Innocent Detainees Deserve Asylum in U.S.

It will take several grueling months for the Obama administration to devise a new legal framework for counterterrorism. But there is one relatively minor measure the president can, should, and finally appears willing to adopt right now: an executive order granting temporary asylum to individuals who are wrongly detained but cannot be repatriated or resettled in other countries.

Nearly eight years after their capture, 17 Uighur men from the Xinjiang region of China remain at Guantanamo Bay, despite the military's view that they pose no threat to Americans. While the government has declared these men fit for release, they remain imprisoned because we fear they will be tortured if returned to China. No other country has been willing to jeopardize its relations with China by taking in the prisoners.

For its part, the U.S. government has heretofore refused to admit any of the Uighurs to the United States. Some argue America's immigration laws preclude the Uighurs from entry because they trained with a "terrorist organization." But the Uighur separatist group -- the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) -- has been removed from the State Department's list of designated foreign terrorist organizations, and was not designated a terrorist group at the time of the Uighurs' detention. At no relevant time, it seems, did the Uighurs engage in "terrorist activity" as our laws define it. (Though in light of their confessions, any who did should have been duly prosecuted.)

IN OCTOBER, a district court judge ordered the Uighurs released into the United States, but the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals recently overturned that ruling. Now the Uighurs are appealing their case to the Supreme Court.

Rather than wait for a judicial pronouncement, President Obama should forestall the Supreme Court case and order the release of every Uighur prisoner -- or at least those we have no plans to prosecute -- into the United States. The policy should look like this: If after several years the liberated prisoners have stayed out of trouble and still cannot be resettled abroad, they should be able to apply for permanent resident status. Let's call it a "temporary resettlement program" and apply it to any innocent detainees who cannot be repatriated or resettled elsewhere.

Reports have surfaced that Obama is preparing to accept as many as seven Uighurs into the U.S. He should be commended for this decision, particularly in light of the criticism he's inviting from all sides.

Human rights advocates may wish the Supreme Court had an opportunity to declare the Uighurs' admission to America to be a right of due process rather than a privilege bestowed by the president. Diplomats will worry that offering "asylum" to Chinese citizens will endanger Sino-American relations at a critical juncture, as North Korea threatens to derail the Six-Party Talks. Security hawks will argue that the Uighurs are potentially dangerous.

ALL OF THESE objections miss the mark. Supreme Court litigation is a lose-lose proposition that will be a slap in the face to the new administration, inevitably producing headlines that paint a picture of Obama -- the so-called "change" president -- as complicit in the failed policies of George Bush.

Concerns that China will be insulted if we accept the Uighurs do not square with the fact that, fundamentally, we've already crossed that bridge. What could be more offensive to China than our refusal to repatriate people because we believe the Chinese will torture them?

Finally, one cannot easily argue that the Uighurs' release into the U.S. would threaten our security when our own Defense Department has not argued that they pose a threat to us. The Uighurs' open support for democratic ideals underscores this point. During my short stint at the Pentagon, it became clear to me that the more worrisome threat to America stems from embarrassments like Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, which DoD officials identify as leading causes of U.S. soldier casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Removing an element of the fodder for anti-Americanism will help undermine a central recruiting tool for terrorists and bolster our support from allies. And in addition to enhancing our national security, a policy of "temporary resettlement assistance" will provide overdue relief to a group of innocents and demonstrate a renewed American commitment to justice and the rule of law.