There’s an article in today’s New York Times that completely blows me away (surprise!).  Federal judge Ricardo M. Urbina has ordered the release of 17 Club Gitmo detainees. 

Fine, ok, you don’t think they’re enemy combatants.  Make the case and send them back to the enemy territory we scooped them up from.  But this is the kicker:

He indicated that he would release the men, members of the restive Uighur Muslim minority in western China, into the care of supporters in the United States, initially in the Washington area.

Why did they get released into the US? 

Lawyers for the Uighurs said the men would be persecuted or killed if they were returned to China. The administration said that since transferring five Uighur detainees to Albania in 2006, it had been unable to persuade governments to accept the other 17. Diplomats say many governments fear reprisal by China, which considers Uighur separatist groups terrorists.

This makes absolutely no sense to me.  If we’re going to “save” people by bringing them to the United States simply because in their home country they may get “persecuted” we’re going to have to start a pretty serious air lift of millions of people around the world.  Genocide in Rwanda?  Sure, let’s bring them all here.  Ethnic cleansing in Darfur?  Let’s go get them!  This judge is out of his mind and is, in my humble opinion, setting a dangerous precedent.  How does he describe his lack of worry for their well being once set free in our fine land?

Mr. O’Quinn said such detainees would have no legal status in the United States. “Normally,” he added, “the law would potentially require them to be taken into some sort of protective custody.”

Judge Urbina said such arrests would not be appropriate. But he did not specify what he might do if the men were seized after being released by the Pentagon.

“I do not expect these Uighurs will be molested by any member of the United States government,” Judge Urbina said sharply. “I’m a federal judge, and I’ve issued an order.”

I added the emphasis just there to highlight what a goon this guy is.  His “federal judge” powers have clearly gone to his head, and clouded his judgment. 

And finally, the lawyer’s reaction:

P. Sabin Willett argued the case on Tuesday. In a crowd in the well of the courtroom after the judge had left the bench, Mr. Willett said there had been so many defeats over the years that he was not sure what to say at the prospect of the first federal case that might bring freedom to men in Guantánamo.

“We’ve had so many hearings where we didn’t even get half a loaf, we got a little crumb,” he said. “I’m emotionally unprepared for this.”

He was probably “emotionally unprepared for this” because he didn’t think there was a chance in hell there was a judge out there that would do this.  Think again my friend, think again. 

UPDATE:  Hear my sigh of relief as a court of appeals blocks the lower court’s ruling.