China goes to Gitmo

NYT : Terrorism and the Olympics

"After 9/11, China declared its own war on terror in Xinjiang, but Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have documented that this often has targeted Uighurs who are completely nonviolent. [Uighurs are Turkic farmers inhabiting the Xinjiang region]

Unfortunately, the Bush administration has largely backed this Chinese version of the war on terror. Indeed, a Department of Justice report this month suggests that American troops softened up Uighur prisoners in Guantánamo Bay on behalf of visiting Chinese interrogators. The American troops starved the Uighurs and prevented them from sleeping, just before inviting in the Chinese interrogators."

The author Nicholas Kristof also has a blog where he notes :

"What irks me is the Bush administration backing the Chinese Communist Party as it uses the "war on terror" as a cover to go after those moderate Uighur dissidents who favor more autonomy or religious freedom but oppose any violence. The Bush administration listed the "East Turkistan Islamic Movement" as a terror organization in the aftermath of 9/11, apparently as a "thanks" to Beijing for its help in cracking down on terror financing."

"Thanks", as in : China leaned on Pakistan, Pakistan made promises, Pakistan is no longer keeping them.

So in exchange for some financial finangling, China gets to blur the line between dissidents who oppose violence and terrorists.

All of which leaves me wondering what Canada's Gitmo deal is with the US, the one wherein we make nice about being the last country in the world to press for release of a Canadian child-soldier held there since his 15th birthday in 2002.
Yesterday Khadr's US military lawyer William Kuebler alleged that Col. Peter Brownback, the judge hearing Omar Khadr's case, was abruptly dismissed, after he "threatened to suspend the case unless prosecutors turned over key evidence to the defense lawyers".

In April Maxime Bernier stood beside Condi Rice in Washington and announced it would be

"premature to comment about the legal process right now and appeal process because they’re still ongoing. And what we will do is we’ll do -- and I received also assurances that Mr. Khadr has been treated humanely."

"And what we will do is we'll do --" a little thought hiccup there from Max. I wonder now what he stopped himself from saying.

Cross-posted at Creekside