Posted on 06/17/2009 1:06:45 PM PDT by SJackson
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.
Bermuda, Britain's oldest remaining dependency, is one of 14 overseas territories that come under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom, which retains direct responsibility for such matters as foreign policy and security.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Palau got $200 million to settle 4 of them. The articles below, can't be posted here, imply Bermuda expects to get a nice chunk of financial bailout $$$. The Brits get screwed.
And the Uighurs are happy! They're being resettled, got ties and lessons in tying them, cellphones to call relatives, ice cream, swimming at the beach and lawyers! The better to sue the US with I suppose.
Bill Zuill: So what does Bermuda get out of it?
America's 'Bermuda solution' angers Britain
Bermuda protesters denounce Guantanamo decision--Complete article at link
HAMILTON (Reuters) - Hundreds of protesters called for Bermudian Premier Ewart Brown to step down on Tuesday and accused him of acting like a dictator in allowing four Guantanamo prisoners from China to settle on the mid-Atlantic island.
Some 600 people gathered outside Parliament in the island's capital Hamilton, waving banners and chanting "Brown must go" as they marched to the Cabinet office.
Brown emerged from the building and shouted to the booing crowd: "As some of you might know, I grew up in the protest era. This is nothing new to me. I have seen them larger and longer," he said.
Under an agreement with Brown, the United States last week sent to the British territory four members of China's Muslim Uighur minority who had been held at the Guantanamo prison camp long after the U.S. military and courts determined they posed no threat.
There is nothing to force them to stay in Bermuda either. So the money is not contingent on us knowing that they are parked on an island somewhere.
I hope this blows up in Obama’s face. Think about it - an international crisis between UK, China and US over Obama’s scheme to offload the Gitmo detainees.
Looks like Hillary was too stupid to realize that Bermuda was British territory. The Brits should send the Uigers on to China.
If this had been done during a Republican administration we’d be hearing about it nonstop!!!
Bermuda Uighurs Are Lazy Welfare Queens
no one is working. All they do is eat ice cream and catch dumb fish and go swimming in their tee shirts, like grandfathers.
I went swimming in the ocean for the first time ever yesterday, and it was the happiest day of my life
You just drop the hook in the water and you get a fish
What's to stop Britain from picking them up and flying them straight to China?
Right. It’s not like they are in custody or anything.
The whole thing makes me sick.
As guest workers I presume they don't get passports. And I assume they're on the terrorist watch list, so will be swimming to the continent, but you never know. They sound pleased for now. Fishing, swimming, no complaints.
I would think that's a possibility should China request extradition.
I am not so sure that our State Department new anything about this. The article I read the other day described the two officials that accompanied the detainees from Cuba to Bermuda as working out of the White House. I would assume the professionals at the state department would no better than to pull a stunt like this.
If they don’t have passports, are not prisoners, and do not have citizenship, then they are in the country illegally. They are either “free to go” or they aren’t.
Stripping them of citizenship puts them in a situation like the “man without a country” stranded at an airport.
How can you not tell a country you are sending terrorists to live there.
Why is our government being so nasty to Britain? What’s the problem? Are they too far ahead of us in destroying our respective countries?
As expatpat noted, it's possible whoever did this didn't know that Bermuda is a British territory. There's no level to the incompetence BHO has brought in to govern.
Of course Hillary told the Brits about it. She sent them a message on DVD.
The Brits have been slapped by Obama several times already in his short administration - time for the Foreign Office to show some spine and tell Barry that these guys either go back to Gitmo or they are on the first plane to China.
I HOPE! The Brits need to DO SOMETHING to slap down Obomba.
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