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They are free men. Let them decide their own fate. They created their own dilemma and now should face up to the consequences. Take China for their word that the men won't be tortured. I don't understand our hypocrisy for not trusting the Chinese Gov't on their word when the previous US Admin. was the one that allowed and condoned torture.

The government is being entirely too queezy about the possible fates of prisoners captured on the battlefield. Their entry into the conflict was their own decision. Whether they volunteered or were "conscripted" is immaterial.

Their future is not the concern of the american people. What happens to them when they are returned to their home countries is not our concern. Return them to China, or to where they are from and close the door on this disastrous event in our history.

Finally, this country should never have brought them into our national control. They should have been incarcerated in Afganistan. They should have been tried by military courts and held until they had served their time, then turned over to the Afgani authorities.

Some may say that the above process would expose them to possibly brutal retribution by their home countries. Well, I say that better that they are brutalized by their own countrymen than us. As far as being prisoners of war, hasn't anyone heard of repatriation? Whether thay return to the battle is unimportant. If they do that, they can be killed just like any other combatant. If they return to the U.S. to attack us, they can be killed in the action or tried and incarcerated in one of our federal prisons for life. At least that solves most of the problems we have imposed upon ourselves by how they have been treated in the past.

"The 17 men are Uighurs, an ethnic group from western China."

We Americans are the criminals, not them.

Why release them at the first place – they are criminals and must be put in maximum security jails.

One of the Muslim countries should accept them.

Give the prisoners bad names and hang them,or if they are found to have blood on their hands, award them befitting punishments, but please do not release them into the general population.

PARACHUTE THEM INTO WESTERN CHINA!

Tortured in the USA or China; what's the difference.

Keep up the hate!

Trust the President... at least give him a chance. You let bozo Bush have four years.... then you elected him again !! Some of you people are sick and others are just stupid.

Americas business leaders should be sent to Gitmo, tortured, lose their U.S. citizenship, and be deported to the middle east.

HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!

Where are you going to send them, Mr. President? I have some advise. Think things through before you decide to do something. These people are TERRORISTS! They are about as evil as anyone can be. These people have the same mindset as those who masterminded and carried out 9/11. You can't rehabilitate them and you can't change the way they think. Have we all lost our minds?

send them back to where they are from, let their own countries deal with them, how simple is that?

Let me get this straight...these Chinese prisoners were brought to Guantanamo but never charged with any crimes (surprise!!) and othe Bush government decided they weren't our enemies way back in 2003 (imagine that!!) but they have no legal standing to enter the U.S. (even though it's our government that imprisoned them and is - by their own admission - imprisoning them illegally) and we're afraid to send them back to China because they Chinese might torture them (I may very well wet myself from laughing about that last statement!). PLEASE...give me a break. Either ship them off to their native country (China) or ask all of the ninny right-wingers who are getting just a tad off-topic with their Obama-bashing here (get over it, you LOST the election convincingly) to personally sponsor or adopt them. Sheesh!

At least our judicial system has more common sense than our president.
I guess that is one positive since 1/20/09.

Surprised we didn't have something in the spending initiative, sorry stimulus, to give them money and buy them a home and car.

What is wrong with all you people? Obama DID NOT create the Guantanamo Bay situation or the ECONOMIC RECESSION. He hasn't even been in office for 30 days and he is been blamed for everything wrong under the sun and the moon. THE BLAME IS THE GEORGE BUSHS'. They are the crooks who screwed up our country and along the way made billions of dollars not only for themselves but for the world crooks they deal with to this day. Sent these people back to their own country and let their government deal with as they see fit. We have enough problems of our own than having to take care of these terrorists who will turn around and screw us over.

to Patriot Guy- you should go to China with them. I don't like the comments you make.

JUST SHOT THEM, AND CREATE A RESORT FOR SOLDIERS TO RELAX

Why don't we just release them all back to their own country? I am tired of the American people's taxpayer dollars going to support everyone else except the American people.

When in the H*#+ are elected officials going to start focusing on helping the American people and not everyone else?

This is why Guantanamo should be closed, but why Obama is being smart and giving it a year. There are so many people that have awkward legal status, these issues have to resolved. We cannot, however, hold people indefinitely. Prosecute the guilty to the fullest extent possible, and free those that deserve freedom. It's a simple application of our most basic fundamentals of justice in America.

They are Chinese nationals, China said they would take them. Even though I don't believe much the Chinese govt. saysm in this "new era" we should take them at their word and see what happens. Personally, I think sending them home, in this case, would do a lot in seeing that they do not do terror in the future. Their govt. would not be the least bit worried about their own citizens' civil rights if they did.

worriedmom:

Just so you know, some of us think of your children as terrorists. On buses, in supermarkets, restaurants, movie theaters... What exactly are THEY contributing to society? Huh? Do THEY pay taxes? Drug takin' deadbeats is what they are, spongin' of the workin' man... SEND 'EM TO CHINA!

Yours truly,
Lib (progressive, actually)

Berkley?

Send them to China. I highly doubt they'll be missed as nobody really knew they existed.

So this is Obama's fault? How about the clowns that stuck them in there and left no way t get rid of them when they couldn't convict them of anything. Sounds like Bush (Chaney) created a catch-22 that PO has to deal with. How is that his fault?

The question is why did we bother to arrest them anyway? You could fill every prison in the world with people if we just decide to grab people arbitrarily and hold onto them.

Surely there's room for them a Democratic congressman's house in the District of Columbia. That's not part of the United States, is it?

send them to texas where bush is. and cheney and rice's home. they brought them here.

so what are we going to do with them?. execute them?or keep them without justice?. some of them are suspected terrorists but they have no charges against them. Bush should be investigated.

So what else is new ? These poor people are innocent and being held without charge indefinitely ! shame, shame on this country.

We are just at the tip of the ice berg of the crimes that bush committed undermining our American values and standing as a leader of democracy. In addition to killing our soldiers needlessly he has now spit in the faces of all those who have fought and died for our great country. There is no end to the evil he and cheney/necons have done – I hope they all rot in prison soon.

Send them back to China!

They're not US citizens and can not legally live here... oh wait... we no longer care about immigration laws as a country.

Send them to Berkley, CA!!

Man, that Obama is looking like a genius on closing Guantanamo.

Have no fear, people!! Obama can heal the broken souls of these poor terrorists... Right Michelle??

(eyes rolling)

Let them loose in Obama's Chicago neighborhood. Obama's close friends and neighbors (Farakhan, Ayers, Dorne, Wright, Pfleger, etc) will receive the terrorists with open arms!

Raagos- Learn to speak and write in English sentences and we will take you seriously. The people at Gitmo are the lowest of the low. They are Terrorist scum who seek the destruction of our way of life.

Why not send them all to the BIG RANCH in Crawford, Texas? There's lots of brush to be cleared. Their host will welcome them with open arms. They deserve each other.

That's okay, let's just send these prisoners to the states of John McCain, John Boehner, Eric Canter and Lindsey Graham and SEE how they like those apples being dished out compliments of their former President and Vice President! I'm sure Cheney would love to house them in his NEW mansion down in Virginia!!

Tha's okay, because what Bush and Cheney DISHED out is truly going to COME BACK AROUND!!

This is NOT the end for President Obama, it's just the beginning, He's going to review the court ruling and then go from there.

The END was with the Bush/Cheney Administration back stabbing this country every chance they got!!

If there is no reason to release me from prison, then by deduction i am LAWFULLY detained.........which is it?? Unlawfully detained or no authority to be freed??

By the way, no one is buying that BS about protecting them from chinese governement torture by detaining them indefinitely...As if the idiots in Guantanamo are the model Geneva convention loyalists.

Where are all the lefty protesters at? Funny they usually are the first ones screaming about "terrorist rights". Their silence is deafining.

Don't blame Barack, George Stupid 7th Worst President Ever put them there in the first place. Now the Dems have to clean up his mess. Typical stupid Rethugs, they make the mess and someone else has to clean it up, while they're off to the side belly aching, whining, moaning and groaning. Shut your freakin' faces morons. You picked the 7th worst president ever. How smart are you?

Send them to Crawford, Texas or maybe Kennebunkport (but I like Maine). OK, Texas then!

I find it laughable that US judges are worried about OTHER countries practicing torture. What hypocrites.

Send them back and let the Chinese people figure out what should be done.

Thet were wrong by the Americans, and now americans do not take responsibilty for their actions..

WE HOLD THEM FOR NO REASON..HOW WHAT SHOULD WE DO. HOLD THEM MORE.

SEND THEM ANYWHERE EXCPT PRISON.

BUSH NEED TO BE SEND IN PRISON

The US has evidence that these guys received terror training, but not enough to convict, so suddenly they should be released in the US? Yah, real smart there.

The Chinese government would probably torture these guys – but what can you do?

Well imagine that, just one more thing that the great one himself said was going to happen but is not possible. How in the world can people not see what is going on. Just like he said that this package will help give those people back some jobs and then the guy says there will be more people laid off, come on get real. This president just keeps making mistakes, he is incompetent and ignorant. There's a freaking surprise.

worriedmom, if you had bothered to READ the article you'll know that
after all those years of imprisoning, there is very little evidence against them, and even that is not enough even to consider them enemies of the US.
So why should they stay behind bars?
Because they are better behind bars in Guantanamo than back to China... but, of course, they wish to be free and since there are NO CRIMINAL CHARGES against them they have such right.

send then to Chicago, they'll fit right in.

Oh my, what will Obama do? The White House is a big place, let Obama take them in.

huge defeat for The Messiah

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeettt

Let's give them to Fidel, and his lover Hugo Chavez. I can see them all in bright red pajamas picking bananas, and coconuts.

The Libs will be screaming about this but hey why not send them to live with the Libs. they don't view them as terrorists, they are just misunderstood.

Wow, what will become of them? They are not enemy, they cannot go home, they cannot come here. We either have to keep them in Jail for nothing for the rest of their lives, or get rid of them. This is the mess Bush has left us with because of his dragnet tactics. Last, I wonder how much we paid out to collect them and to whom the money went to.

I think that the US should accept China's government word that they would not be tortured and send them back home. The USA can not police or protect everyone, besides China can not be all bad, afterall they are our biggest trade partner. Send them back to China.

This group is not part of the problem. If there is a group that they can belong to and accept them, then let that group be responsible for them. Attach locator bracelets or other tracking devices for the first 10 years. If there are no problems, then start them on the road to permanant resident status. They should allowed here provisionally as political refugees since China will torture them. I have no doubt of that.

Send them to Alabama,where they can start a car company.

Send them to Alabama,where they can start a car company.

Uh oh. The Democrats are not going to be able to count on their votes and support after all. I'm sure the DNC will appeal.

When we take prisoners, we become responsible for them, part and parcel. Why can we not accept that? If we then cannot charge them with a crime, then we are violating our own Constitution. They must be charged, tried, and then either imprisoned or released. If they can't be released here, they must be released in their country of origin. If they are to be held until the end of the so called "War on Terror", then that war must be defined in scope and length. If it is not definable, then it must be abolished as a metric. All men have rights, whether they are white, brown, black or any other color; Christian, Muslim, or any other religion; man, woman, or child; American, or non-American. Our Constitution is for everyone we take responsibility for, including our prisoners!

Thank god! Look, I'm not sure what to do with these guys but releasing them in the US is the worst option. Maybe releasing them at all is a problem. Both Bin Laden and Al Zawarhi were in custody at one time (Yemen and Egypt) and if they hadn't been released there may not have been a 9/11....If we release any of these turkeys and they come back and do an awful attack (against us or against anyone innocent) then we would feel really bad. Honestly, I would give them tribunals and if guilty leave them in Guantanamo for life. I would even consider moving some of our most violent domestic criminals to Guantanamo, it could be the 21st century alcatraz.

As well they shouldn't!

Those detainees better not get released in the U.S. They'll be safer in Cuba. If thet get realeased into our society and Americans know who they are, they're just as good as dead. send them back to china and let then deal with them.

I think all the detainees should be taken to Crawford Texas and released at the Bush ranch!

move them to the WHITE HOUSE it is not a state.