From Guantanamo to the Millionaire's Playground: Obama Unfolds a Secret Deal
Obama's plan to close down the Guantanamo Bay detention center, which he was willing to allocate $80 million towards, has recently caused a stir with the release of four formerly suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda allies. According to a UK Daily Mail Online article, "The former terror suspects are Uighurs - members of China's Muslim Turkic-speaking minority - and hail from a rugged province in the far west of the country." All of the Uighurs were captured in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Once they were determined unthreatening to the United States, the government decided to release these detainees. But because no country volunteered to take them, Obama's administration had to "ride roughshod" over the UK in securing a deal- the deal being that the Uighur detainees would start a new life in the tropical paradise of Bermuda.
The UK Daily Mail Online report announced that this "surprise deal, done behind Britain's back, has angered many of the island's 68,000 people and prompted a call by the opposition for the local Parliament to hold a no-confidence vote in the government." Chair of the instrumental Commons foreign affairs committee, Mike Gapes, disappointed with Obama's decision declared that "The U.S. is clearly determined to act in what it perceives as its own national interest even riding roughshod over what it should have done, which is spoken to the British Government."The Bristish government retains control over Bermuda's foreign affairs, security, and defense.
"While Bermudians generally welcome visitors to the island, the idea that the Uighurs may one day become 'naturalized citizens' incensed locals." Should the Uighurs be granted Bermudian citizenship, they would also theoretically become British citizens.This concept is not going over well for those that felt like this was an undermining move by the Obama Administration. "Immigration is one of the most hotly debated topics on the tiny and overcrowded island."
If Obama's use of our tax money hasn't been extravagant enough, American taxpayers are now paying the bill for the beautiful beach-front cottages the once terrorist suspects are living in. While many Americans are struggling to keep their heads above water in this economy, these ex-detainees are taking our tax money as they take a sunset swim with Government liason Glenn Brangman, stroll on the beach, and fish in a place most Americans currently cannot afford to vacation to.
If this much commotation has come from the release of four detainees, think of what Obama and his administration are going to face when they attempt to release over 200 more detainees, which Obama plans to do by 2010. Although Obama originally announced that the detainees would not touch American soil, Administration officials have retracted this, saying that more than 100 prisoners may need to be moved to the United States because they are too dangerous to release.
Why did the Obama Administration have to get their hands dirty with this mess?