Obama Successfully Bribes Pacific Island Nation Into Taking Gitmo Detainees
Seventeen of the Chinese Muslims currently detained at Gitmo, to be exact, but to what end I wonder? Why is detention in Palau better than detention in Guantanamo Bay? Given the $200 million bribe Obama just paid the Pacific island republic, keeping the detainees in Gitmo (where we’ll have a military base long after the detention center is closed) would have been a lot cheaper.
It seems to me like the taxpayers are on the hook for $200 million so that Obama can make a politically convenient detainee transfer that really accomplishes nothing.
The tropical Pacific island nation of Palau announced Wednesday it will accept up to 17 Chinese Muslims who have languished in legal limbo at Guantanamo Bay despite a Pentagon determination that they are not “enemy combatants.” …
President Johnson Toribiong said Palau was accepting the detainees “as a humanitarian gesture” intended to help them restart their lives. His archipelago, with a population of about 20,000, will accept up to 17 of the detainees subject to periodic review, Toribiong said in a statement released to The Associated Press.
“This is but a small thing we can do to thank our best friend and ally for all it has done for Palau,” he said.
By the way, the $200 million bribe Palau is getting to take these detainees? It will double their GDP this year.
This is one expensive shell game.
