Chinese do with the Uighurs because hey, the US was torturing them anyhow!

Rubbish.

If the Uighurs had been picked up in China, different story. But they weren't, the were picked up by us, and we can't find any reason to charge or hold them. The Chinese justice system is somewhat radically different, and given the linked article's assertion that Chinese in general just don't care if a Uigher gets killed if he's been labeled a "terrorist", I'm somehow thinking that handing these guys over would've been akin to a death sentence.

If China wanted them, they should have come and got them while they were still in the Middle East. Now they're ours, and I'd like to think we have a little more discretion in how we treat innocent men. You don't get to tar an ethnic group with the actions of a few members, and you don't get to punish men when you have no evidence that they've done wrong other than they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[the964kid]

That segment with Hall was very odd, she seemed like she didn't understand the history of these prisoners, who were wrongly imprisoned for 7 years. I'm glad some of these detainees, who were probably treated pretty poorly, even tortured, at points of their incarceration, are now able to have a nice life. I hope those former detainees can put those years behind them and enjoy what's left of their lives. Hall is not ready for primetime.

[solarian]

hall were ever you came from go back please

[solarian]

msnbc morning are nothing but lying republicans brewer you should know about you comments this since you are one

[ebanks84]

I see NO reason whatsoever to hold a grudge against these men because of Quantanamo. they were held unjustly and they should be able to live their lives without complaints finally. Tamron Hall was way off base if you ask me.

[Marnie1]

According to Bushie propaganda they were living a pretty good life on one of the most beautiful islands in the world for the last 7 years.

Cuba.

[Genep34]

People do not want to come out of the darkness that the Bush/Cheney years brought us.

We should be happy that those wrongly held are out and free. And ashamed that we kept them their.

[Genep34]

She should be shut down for this - insanity - it should be what a wonderful thing to have these guys so wrongly held enjoying themselves.

[POLINUT]

I can only hope that some of the $10,000,000 per man we are paying to these island nations to take the former detainees goes toward setting them up in a VERY plush mansion with all the amenities. BUSH WAS WRONG to have treated them in the manner they have been treated for so many years. Their lives were forever changed and I am sure their families have been torn apart. A life in paradise on earth is what they deserve for the years of torture and abuse. I also hope that their families can somehow join them at some point. They are innocent victims of Bush's WAR CRIMES and this is their compensation.

[TheIndependenceParty]

We held these men illegally for seven years, ... and they were never convicted of a damned thing, and Tamron Hall has the audacity to insinuate they should continue to be mistreated, or denied lif's little pleasures?

MSNBC owes these men, and the American People an apology. They did NOTHING wrong, and for Hall and Mitchell to insinuate that they should have gone somewhere other than Bermuda, which extended its gracious hospitality to them, ... can only be called suspect, and mindless.

[sadler05]

I totally agree - I watched Tamron Hall and was so shocked at her remarks. I just want to add that David Shuster trying to be professional with his colleague pushed back on her comments a bit. Not strong enough to satisfy or quell my outrage but at least it was clear that he was sensitive to the nonsense she was spouting. Unfortunately daytime anchors on MSNBC often resemble their counterparts on FOX.

[Tom Joad]

not only were they not convicted, they weren't even charged. I hope they have a fine life in Bermuda.

[grata2ude]

What were these guys who were not terrorists in the first place do after years of imprisonment supposed to do wear sack cloth and ashes to appease the zero digit IQ's of the media?