Uigher squabble continues, China says, hand them over!

The controversy continues over what to do with 17 Uigher (Uyghur) Chinese Muslim detainees being held at Gitmo.   Now a German city says it will give them asylum, although the German government is so far noncommittal.  From Canwest News Service:

NEW YORK — The German city of Munich added its name Friday to communities offering to welcome members of the Chinese minority Uyghur group detained at Guantanamo Bay — presenting possible alternatives to Canada as activists press Ottawa to accept at least three.

The US says the Uighers caught on battlefields in Afghanistan are not a terrorism threat to the West, but to the Chinese they are terrorists.

The Uyghurs are somewhat of an exceptional case in that the 17 are the only remaining Guantanamo detainees who have been totally cleared by the U.S. authorities of having terrorist links.

But the United States fears they may face torture or other abuse if returned to China, which does consider them terrorists who seek an independent Muslim homeland in the northwestern part of the country.

China wants them back.  Could we have an uptick in international tension over what to do with the prisoners from the soon-to-be-closed military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and whether they will be given asylum in the West?

Beyond any security concerns, there remains the possibility that settling Guantanamo Uyghurs will lead to friction with China, whose embassy in Ottawa Friday issued a statement calling on governments to reject the “Chinese terrorist suspects.”

Ho hum, another hot potato for the Obama Administration which will ultimately make the decision.

Jihad Watch posts informative film on UNRWA

Check out the short film on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) at Jihad Watch here.    UNRWA is the special (highly controversial!)agency set up to specifically take care of the Palestinian multi-generation so-called ‘refugees.’

For more information, go back to Judy’s post here and follow links back to our extensive coverage.

By the way, UNRWA is heavily funded by you, the US taxpayer.

Another ‘recruited for jihad’ story from Minneapolis

The Minneapolis Star Tribune has another article this past Saturday highlighting the life and the disappearance of a Somali Muslim (former refugee) youth believed to have joined the Jihad in Somalia.    It begins:

Six months have passed since Mustafa Ali vanished from St. Paul. His family is left to wonder how he got to Somalia and why.

The article goes on to lay out the theory that Mustafa (who had been in the US since he was a baby!) was lured back to Somalia because of indoctrination he received at his neighborhood mosque.   Although there isn’t much new, please read the whole story here. 

And, then check out the much more interesting comments (there are 92 at the time of this writing).    Commenter ‘Momsbasement’ tells you why you should hurry on over to read the comments.

WOW. . . .I CAN’T BELIEVE STAR TRIBUNE IS ALLOWING COMMENTS ON ONE OF THEIR DIVERSITY GROUP ARTICLE.

Usually these comments are censored to the point where only comments that favor the diversity side of the issue are allowed to post. Don’t be surprised to see all these comments deleted real soon and a disclaimer posted by Star Tribune “due to the sensitive nature of this article all post will be review before they are posted”. That’s what they did last time.

Note to new readers:   To catch up on this story we have been following for months, start here.

Iraqi refugee: “Do they bring us out here to help us or to humiliate us?”

New city, same old story.  This time we hear that there are no jobs for refugees, especially well-educated Iraqi refugees, in Fredericksburg, VA.

About 100 Iraqis came to Fredericksburg this past year expecting to find “heaven.”

They fled tumultuous situations in the Middle East.

Among the new refugees: A doctor whose husband was killed as the couple took their children to their Baghdad schools; she, too, was shot during the attack. A building contractor forced to negotiate a ransom after insurgents kidnapped his teenage son on the streets of the Iraqi capital. And a businessman who was waiting–a sword pressed against his neck–for his executioner to arrive when American troops found his makeshift prison.

When each learned he would get a new life in America he celebrated, saying he saw it as “paradise” or “heaven.”

Six months later, some wonder if they’d be better off in Baghdad.

[….]

Instead of paradise, these recent newcomers found the brave new world of refugee resettlement in a down economy: few jobs, eviction notices, landlord disputes, high rents and vast cultural differences.

No jobs eventually means no homes.

About 50 Iraqis who arrived in Fredericksburg in August still lack jobs. Seven families recently received eviction notices.

When you read the article notice that some sense is creeping in and the refugee industry is beginning to recognize that something must be done and maybe the flow of refugees needs to be slowed.    Or at least they are going to start talking about it!

Jobs remain scarce everywhere. Refugee coordinators around the country will have a teleconference later this month to come up with strategies.

Be sure to check out the comments which center mostly around two themes:  what about taking care of our own folks first and maybe returning to Iraq is a good idea.

We have written extensively on the issue of Iraqi refugee unemployment and identified 15 states (including Virginia) where Iraqis are not finding work and are unhappy about it.   See the most recent one of those stories from Salt Lake City, Utah and follow links back to other stories.

Also just a reminder that Refugees International is pushing for 100,000 Iraqis this fiscal year and Obama’s good friends at the Center for American Progress are pushing for an airlift of that many also here.    By way of comparison, we brought a meager 13,000 this past fiscal year and can’t find them adequate employment.

I wonder if these Washington DC refugee industry lobbyists ever talk to the resettlement workers around the country?   Strikes me that there is a little disconnect here!

Note to a serious reporter:  With 307 previous posts in our Iraqi Refugee category, we probably have the largest database of news stories on the subject anywhere.

Angelina Jolie visits refugee camp in Thailand, gets it wrong on Rohingya

The last time we wrote about Angelina Jolie it was to praise her good sense. She had visited Iraq and Iraqi refugees, and she spoke to the Council of Foreign Relations. (See our several posts on Jolie here.)  Way back in April, when almost everybody was convinced that all the Iraqi refugees had to be resettled in third countries, she said this:

“This population we’re talking about is the future of Iraq,” said Jolie, who has traveled twice to Iraq over the past year, as well as to Syria to visit Iraqi refugees. “So to reach them now, to help deal with their trauma and refocus their minds on a possible future should absolutely be one of our top priorities. We need these kids. . . . We need them to rebuild their country, to stabilize their country and eventually lead their country.”

Now the conventional wisdom has caught up to her. But Jolie is not as wise in her current refugee venture. The Associated Press reports:

BANGKOK (AP) — Angelina Jolie, a Hollywood star deeply involved in the plight of refugees, has called on the Thai government to respect the human rights of Myanmar’s Rohinyga boat people whom Thai authorities have pushed out to sea in recent weeks, a U.N. spokeswoman said Friday.

Jolie and her partner, Brad Pitt, are on a visit to Thailand, where on Wednesday they toured one of several camps along the Thai-Myanmar border sheltering refugees from Myanmar’s military regime.

We’re not against respecting human rights, but Jolie needs to get some perspective on the Rohingya. Ann has written 62 posts on this group. Jolie needs to know that they are Muslim, some of them are trained as jihadists, they do not get along with other groups, they are highly aggressive and intimidate other people, and many other facts before she passes judgment. The article notes:

Thailand recognizes most at the border camps as refugees with legitimate fear of returning to their homeland, but does not accord the Muslim Rohingyas the same status, and seeks to send them away.

“Visiting Ban Mai Nai Soi and seeing how hospitable Thailand has been to 111,000 mostly Karen and Karenni refugees over the years makes me hope that Thailand will be just as generous to the Rohingya refugees who are now arriving on their shores,” Jolie said.

Angelina Jolie is a bright woman. She should think over what she has learned and ask some Thais why it is that their country has been hospitable to these other refugees (many of whom are Christian) while turning away the Rohingya.

Update February 12, 2009: It looks like the Thai government didn’t like Jolie’s comments either. Thailand’s national news source, The Nation (no connection to the radical U.S. magazine of that name), headlines an article: Thai govt warns Jolie and UNHCR over comments on Rohingyas. The Foreign Ministry’s permanent secretary said:

“The UNHCR should not have brought Jolie, its goodwill ambassador, to one of the nine refugee camps stringing the border which are run by Thailand’s interior ministry.”

 “The Thai government will issue a reprimand letter to UNHCR, asking why it allowed Angelina Jolie to visit the refugee camps,” Virasakdi told reporters.

Good for the Thai government, which recognizes that it, not the UN, is in charge of its own sovereignty and its own policies.