Willett said in a statement that Bermuda conferred an ''act ofgrace'' upon his clients after ''political opportunists blocked justice in our own country'' -- a reference to both government efforts to prevent the Uighurs' release, as well as opposition by some politicians to plans to resettle them on U.S. soil.

A Department of Justice statement noted that the four men who would be working in Bermuda were ordered set free three times -- by court order, by a Bush administration-era review and again recently by an ``interagency Guantánamo review task force.''

Obama ordered Holder to set up the task force as part of his order to empty the prison camps at Guantánamo by Jan. 22.

The latest transfer left the detention center census at about 234 foreign detainees -- more than a dozen still there have been ordered freed by federal judges.

The Justice Department cast the capture, incarceration and ultimate Obama administration decision to free the four men in the Western Hemisphere this way:

``The Uighurs currently at Guantánamo Bay left China and made their way to Afghanistan, where most eventually settled in a camp with other Uighurs opposed to the Chinese government.

``After the United States conducted aerial strikes in the area in October 2001, the Uighurs from that camp fled to Pakistan and were later apprehended. According to available information, these individuals did not travel to Afghanistan with the intent to take any hostile action against the United States.''

On Wednesday, the Obama administration confirmed that the remote South Pacific island nation of Palau had agreed to resettle the 17 Muslims from China there.

Palau, with a population of about 20,000, is an archipelago of eight main islands plus more than 250 islets that is best known for diving and tourism and is located some 500 miles east of the Philippines in the Pacific Ocean.

Significantly, it does not recognize China, which has consistently insisted on the Guantánamo Uighurs' repatriation, and instead maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan Palau President Johnson Toribiong cast the decision as ''a humanitarian gesture'' to help the detainees restart their lives.

News of Palau's offer did, however, disappoint some residents of Tallahassee, who had offered to accept some of the Uighurs.

''We worked hard. We really wanted them to come here. We obviously hope they find Palau a happy home, but we were fully ready at any moment since last September to receive three of the 17,'' said attorney Kent Spriggs of Tallahassee, who had worked on an interfaith effort to provide jobs, an American Muslim spiritual advisor and housing for the men.

``We had jobs for them. We had a spiritual home for them. We had housing for them. We really were and are welcoming to them.''

Congress' reluctance to let the Uighurs come to the United States had not in any way diminished the enthusiastic welcome that Tallahassee religious leaders were planning, he said.

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