The Premier and his supporters are playing up the acceptance of the Gitmo detainees as an act of humanitarianism. The implication being that if we hadn't intervened, these men would have been condemned to a life of statelessness in Guantanamo Bay.
But an article in the Australian suggests that the US may have had to release them there anyway:
About 50 other detainees face the same Catch-22 with a critical bloc of US lawmakers refusing to allow them on US soil and authorities fearing they will face torture if transferred to their home countries.
The Obama administration could nonetheless be ordered to free remaining Uighurs in the US if it does not resolve their case before a Supreme Court decision by the end of June.
I don't mind the detainees coming here, and being granted status, if they are decent men and if there is no prospect of them being allowed to stay in the US. However the first question has yet to be answered satisfactorily, and now it seems the second is still unresolved too.
