Both the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times are reporting that the Obama administration may be preparing to release as many as seven Uighur Gitmo detainees into the U.S. The LA Times reports that the release plan is being considered despite the objections of the Department of Homeland Security. Why?
It turns out other nations are not so keen on taking Gitmo detainees and the Obama administration sees the Uighur detainees as a bargaining chip. The proposed quid pro quo works like this: The U.S. takes in some Uighur detainees and other nations see this as a sign of good faith, so they agree to take in other detainees. An anonymous official explained it to the LA Times this way:
"It is kind of hard to tell other countries you would like them to accept some of these guys from Guantanamo if you are not willing to accept them."
So, in the name of Gitmo diplomacy, the Obama administration may now free detainees in the U.S. that the DHS thinks are potentially dangerous. Such are the perils of trying to appease world opinion without understanding the potential ramifications for America's security.
During his first week in office, President Obama ordered Gitmo closed by January 2010. This put the U.S. on the clock to find a home for detainees the Obama administration does not want to try or otherwise detain. But, the president signed this order before he or his advisers even had a good understanding of who was being held at Gitmo. Thus, President Obama ordered the creation of an inter-agency review board to review the detainees' cases.
This review board reportedly found that at least some of the Uighurs are dangerous, but the Obama administration may be preparing to ignore its conclusion. The prudent course would have been for the board to complete its work on all of the detainees before putting an expiration date on Gitmo, and for the Obama administration to actually listen to its concerns about detainees it has investigated. But, in the name of currying world favor, Obama wanted to order Gitmo's closure quickly, and he may now be willing to ignore his own board's concerns to see that through.
Inadvertently, President Obama has exposed the hypocrisy in world opinion, particularly European opinion, which he was trying to appease. The Obama administration thought that the world would applaud his plan to close Gitmo. It did, sort of. But at the same time the European nations that decried the existence of Gitmo for years, and portrayed its inmates as innocent goat herders, decided they were not going to make it easy for Obama to close the facility. They want the U.S. to take some detainees to spread around the risk -- after downplaying the risk the detainees posed for years.So, the Obama administration is now on the verge of releasing detainees the DHS is worried about into the U.S. in the name of diplomacy. And who are the seventeen Uighur detainees held at Gitmo? (For a more complete review of their cases, see here, here, and here.) In short:
(1) They are all members or at least associates of a jihadist organization called the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Party ("ETIP"), which was previously known as the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement ("ETIM"). Some like to pretend that all Uighur groups are merely "separatists" fighting a despicable Chinese regime that oppresses the Uighur people in Western China. But, not all Uighur fighting groups were created equal. The ETIP/ETIM is a designated terrorist organization for good reasons. It has known ties to both al Qaeda and the Taliban. Its goal is the establishment of a radical Islamist state throughout South and Central Asia. And its violence is not aimed at China alone. The ETIP/ETIM has fought alongside al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and elsewhere. The State Department reports that two members of the group were involved in a plot against the American embassy in Kyrgyzstan in 2002.
(2) Most, if not all, of the Uighur detainees received training at a camp in the Tora Bora Mountains -- a stronghold for al Qaeda and the Taliban. Some reports indicate that the Taliban and al Qaeda financed the camp. Others try to dispute this, but it is hard to believe that the Taliban/al Qaeda axis did not at least approve of the camp's existence in pre-9/11 Afghanistan. In addition, ETIP/ETIM guesthouses dotted the Taliban's Afghanistan, including Kabul, and were used by the Uighur detainees to transit to and from locales such as Tora Bora.
(3) A number of the Uighur detainees have admitted the Tora Bora camp, where they lived and trained, was run by Abdul Haq, a UN and U.S. designated terrorist. (The LA Times account incorrectly reported, "There have been no allegations that the Guantanamo detainees have been affiliated with Haq." Not only has that been alleged, more than several Uighur detainees have openly admitted it.) In recent years, Abdul Haq and his compatriots have appeared in propaganda videos that brandish al Qaeda's flag and brag about their training in areas of Northern Pakistan that are currently controlled by the Taliban and al Qaeda. In addition, one ETIM/ETIP video threatened an attack on the Chinese Olympic Games last year. The Uighur detainees have also admitted their ties to Hassan Mahsum, the former leader of the ETIP/ETIM who was killed in Waziristan in 2003.
(4) While, overall, the Uighurs have not been considered the most problematic of detainees at Gitmo, they have caused some problems. For example, the LA Times reports that one of the Uighurs smashed a television set after a woman's bare arms were shown during a soccer match. No mere Chinese separatist would be similarly inclined. Since then, Gitmo's staff has been extra careful in censoring content. In addition, Fox News reported, earlier this month: "One source says at least six have a violent history at Guantanamo, including attacks on guards -- attempting to break arms -- and ‘bodily fluid cocktails.'"
We cannot be certain what the Uighurs will do when they are released. Perhaps they will disappear into the Uighur population already living here in the U.S., and live quiet lives. However, we cannot be sure that they will not unleash their jhadist anger either.
Given the DHS's objections, the Obama administration is aware that the Uighurs may have a hard time integrating into American society. It is apparently willing to take that risk -- all in the name of diplomacy. The LA Times reports, "U.S. officials did not detail what supervision the Uighurs might receive once they are living on their own. But they said the Uighurs would be allowed to live freely."
We can only hope they live peacefully as well.
