Latest Editions

Ex-Guantanamo detainees on the links

Audio: Play | Download

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3
Four former Guantanamo detainees have landed new jobs — at Bermuda’s lush Port Royal Golf course. Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with Brian Darby, a correspondent for Bermuda Radio.

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

INTERVIEWER: We’ve got an update now for you on another story stemming from the U.S. Counter Terrorism strategy. You might remember the Chinese Muslim wiegers who were released from the Guantanamo military prison in Cuba earlier this summer. The Pentagon freed them after they determined the men posed no threat but they wouldn’t go back to China for fear of persecution so instead four of the wiegers moved to another island farther north than Cuba. They went to Bermuda and they’ve taken up a new line of work. Brian Darby is a correspondent for Bermuda Radio. What are these former captives of Guantanamo doing now in Bermuda?

BRIAN DARBY: Well they’ve been given the chance to I think recover from their experience. Bermuda’s weather has been particularly good this summer so they’ve had a nice time. Lovely photographs of them swimming and fishing and watching cricket. Now to get down to some work they’ve been given a temporary job each working on a beautiful golf course in Bermuda called the Port Royal. It’s just undergone a 14 million dollar face lift so they’re coming in right at the top of it when it’s really being polished up because we have something called the PGA Grand Slam of golf every year played in Bermuda. This year it’s going to be played at the Port Royal for the first time.

INTERVIEWER: Pretty nice work if you can get it. What landed them that job?

DARBY: Well it’s a little embarrassing. They shouldn’t have really been given the job because they haven’t gone through the normal Bermuda work permit procedures. This is a rather nice gesture that’s been made and it happened because a group of Philippine workers who were working on the golf course decided to end their contracts prematurely and go back to the Philippines. As a result, there was an opening that appeared very quickly. Some bright spark in government decided this was a good spot to put the wiegers and give them a chance to do some work and I guess pay for their own stay.

INTERVIEWER: Help pay for their stay. How long are they going to be there?

DARBY: It’s going to be indefinite if the British government allow it. The British government are of course very upset that they’re here in the first place so there is a bit of a cloud over them at the moment. They don’t have passport. While we’re all being very nice to them, the decision has to be made by the end of September. The government in England has said it will make a decision on what to do about the wiegers.

INTERVIEWER: Just to be clear on this, the reason the British are upset themselves is because Bermuda is a British territory. Why would Bermuda go against what the British government wants and why would it support something so controversial that the United States wants and that is to take in these men?

DARBY: We have a very aggressive and determined premier, Premier Dr. Ewart Brown. During a meeting with Mr. Obama in Washington recently he made the offer of taking four wiegers. He could have had 28 but he took four without asking the permission from Britain. What could have been a wonderful act of humanitarianism which Bermudians would have supported and in fact do still support turned out to be a diplomatic firestorm.

INTERVIEWER: Why did he do it?

DARBY: He confesses now he thought he was doing something rather wonderful for both the wiegers and for our relationships between Bermuda and America. He thought this would kind of put Bermuda on a pedestal. There are difficult times ahead with things like tax haven legislation going through American congress and he probably wanted to get a good word in for Bermuda.

INTERVIEWER: For these four men who now have a job prepping the fairways for the PGA Grand Slam this coming fall, what’s their life like?

DARBY: They have a cottage they live in. They have a lot of friendly Bermudians who are kind of working with them side by side. They also have a lot of Portuguese and overseas workers on the golf course. It’s 6,500 yards long and it’s on the coast with beaches everywhere. It’s really probably one of the most spectacular golf courses in the world. They must be loving it.

INTERVIEWER: Brian Darby thank you very much. Brian Darby correspondent for Bermuda Radio. Thanks again.

DARBY: My pleasure.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.