The continuous amauteur hour at the Obama White House is getting monotonous.Do these people have any clue what they're doing?
Some of the inmates at Club Gitmo are Chinese Uigher Muslim separatists.
Since the Chosen One decreed that Club Gitmo must be closed without making any plans about an alternative, there's been a scramble as to where to put these people.
In th ecase of the Uighers, China was quite willing to take them back, but there were concerns about the kind of reception they'd receive there, so an alternative was sought.
The island nation of Palau was bribed with taxpayer dollars to take some of them while another four were sent to Bermuda, again at the US taxpayer's expense.
Just one minor problem... Bermuda is a dependency of the UK, but no one bothered to ask the British for permission!
And to put it mildly, the Brits are not amused:
The British Government responded with ill-disguised fury tonight to the news that four Chinese Uighurs freed from Guantanamo Bay had been flown for resettlement on the Atlantic tourist paradise of Bermuda.
The four arrived on Bermuda in the early hours, celebrating the end of seven years of detention after learning that they were to be accepted as guest workers.
But it appears that the Government of Bermuda failed to consult with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the decision to take in the Uighurs – whose return is demanded by Beijing – and it could now be forced to send them back to Cuba or risk a grave diplomatic crisis.
I understand the British position entirely - not only did we dump some of our garbage in their yard without their permission, they now have a diplomatic row with the Chinese, who really, really want these Uighers back.
Either the Obama Adminsitration was cynically trying to put something over on the Brits or some of their appointees were to stupid to realize that Bermuda is a British dependency before they came up wioth this bright idea. There's no third possibility.
Now, if Bush '43 had pulled this, it would be front page headlines in the New York Times and opening story on the alphabet networks.Because it's Obama, crickets.
Rememeber during the campaign, when the American public was lied to about how Obama was going to restore the relationship with our allies?
With his previous treatment of Britain's prime minister and a whole slew of silly mistakes like this one, Obama has done more to damage those relationships in 6 months than Bush '43 did during his entire two terms.
Please understand I'm NOT defending Obama but there is another possibilty. This is that the Obama Administration was simply following the chain of command. It may go something like this: 1.)The US wishes to get the Government of Bermuda to do something. 2.)The US then consults the Government of Bermuda regarding the matter. 3.) Since Britian is no longer an imperial power, they largely let Bermuda govern itself but on important matters they consult the Government of Britian. (This would definitely be an important matter!) 4.)Government of Bermuda then assures members of Obama Administration that it is okay to send the Gitmo prisoners to their island.
ReplyDeleteIn this case, either the appropiate Bermuda officials failed to consult the British becuase they misjudged the severity of this situation or they lied to Obama Administration officals and assured them that the appropiate British officials had okayed the decision to send those guys to Bermuda.
In other words, the Obama Administration was simply following protocol. After all, many organizations have simillar "chains of command." Again, I'm not defending Obama just offering up another alternative that I think is actually quite likely. If this is correct, to have gone over the heads of the Bermudan Government directly to the British with this request would have been deemed an insult to the Bermudan Government and it would have caused a delay in getting things done becuase the appropiate British officials would have told the Obama Administration officials to take up the request through the normal chain of command. In other words, go through the appropiate Bermudan authorities.
The British and other "allies" have been howling and screeching for some time now that we need to close Gitmo. We are attempting to comply. They need to learn that such actions will have unpleasant consequences.
Just my two cents here. I'm all for sending these guys to China, as long as we get some kind of assurances they won't end up back on the streets to conduct Jihad against us again.
Finally, if Obama really has further damaged our relations with our so called allies, this is bad news for him. He was elected for two primary reasons. 1.) Fix the economy. 2.) Improve relations with our allies. On the economic front, things have gotten markedly worse since he took office. Given the fact that he inherited a mess, the voters are giving him substantial slack here. Right now this is the "Bush Economy." If the economic situation improves by mid 2010, Obama's allies will likely cruise to victory in the 2010 elections. I estimate Obama has until about mid 2010 for the economy to improve. If the economy is no better or worse than it is now in mid 2010, Obama's allies will face serious trouble in the elections and will probably lose, as it will become the "Obama Economy" by this time.
I'm not sure how long Obama has to repair our relations with our so called allies. I estimate he has longer in this area than he does with the economy, however, if there is another major terrorist attack here or in Western Europe this could change. If Obama has failed to improve either the economy or relations with our so called allies by the end of 2010, Obama may not even be able to finish out his one term in office. He may face impeachment.
Unlike many "Conservatives" I think it is imperative that we improve relations with "allies." We have got to get them to help more in Afghanistan!! The enemy in Afghanistan poses a greater threat to America than Nazi Germany ever did or likely could have posed. In order to defeat it, we NEED their help.