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Freed Uighurs Relishing Bermuda's Sun and Sand The four men in short-sleeve shirts looked like ordinary tourists, enjoying a Sunday lunch and butter pecan ice cream afterward as they observed the sparkling waters surrounding this Atlantic resort island. But they are Uighurs, Muslims from the vast stretches of western China, an arid and red land that is a far cry from Bermuda's sandy beaches and quaint narrow streets lined with pastel Victorian-era buildings. They once were terrorism suspects, but even after U.S. Authorities determined the men weren't a threat to the United States, they were kept at the Guantanamo prison for years because no nation would take them - until a few days ago, when Bermuda agreed to let them in as refugees. 'When we didn't have any country to accept us, when everybody was afraid of us. Bermuda had the courage and was brave enough to accept us,' said Abdulla Abdulgadir, who at 30 is the youngest of the four men who relished their first weekend of freedom in seven years. Abdulgadir eagerly embraced his new island home.
'We are not moving anywhere,' he said. He and his companions have traded drab prison jumpsuits for comfortable cotton pants and knit shirts, and razor wire-encircled jail compounds for beach cottages. They hope to quickly find jobs in Bermuda - one of the world's wealthiest places because of its financial and insurance sector - and eventually start families.
The four Uighurs (pronounced WEE'-gurs) also have immediate priorities, such as learning to drive, scuba dive and bowl, said Glenn Brangman, a former military official who is helping reintroduce them to the world outside prison. 'I told them one step at a time,' Brangman said. 'They're beginning to live all over again.' ' For these four, the arrival in Bermuda appears to be the end of a difficult journey. Thirteen other Uighurs at Guantanamo are hoping to move to the Pacific island nation of Palau. All of them were captured in Pakistan and Afghanistan as suspected allies of the Taliban and al-Qaida, but the men claimed they had only fled oppression by China and were never enemies of the U.S.
'We only have one enemy, and that's the Chinese,' one of the men, Ablikim Turahun, told a military tribunal in 2004. 'They have been torturing us and killing us all: old, young, men, women, little children and unborn children.'
The Obama administration has asked a US appeals court to halt the release of disturbing images of detainee abuse, saying the photos could incite violence in Pakistan as well as in Iraq and Afghanistan. The court papers filed in New York cite two partially secret statements from two top US generals, David Petraeus and Ray Odierno. Such arguments failed to sway the court in the past.
In the new filings, Petraeus, who oversees US military operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, said the images could also lead to more violence in Pakistan because it deals with Taliban attacks. The filings underscore just how worried US officials are about the increasing violence in Pakistan.
While past arguments about the photos referred generally to the Middle East, Petraeus' statement spends several pages discussing Pakistan's recent strles against terrorism. The administration had planned to release the photos until President Barack Obama reversed the decision this month, saying their release would endanger US troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. Disseminating the photos poses 'a clear and grave risk of inciting violence and riots against American and coalition forces, as well as civilian personnel, serving in Iraq and Afghanistan,' according to the motion filed with the 2nd US Circuit Court. The photos were ordered released as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union. The Bush administration had also fought their release, and lost. ACLU lawyer Amrit Singh said the new filing by the Obama administration 'has no new arguments' and will be opposed. She also criticised the Obama administration for redacting parts of the generals' arguments about the safety threats posed by the photos.
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'It's troubling to us that not only is the government withholding the photographs, but it's also withholding its arguments for withholding the photographs,' said Singh. The court ruled in September 2008 that general concerns about public safety were not specific enough to merit blocking the release of the photos. The motion filed on Thursday also notes that the government plans to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. Congress is also considering stepping in to block the photos' release.
Odierno, who commands the troops in Iraq, said in his statement to the court that the 2004 release of photos of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib prison 'likely contributed to a spike in violence in Iraq' that year. He also said he has been told by senior political officials in Iraq that release of the photos would upset the democratic process in Iraq before national elections.
The pleas by Odierno and Petraeus echo those in 2005 by Gen. Richard Myers, then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Britain's Prince Harry will start his first official visit to America later today, with plans to see the World Trade Center site, meetings with wounded veterans and a polo match.
Third in line to the British throne, the 24-year-old red-haired prince is a much-watched member of the royal family on both sides of the Atlantic. His party-boy image, romantic escapades and brushes with scandal regularly make newspaper headlines. Several years ago, Harry had to apologise for wearing a Nazi swastika armband to a friend's costume party.
But the younger son of the late Princess Diana and Prince Charles plans, no doubt, to be on his best behaviour representing his country's crown during his two-day New York visit. 'Prince Harry is well known and respected in the United States for having deployed alongside US forces in Afghanistan,' said Alan Collins, the British consul general in New York. His grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, is paying privately for Harry's travel and that of his staff, easing the young prince into his royal role. He's in line for the throne behind his older brother, William, and his father, Charles. At the World Trade Center site, Harry is to meet with relatives of four people who died in the September 11, 2001, attacks. They'll be joined by New York Governor David Paterson and officials from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the agency that oversees development at ground zero.
'It's a testament to our loved ones that royalty from another country is coming and expressing interest,' said Monica Iken, who lost her husband, Michael, a 37-year-old bond broker. The prince will formally name the British Garden in downtown Hanover Square to honour the 67 British victims of the terrorist attack. He will also visit the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Manhattan, where he will tour the prosthetics facilities and a post-traumatic stress disorder clinic.
He will be joined by Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. A British soldier who lost both legs in an explosion in Afghanistan will accompany Harry on his American trip.