The Irony of "Collateral Damage"

Today,the NY Times reported how the Supreme Court turned down a long-shot appeal filed on behalf of two Chinese Muslims being held at Guantanamo Bay while the U.S. government tries to find a country to take them.

What I find ironic is how the US gov't is holding these innocent Chinese Muslims (ethnic Uighurs) at Guantanamo Bay because returning them to their homeland will lead them to be persecuted.

Here is the rational for holding them:

''We don't want to put them on a boat and shove them offshore,'' said Robert Turner, a former high-level State Department official in the Reagan administration who now teaches at the University of Virginia. ''It's one of those tragic cases ... there are no easy answers. These guys are, in a sense, collateral damage to the war.''

Given that they return and will be persecuted by the Chinese gov't, I dont know if their conditions under the US are any better? After all, its still Guantanamo that they are comparing as a better option to returning to China!