What should Uruguay do with its Nazi eagle?

[cronus]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-30471063

What should Uruguay do with its Nazi eagle?

Over the past 12 years, Ali al-Shaaban has experienced precious little human kindness. Detained in Pakistan as a suspected al-Qaida member in the months after the 9/11 terror attacks, he was transferred to the US military prison at Guantánamo Bay, where he was held for more than a decade.

This week, however, the 32-year old Syrian has been the subject of a wave of affection in a country half a world away from his homeland: government officials offer him warm embraces; total strangers wave to him and offer words of encouragement.

Shaaban is one of six Guantánamo prisoners who were flown to Uruguay on Sunday to begin new lives as refugees. The six – four Syrians, a Palestinian and a Tunisian – were never charged, and were cleared for release in 2009, but the US struggled to find countries willing to receive them until the Uruguayan president, José Mujica agreed to accept them.

“We are so happy to be here,” he told the Guardian in his first public comments since arriving in Montevideo. Shaaban spoke by phone from inside the city’s military hospital, where the six men are recovering under friendly but tight guard.

“They get hugs from Uruguayan officials, friendly waves and the thumbs up from the other patients at the hospital, the Uruguayan reception team even bought bathing suits for them,” said Michael Mone, the Boston trial lawyer who secured Shaaban’s release from the US government.

Mujica has described his decision to receive the men as a “humanitarian gesture”, but the popular president – who has achieved international stature for his frugal lifestyle and progressive policies – may well have harboured more personal motives.

In his youth, 79-year-old Mujica was a member of the Tupamaros guerrilla movement, and was incarcerated under harsh conditions for 13 years – two of them in solitary confinement – by Uruguay’s military dictatorship.
“It’s a very traumatic situation, I can’t transmit how they must feel, some of us have lived through similar things,” Mujica told local television.
Despite his experience at the hands of the military, Mujica has not sought punishment for his captors and Uruguayans have twice voted in open referendums against trials for dictatorship-era crimes.
“We are very grateful to President Mujica for everything he’s done,” says Shaaban, who is very aware of the parallels between their cases. “I don’t want to let Mujica down,” said Shaaban.

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[klr]

Erm ... I think you'll find that text is from a different article.

[cronus]

Erm ... I think you'll find that text is from a different article.

Intended, wry and obscure sense of black humour.

[JimC]

Who cares what the fuck U R Gay does?