Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Wither the Uighurs?

If I were a member of the Muslim minority living in the desolation and isolation of the PRC's Central Asia territories, who had fled communist persecution of Muslims in western China, spending part of 2001 in a Uighur camp in Afghanistan where — while I was unarmed — my camp was bombed by the invading Americans, after which I was turned in to the authorities by Pakistani villagers in return for an American bounty, then spent about seven years at Guantánamo before being cleared by American officials and courts of taking up arms against the United States or ties to global terrorism, only to find that no one wanted to take me and it certainly wasn't safe to return to China, after which only Bermuda or Palau — the geographic opposite of my homeland — would take me, I'd probably write a book. 

But first I'd go swimming. And then I'd have some ice cream. 


2 comments:

  1. I loved that photo essay at the NYT. Good on the US not to repatriate them to China and good on Bermuda to offer them a home.

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  2. I agree with you, but I'm still a bit disappointed that the US would not admit they made a mistake about these men and allow them to resettle in some sparsely populated, desolate place with harsh winters, like Montana.

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