4 Chinese Guantanamo Muslims freed to Bermuda: Now It’s Miranda Rights For All.

AP reports four Guantanamo Bay detainees, part of a group of Chinese Muslims, have been resettled in luxury in Bermuda with U. S. taxpayers are paying the bill.

Abdul Nasser, one of the four detainees who landed in Bermuda early Thursday morning, issued a statement through his lawyers, saying: “Growing up under communism we always dreamed of living in peace and working in free society like this one. Today you have let freedom ring.”

It’s the first time since 2006 that the U.S. has successfully resettled any of Guantanamo’s population of Uighurs (WEE’-gurs), whose fate has been wending through the courts for years. The U.S. government had determined that they weren’t enemy combatants and should be released. But China resisted their release, contending they were part of a Chinese separatist movement, and it had been unclear where they would go free.

The Uighur detainees are from a Chinese region that borders several Central Asian nations, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, where they were captured in 2001. Thirteen other Uighurs remain to be freed from Guantanamo.

The Justice Department on Thursday issued a statement thanking the government of Bermuda for helping resettle four of the detainees. Arrangements are being made for other Uighurs to be sent to the Pacific island nation of Palau.

It is strongly believed that Bermuda’s and Palau’s acceptance of the Uighurs came at a very high price to American taxpayers.

The Uighurs’ lawyers said they will be part of Bermuda’s guest worker program.

“We will consult regularly with the government of Bermuda on the status of these individuals,” said Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd.

One U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss negotiations between the two nations, said the four would not be allowed to travel to the United States without prior approval from American authorities.

The departure of the four detainees for Bermuda — a British territory — leaves 234 detainees remaining at Guantanamo, and comes in a busy week at the military base in Cuba inclusing:.

1. On Tuesday morning, authorities brought detainee Ahmed Ghailani to New York to face trial in civilian court for the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa. And the president of Palau said his nation will take some Uighurs.

2. At the same time comes news that combatants will and in fact are being read Miranda rights when captured that muist leave them and certainly our troops scratching their heads. The Miranda warning says,”

• You have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions. Do you understand?
• Anything you do say may be used against you in a court of law. Do you understand?
• You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future. Do you understand?
• If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you before any questioning if you wish. Do you understand?
• If you decide to answer questions now without an attorney present you will still have the right to stop answering at any time until you talk to an attorney. Do you understand?
• Knowing and understanding your rights as I have explained them to you, are you willing to answer my questions without an attorney present?

No one is explaining what happens if a captive says they do not understand their rights but, it is clear American taxpayers will get the bill for lawyers.

The Uighurs are a unique group among the Guantanamo detainees. A federal judge ordered last year that they be released in the United States, but an appeals court overruled that decision. U.S. officials would not return them to China out of concerns they would be tortured or executed.

Albania accepted five Uighurs from Guantanamo in 2006, but declined to take more. Many nations have said no to receiving the Uighurs, out of concerns that doing so would anger the Chinese government.

Uighurs are from Xinjiang, an isolated region that borders Afghanistan, Pakistan and six Central Asian nations. They say they have been repressed by the Chinese government. China long has said that insurgents are leading an Islamic separatist movement in Xinjiang.

At one point, officials had considered bringing some of the Uighurs to Virginia, but the possibility provoked intense opposition in Congress, and the plan was shelved