Mood:
on fireTopic: "Eager Uighurs" (4)
In order to make sense of what follows dear reader, take note of the fact that the word "Uighurs" identified in the topic to this post is pronounced "Wee Gurs."
The Uighur Autonomous Region of China is the westernmost segment of that immense land. It is, if there is any true parallel, a great deal like California may be to the US of A. The difference being that the "free spirits" therein are Islamic. Yes, dear reader, you read that correctly, the fact that there are any Islamists in China at all is a surprise to most people, but in the case of this huge section of China the population is more than 60% Sunni Muslim. Not unsurprisingly the reality is that the sovereign nations which border China in the west are all also predominatly Sunni Muslim. Without getting too verbose, it all goes back to the days before Marco Polo when the "Spice Road" to China brought a variety of peoples into the trading areas uniting east and west. The Uighurs are "trouble makers" to the present Chinese government, and are treated as such. Violence is much more frequent between these peoples than almost anyone in the West realizes.
Before you get bored with this collection of trivia, Frodo has a tale to tell about 17 Uighurs and there connection to all of us. About eight years ago, 17 Uighurs were visiting their religious kinsmen across the border to the west. These 17 Chinese citizens were taken prisoner by "Coalition Forces" intent on destroying al Qaeda training facilities. The Uighurs were visiting their brothers-in-arms in order to receive insurgency training, so that they could return to China and combat the oppressive Chinese government. So why were they taken prisoner by the US-led Coalition, you might ask, if all they were doing was preparing to do battle against a Communist State?
Good question.
Better question is, "What happened to these 17 Chinese citizens taken prisoner by our guys?"
Answer: they have been held in Guantanamo ever since. That's right dear reader, the US of A has been holding 17 Chinese citizens, none of whom have ever been involved in any anti-coalition activity, much less even having expressed any enmity toward "our side" in all that time. Foreign nationals, non-combatants, held without judicial process for nearly eight years; doesn't it just make you proud?
The Chinese government has interviewed each of their citizens, and have notified the United States of America that each would be tried under Chinese law when returned to their homeland. The United States, suspicious of Chinese justice, is reluctant to return the individuals to China. The judicial geniuses on our side are exploring how to assimilate these foreign nationals into the "Land of the Free."
Frodo has a suggestion. Crawford, Texas, is almost as barren as is the westernmost portions of China, and given the source of all the humiliation cast upon our great nation by one who lives there, wouldn't it be the right thing for George and Laura to simply adopt these 17 unfortunates?
If you have a mind to do so, simply "Google" "Uighurs" and the facts behind this bizarre tale will outrage you as they have your friend Frodo. Imagine if Benjamin Franklin or Thomas Jefferson had been taken prisoner in France by the British in the late Eighteenth Century, and been held for nearly a decade, without a trial?
