KOROR, PALAU—The electricity to Ahmad Abdulahad’s home was cut last week, forcing his son and daughter to do their homework by flashlight. A day earlier, Abdulahad and the five other Uighur men sent here from Guantanamo Bay were told their monthly government stipend had been reduced to $200.
The money has simply run out.
That’s because Abdulahad and the others brought by the U.S. military to this small, impoverished island in the South Pacific in the fall of 2009 were never supposed to be here long. This was to be a temporary home — a way out of illegal detention in Guantanamo while negotiations continued to find a permanent country of refuge.
The men, all Uighurs, an ethnic Muslim minority from western China, could not be sent to their homeland due to concerns that they would be tortured or killed. The U.S. gave Palau nearly $600,000 for the men’s housing and basic needs.
“Everyone knows Palau is a paradise. The view is very good,” says Abdulahad, 42, as he gestures beyond the restaurant where he sits to the aquamarine water that has made Palau a scuba-diving mecca.
Cry me an aquamarine river, pal.“But for us, it’s not paradise. It’s like an extension of Guantanamo.”...
Update: The chorus of a Jimmy Buffet number just washed up in my mind:
Displeased Uighurs in paradise.
Heaven on earth is not really nice.
They're far too particular, it won't suffice
Cuz they're
Displeased Uighurs in paradise.
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