...out of the corner of my ear since yesterday, but had no idea. This has to be the most absurd development yet in the "war on terror".

On the one hand, I'm happy these prisoners have finally received some level of justice--as enfeebled and insufficient as it is. But this is just so silly; in and of itself, the fact that we've had to go to these lengths to rid ourselves of the people we've unjustly imprisoned should be the biggest testament to how ineffective and self-defeating our policies have been over the last decade.

Will these Uighurs be getting any sort of due process, or will they just be locked away and forgotten?

For $200 million I'll take them. I'll build a mini SuperMax in the backyard.

The 17 Chinese Uighurs aren't being transferred to another prison in Palau, they are being released from prison and deported to Palau.

The language keeps getting mixed up, but all of the folks expressing fear of so called terrorists being "sent" to their communities stems from the unspoken admission that these people -- called terrorists -- are not guilty of anything. Obviously they will have to be released sooner or later, and the longer we take doing it, the worse the tragedy becomes. It's like Damocles' sword hanging over their heads, all the while pretending we are the righteous ones.

The YouTube vieo is a great satire on those right wing clowns. The however left gives to much attention to the right psychos.

A few months ago I saw a clip on PBS about an Uighur community in the U.S. that was wiling to take some of these Uighur prisoners. They had already lined up families who were wiling to take them into their homes and support them. What happened to that.

I think Obama is doing a good job under the circumstances of gradually closing GITMO. Many countries are unwilling to take GITMO prisoners. It is not just the U.S.

Next bidder?

They were never terrorists and were cleared to be released some time ago. There just weren't any "brave" countries that would take them in. They are of no danger to anyone except for political dangers. A very sad commentary on US and world politics.

I'm more afraid of the conservatives than I am of the Uighurs. Stocking up on ammo and shooting people in churches, our right-wing born terrorists are a few encouraging words away from ridding the country of liberals.

Did you miss the fact they they "pose no threat, [...] were never "enemy combatants", were...um...NOT guilty?

Perhaps if more people had read The Man in the Iron Mask as children, they would be less willing to lock people up indefinitely without due process.

It still boggles the mind how many people are free and loose with the accusation of terrorism. And it would be amusing how much "tough talk" consists of expressing abject terror. That is, it would be amusing if it were not so toxic to the nation's soul.

Because of course that is more likely than being killed by a "terrorist." Maybe I'll play the lottery, the odds are probably better.

I travel to Indonesia very often, and get surprised by some people back home who say things like "Arent you scared?".

Scared of what? I'm like a foot taller than everyone.

When I taught english there I had one student ask me if I was "scared of terrorists" (this was shortly after the Bali bombings). I told her, "No, why would I be scared of punk ass terrorists? Screw them.".

Ya sounds like bravado, but so what? Better than living in fear of dickwads. Real Americans arent scared of the world and cry like little Glen Beck pansies.

Where they can finally do some good.

I think it's wee-gurs...might be wrong about that.

For some reason Minnesota is home to boatloads of the zanier wingnuts, and not all of them live in Michele Bachmann's congressional district.

Yet again, the wingnuts show that their prime motivation is deeply tied to, if not indistinguishable from, totally unreasoning race-based fear. The Uighurs were and are innocent, but that cuts no ice over at Captain's Quarters.

I'll build a gated spa community. Individual residential units. Free medical and psychiatric services. Massage. Indoor/outdoor pool. Gardens. Neighborhood grocery. Movie Theater. Recreational facility. On campus instruction in all academic subjects....

And, I'll invite all my friends to join us!

Geez, Whispers, you really don't understand how to negotiate price with the government, do you?

I, for one, am grateful to slave away for four months out of the year for the sole purpose of providing the money for lunacy like this.

As Rachel Maddow pointed out last night, the 200 million dollars comes to about $10,000 per resident of Palau, or almost $12,000,000 per individual Uighur. Shaking with laughter, she said she and her staff have offered to take two at that same rate.

When the right began this fear campaign, I naively expected the tv talking heads to react like Maddow did. But of course, if the right-wing says Jump, the media says, How high? Their paranoia was taken seriously, and apparently had some effect on public opinion, if the polls are to be believed.

What a herd of sheeple Americans have become!

This would be funny, except for things that jump out at me:

If you're going to shell out $200M (!) why not just pay it to the detainees directly? They could go anywhere on their new American Express Platinum cards and I guarantee they will never terrorize anyone. They would more likely become big tippers.

Talk about Pentagon waste. This has to be some sort of record, except that I recall about $9B of cash went missing in Iraq in 2003 and nobody even bothers asking about it anymore. Compared to that, $200M is small potatoes.

How many more "settlements" like this will we have to fund?

And about fear: That's what they want. If everyone was as fearful as they pretended to be, they would vote straight Republican every time. That's why you see "opinion" like this.