OUTSOURCING TORTURE:

Detention in Britain ‘mental torture' (The National, June 11. 2009)

One of several Pakistani students rounded up by British authorities on allegations of terrorism – later dropped – described his detention as “mental torture” after returning to his native country today.

'The Decision to Close Guantanamo Hasn't Helped Obama' ()

The tiny Pacific island nation of Palau has announced it will accept 17 Uighur Guantanamo inmates after long negotiations between Washington and Berlin over the fate of the prisoners. German commentators accuse their own government of deliberately pursuing "delaying tactics" on the issue.

The decision to transfer 17 Uighur inmates from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to the Pacific island nation of Palau serves almost as a punchline for months of ticklish diplomacy between Washington and Berlin. For most of the year officials in Berlin have been debating whether they should let the inmates resettle in Germany.

But on Wednesday the president of Palau, Johnson Toribiong, said his tiny state would take the Uighurs as a "humanitarian gesture." His government will now receive some $200 million in fresh aid from Washington, though Toribiong as well as US officials deny there was a tit-for-tat deal.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 11, 2009 8:57 AM