Please, someone punish me by shipping me off to a remote tropical tourist spot.
The Obama administration is nearing agreement with the remote South Pacific island nation of Palau to resettle a group of Chinese Muslims now held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, The Associated Press has learned.
As they attempt to fulfill President Barack Obama’s order to close the Guantanamo facility by early next year, administration officials are looking to Palau to accept some or all of the 17 Uighur detainees due to fierce congressional opposition to releasing them on U.S. soil, officials said. …
Asked Tuesday about discussions with Palau on the Uighurs, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly declined to comment beyond saying the United States is “working closely with our friends and allies regarding resettlement” of detainees at Guantanamo. He said the department would not comment on talks with individual countries.
Two of the officials said the United States was prepared to give Palau up to $200 million in development, budget support and other assistance in return for accepting the Uighurs and as part of a mutual defense and cooperation treaty that is due to be renegotiated this year.
On top of now attempting to bribe a country to take Gitmo detainees, Team Obama picks a tropical hotspot whose main industry is Western tourism and is within spitting distance of Indonesia. What could possibly go wrong?
UPDATE – Palau says yes. Now that Gitmo detainees have price tags on them, what do you think the going rate will be for KSM? I’d start at $50 mil.
