AP Interview: Detainee move to Palau is tentative

[Old Coot]

Source: Associated Press

KOROR, Palau (AP) — The president of Palau is flattered by all the publicity he's had since agreeing to take in more than a dozen Guantanamo detainees, but he said Saturday their transfer is not a done deal.

The likelihood that 13 Chinese Muslims, known as Uighurs, will actually arrive on this tiny Pacific nation is about "50-50," President Johnson Toribiong said. And even if they do, it won't be for another two or three months.

"It's still tentative, it's not definite yet," Toribiong told The Associated Press. "Maybe some other country may say if a little island like Palau is willing to accept them, why not us?"

Palau, a former U.S. trust territory about 500 miles (800 kilometers) east of the Philippines, made news last week after agreeing to President Barack Obama's request to take the Uighurs. Other countries had turned it down.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jcYT2uyf2jHy2sFskx0GsO50qf-QD98PP5480

[DCKit]

1. Last I heard, Palau was sinking under the waves. Seriously.

Is this some kind of cruel joke on the detainees?

[Bluesbreaker]

2. Life imitates Art

Remake of Voyage of the Damned, the story of the Jews on the ocean liner SS St. Louis who were condemned to death because no country would allow them entry (the film itself was based on real events).

[rpannier]

3. Feeling pressure from the Chinese Government nt