Say Anything Blog

Yesterday Obama announced that he was releasing four Chinese Uighurs into Bermuda.  These were men who joined al Qaeda after the group had declared war on the United States and trained at the group’s camp in Tora Bora, Afghanistan.  Bermuda is a British territory.

So you’d think that the Brits might like to know that people trained by al Qaeda were being released into a territory where they’re responsible for the security.  Apparently Obama not only didn’t extend our allies any such courtesy, but actively sought to keep the Brits from knowing what was happening.

A senior US official has told the BBC Washington decided not to tell London ahead of time about a deal to resettle four Guantanamo detainees in Bermuda. …

The unnamed senior official also told the BBC that Washington was attempting to shield the UK from Chinese anger. …

Pressed on whether the US had told the British government, an unnamed state department official was quoted as saying: “We did talk to them before the Uighurs got on the plane.”

Now a senior US official has told the BBC it was a deliberate decision not to consult London on the resettlement, after other countries came under pressure from China not to accept the Uighurs.

In a highly unusual move, a senior US official said Washington opted to keep details of the deal from London until the last minute to enable Britain to deny all knowledge of the deal and thus avoid China’s anger, says the BBC’s Washington correspondent Kim Ghattas.

“We did talk to them before the Uighurs got on the plane.” 

Well, that was big of them.

This shows just how desperate a political situation Guantanamo Bay has become for Obama.  He spent so much time demagoguing the issue on the campaign trail, and is now under so much pressure from his liberal base to close the detention facility whatever the cost in terms of security, that he’s resorted to bribing island republics and screwing over our allies to get it done.

By the way, remember when the liberals were calling former British Prime Minister Tony Blair a “lapdog” for President Bush?  Well it seems to me that Bush and Blair had a good, mutually respectful working relationship.  Prime Minister Gordon Brown, on the other hand, just got four al Qaeda trained terrorists dumped on his territory without so much as a memo in warning.

Heck, remember that the White House actively sought to keep the British government from knowing.

But hey.  At least Brown has that nice DVD collection Obama gave him.