The Turkish Prime Minister is breaking away from the East/West pledge of allegiance to Mainland China and calling it genocide. I hope he knows what he is doing, and it results in less international isolation for the Uighurs and better human rights.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/07/11/turkey.china.uyghurs/
But after 8 years of Bush, I think of John Adams on the knavery of priests and politicians, and don’t want to underestimate any politician in that dept. worldwide.

Also, there’s a link to a webcast of the hearing on the House Committee’s site, although I haven’t had the opportunity to check it out:
http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing_notice.asp?id=1099

“U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage meets with senior Chinese officials in Beijing to discuss the invasion of Iraq and immediately announces that a group called the “East Turkistan Islamic Movement” (“ETIM”) will be placed on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations.”
Pinney testimony:
http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/111/pin071609.pdf
Dick Armitage claims that he’s innocent of all wrong doing: http://www.laprogressive.com/2009/04/16/neocon-dick-armitage-i-should-have-resigned/
And yet, here he is, cited as doing something very dubious once again.

*Testimony Sean R. Roberts, PhD
June 16, 2009
http://www.internationalrelations.house.gov/111/rob061609.pdf
“When the United States recognized ETIM as a terrorist group with ties to Al Qaeda in 2002, few scholars studying the Uyghur people had ever heard of this group. I, for example, spent much of
the second half of the 1990s living among Uyghur communities in Kazakhstan, but I had not heard of the group prior to its classification as a terrorist organization by the United States. This
was particularly puzzling to me since I had become personally acquainted with most of the major Uyghur diaspora political groups in the course of my research, participating as an observer at many of the meetings organized by transnational Uyghur political organizations in the second half of the 1990s. Given how little was known of this organization in 2002, many scholars even questioned whether ETIM existed at all and whether the group’s recognition by the United States was entirely motivated by a desire to gain China’s support for the American-led Global War on Terror.

It appears, however, that the ETIM, or at least an organization known as the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Party (ETIP), did exist in 2002 since at least one western journalist was able to interview its leader, Hasan Mahsum, in Pakistan shortly after ETIM was designated by the United States as a terrorist organization. At that time, Mahsum asserted that ETIM, or ETIP, had not received
assistance from Al Qaeda and had no intention of targeting the United States or Americans. Rather, he painted a picture of a small group of religious Uyghur men who had lofty goals of challenging Chinese rule in their homeland but little capacity or resources to do so.

This portrait of the organization is consistent with my understanding of the Uyghurs who lived in Afghanistan during the 1990s. While it has been documented that a small number of Uyghurs had made their way to Afghanistan in the later 1990s, most of them had gone to the country with the intent of making their way to points further westward where they hoped to obtain political refugee status. It is likely that some of the Uyghurs coming through Afghanistan at this time did find the Jihadi ideals of local groups attractive, but there is also evidence that the Taliban regime was not welcoming of Uyghurs who sought assistance for militant endeavors after 1999. In that
year, the People’s Republic of China had sent a diplomatic delegation to meet with the Taliban, and this delegation had reportedly made a deal with its Afghan counterparts, where China would provide the pariah government of Afghanistan with a variety of assistance, including updated weaponry, in exchange for the Taliban’s pledge to not harbor Uyghur militants. Although it has not been substantiated, there were also rumors that China established similar agreements with Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. Whether or not the rumors concerning Al Qaeda bear any truth, China did enter into negotiations with the Taliban, and following those negotiations, stories spread in the South Asian media that the small number of Uyghurs thought to be in militant training camps inside Afghanistan were arrested, executed, or forced to leave the country.”

Unbelievable Thanks Andy and HP for this, The corporatist MSM will ignore it? That’s as shameful as the actions of SECDEF. It’s very disturbing to me, that the transition of power to this administration has not included a new reorganized Joint Chiefs and the booting of the Bush intelligence aparatchik, Gates and Hayden. WTH? Is that unprecedented in US History. Why can’t the POTUS replace these positions of the corrupt regime? The continued abuse of these prisoners and others is disgraceful and this story of quid pro quo trades to our new masters the RED Chinese are just revelatory for Americans and need wider dissemination, IMO.

Mr. Worthington, the more I read you the more I am disillusioned with President Obama. What happened with “Yes we can”. The only answer that comes to mind as to why Pres. Obama is not leading in the right direction is because of the uproar the media created when it was announced that some detainees could be released in the US if Guantanamo was closed. The reaction from the population seems to be: ‘Not in my backyard’. To me the people of the US are not to blame for this. The culprit is mostly the big media who are just interested in creating controversy and not enlightening the public plus enhancing fear and enabling characters like Newt Gingrich to continue the misinformation. Since the uproar was so big the spineless Democrats joined in.
The media has become a business for profit only. As a result the quality of the information or the quest for the truth is being lost in the process.
As we have seen, selling the war in Iraq was an easy thing, the media had become the fourth branch of government, the consequences were tragic for the US images around the world and a vast waste of money for the US citizens.
In my opinion, the only hope is that good bloggers such as you Mr. Worthington will put enough pressure on the media to return to their duty so Pres. Obama delivers on his promises. Right now he is wasting his immense political capital.

Valtin wrote:

A tremendous article, Andy. One feels tremendous frustration as the U.S. executive has become subordinate to the Pentagon and the CIA. No matter what the President’s agenda, he cannot or won’t do anything that truly curtails the power of the military and intel agencies. How ironic that Huff Post headlines right now a triumphalist statement that the vote against the F-22 is some major blow against the “military-industrial complex”. When you’ve got McCain touting such a victory, you might want to check and see if all your senses have been stolen.

The Uighur story is fascinating and depressing. You describe very well how these people became pawns in the U.S. drive to get all support for its predatory invasion of Iraq. The Chinese participation in this is despicable, too. But at least they thought they were defending their country, as they fear separatists’ actions in Xinjiang province. Great Han chauvinist opposition to autonomous moves by ethnic Muslims in Xinjiang also utilizes fears of Islamic jihad to suppress a people. While I condemn this, it at least has to do with a portion of China that is “legally” part of that country. The U.S. on the other hand was interested in invading a country half way around the world.

And the Uighurs themselves… puppets used by both sides, turned into un-people for torture and abuse from both the U.S. and China.

Again, I always admire the breadth and cogency of your reporting.