Conservatives Call On Bush To Free Uighurs

Say Continued Detention Of 17 Chinese Muslims At Gitmo Compromises American Principles

(AP)  A group of conservatives is chastising the Bush administration for refusing to free 17 Turkic Muslims being held without charges at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying their continued detention defies legal principles and "undermines our standing in the world."

The 10 conservatives, including legal scholars and officials who worked for Republican presidents, said the Uighurs - a group of Muslims from China - should be freed immediately because they are no longer considered enemy combatants.

Their statement comes as a federal appeals court was set to hear arguments next week on whether the Bush administration overstepped its constitutional bounds by blocking the Uighurs' release.

"The executive branch is wrong to have detained the Uighurs for nearly seven years without meaningful review," says a letter being released Thursday by The Constitution Project, a bipartisan think tank. "Moreover, it is wrong in opposing the exercise of their habeas corpus rights, and it is wrong in asserting they can be detained indefinitely."

The letter was signed by Stephen E. Abraham, a 26-year veteran of military intelligence who played a key role in the "enemy combatant" hearings at Guantanamo Bay before repudiating the process last year; Col. Lawrence B. Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell; and Bruce Fein, former associate deputy attorney general in the Reagan administration.

"The continued detention of the 17 Uighurs in Guantanamo compromises our principles and undermines our standing in the world," they wrote.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina in October ordered the government to immediately free the detainees into the United States, criticizing their detention as having "crossed the constitutional threshold into infinitum."

But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit blocked their release while the Justice Department appeals the decision, a process that could take years.

At issue is whether a federal judge has the authority to order the release of prisoners at the U.S. naval facility at Guantanamo Bay who were unlawfully detained by the U.S. and cannot be sent back to their homeland.

The Uighurs, who are Turkic-speaking Muslims in western China, have been cleared for release but fear they will be tortured if they are turned over to China.

The Bush administration, which contends the Uighurs are too dangerous to be admitted into the U.S., has said it was continuing "heightened" efforts to find another country to accept them. Albania accepted five Uighur detainees in 2006 but since has balked at taking others, partly for fear of diplomatic repercussions from China.

Other signers to Thursday's statement are David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, a lobbying group; Richard Epstein, a prominent conservative legal scholar at the University of Chicago; former FBI director William Sessions; Thomas B. Evans Jr., former co-chairman of the Republican National Committee; Mickey Edwards, former chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee; John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute; and Don Wallace Jr., chairman of the International Law Institute.

[violist47]

Let''s try this:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

[downsteamjim]

Uighur is really one of the 57 states. That is why they have constitutional rights. ACORN has already made plans for them to retroactively vote as needed.

[kansas1946]

You mean conservatives finally care about our constituion, human rights, and just plain decency. Well, they are just going to have to wait, because there is not a moral bone in Bush''s body. His administration is evil, his policies were evil, and these so-called conservatives aided and abetted that evil. All of these people will have their day in court, but it will be when this evil adminstration ends.

[xxunknown]

Does anyone else feel like King George has imposed martial law?

[c-puffy]

There is a large community of ex-pat Uyghurs in Washington DC that has raised money to provide housing, clothing and food for the Uyghurs when they are released. There is also an inter-faith community in Tallahassee, FL who have promised the same. There is no cost to the tax-payer; they are not "illegal aliens" ripping off the system.

So what do you think, should they be entitled to restitution for being unjustly imprisoned? Remember, they were not kept locked up in the belief that they had committed a crime or were even prisoners of war; it was known they were innocent. If it happened to you or someone you loved, how much would you sue for?

[c-puffy]

Despite being cleared, the five other Uyghurs continued to be held until, in May of 2006, on the eve of a court hearing that was asking they be released, they were transferred to a UN refugee camp in Albania. The Uyghurs remaining at Guantanamo were moved into solitary confinement where they spent the next two years until, due to a recent ruling by the DC court, the administration admitted the Uyghurs are not and never had been enemy combatants and moved into communal barracks.

As to the question of why doesn''t another country take them in, consider the following; a recent meeting between the US State Department and another country about this issue had to be cancelled because the administration claimed, in their brief requesting an emergency stay of Judge Urbina''s order that the Uyghurs be brought from Guantanamo to his courtroom, that the Uyghurs were dangerous and affiliated with terrorist groups. China also claims they are terrorists and has put enormous pressure on other governments not to give these Uyghurs asylum. There is no evidence that any of these men are associated with terrorist organizations, but why should another country take these men in if the United States isn''t willing to do the same?

[c-puffy]

They were interogated again when they reached Guantanamo and, again, determined to be of no threat to the United States or her allies. The interrogaters recommended they be released, but where were they to go? They couldn''t be sent back to China for fear of torture, death, or at a minimum (ironically) false imprisonment. They couldn''t be sent back to Afghanistan because a war was raging and they weren''t Afghani citizens. So they sat. At one point, the administration allowed them to be interrogated by the Chinese! Can you imagine? At that time, they wouldn''t even let the International Red Cross in, they wouldn''t release the names of the people they held, they wouldn''t allow them access to lawyers. A few years later, they were given Combat Status Review Tribunals. Out of the 22 Uyghurs who were considered as a group, six were found to be "not enemy combatants" (NEC) and 16 were found to be "enemy combatants". This proved problematic because the information on each of them was the same. Matthew Waxman, the Assistant Secretary Deputy of Detainee Affairs, directed that new CSRT be convened for the six found to be NEC. One of them, Ali, ended up having his status reversed to "enemy combatant".

[c-puffy]

Taken in order of comment...
Yes, release them into the United States. They are not terrorists, they are not criminals. They are refugees. A little background info might help. This group of Uyghurs is comprised of people who fled China because of fear of persecution because they had called for independence for Xinjiang, the land they call East Turkistan. They were at an ex-pat camp of Uyghurs in Afghanistan when the US began bombing in 2001. In trying to escape the indescriminate bombing, (their camp was not targeted) they ended up in Pakistan where they were turned over to Pakistani Intelligence who turned them over to the US military. The guy that turned them in is reported to have received $5000.00 for each Uyghur. They were sent to the US military base at Kandahar, Afghanistan where they were interrogated and assured they would be released because they were obviously not combatants, Al Qaeda or Taliban. Instead, for reasons unknown, they were shackled and flown to Guantanamo Bay where they have remained for the last six + years.

[sebastian27-2009]

I agree with tj217 that the urgheis should be released. They must have come from some country. They didn''t just materilize out of space. Which ever country that they were living in last should take them. We are probably giving aid of some type to that country or countries. We can just tell them that we are going to cut off all aid to the country if they don''t take them back!

[maestro_tpt]

All they have to do is wait a few weeks until Obama takes office. He will shut down Gitmo and give the detainees some sort of severance package for their "unfortunate" stay. Obama will probably give them a big house and have their extended families brought in to the states, grant them citizenship and get a free education.

[connapa]

If they are Turkic speaking Muslims, why doesn''t Turkey accept them????? They''d fit in well there.

[aldon61]

They should not have been imprisoned in the first place. Now we''re stuck with them; great goin'' "W". Another foul-up that someone else will have to figure out.

[bikerb54]

Sure, I agree they should be released but to where? Our taxpayers are paying for people who aren''t citizens, who don''t speak English, who have never paid into the system and yet receive benefits. We can''t afford to take care of our own, but take care of illegals and now add to our burdens even more??? Maybe Bush can put them up at his estate in Texas and his oil buddies can give them work!