Palau to Take Uighur Detainees

Perhaps the U.S. government is thinking out of sight, out of mind? The tiny Pacific island nation of Palau—population 20,000—has agreed to resettle up to 17 Uighur detainees from Guantanamo Bay. The Chinese Muslims have been stuck at Gitmo, despite the fact that the Pentagon has said they are not “enemy combatants.” Palau said that it will accept them “as a humanitarian gesture” toward, as President Johnson Toribong put it, “our best friend and ally.” According to the Associated Press, “The U.S. 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.”