Reading through the Royal Gazette today expecting the usual Bermewjan shenanigans I was quite frankly shocked to see a Dr. Brown worthy opinion being expressed across the pond by none other than a former Law Lord, Lord Goldsmith.
"He told The Independent: "The UK should offer to take more of those detainees... More could be done, as illustrated by the recent row over the US negotiations to transfer some to Bermuda. The Foreign Office was upset that the Americans negotiated directly with the Bermuda Government, bypassing the British.
"However, the real point is that if the Foreign Office and the British Government had been more helpful regarding detainee transfers then the US wouldn't have felt that it had to go direct to the Bermudans (sic).""
Don't be alarmed if you have to read that one a few times just to make sure that you're understanding what's being said correctly. It appears to be a common side effect along with repetitive head to desk contact and weeping.
Although hardly necessary in my opinion I shall now break down this little jewel for anyone who cares to read on.
"The UK should offer to take more of those detainees"
I am more than tired of hearing that any country other than the U.S. should be "accepting more of those detainees". It is absolutely disgraceful that the U.S. can get away with such incredibly hypocritical behavior. Obama seems to pander only to his American voters rather than to the global community as the so called "leader of the free world" should. In this way he is just as bad as his predecessor (although Bush couldn't even please his own people never mind the international community). Until the U.S. will accept responsibility at least part of a problem that THEY created they have no moral ground to stand on when they wish for others to accept these detainees. The U.S. can beat the humanitarian drum as loudly as they like and leaders like Dr. Brown can beat their people over their heads with it until the cows come home but, I for one am sick and tired of this hypocrisy and quite frankly childish behavior. It is unfortunate that these detainees are caught in the middle of this situation but, the U.S. can not be allowed to hold the rest of the world hostage. Two wrongs do not make a right and quite frankly no the ends do not justify the means so do it right and do it, at least partly, yourself.
"More could be done"
Hmm... Duh
Step 1 - America accepts responsibility for at least some of the detainees
Step 2 - After a reasonable amount have been accepted into America further relocation efforts are pursued through the proper channels
Doesn't take a Law Lord to work that plan out.
"The Foreign Office was upset that the Americans negotiated directly with the Bermuda Government, bypassing the British."
Lets see if we can do a bit of word association here:
Law Lord -> Laws -> Constitution
Am I really so naive to think that a Law Lord should understand the importance of a constitution? I really hope that I'm not. Purely to preserve my sanity I'm just going to assume that this Lord Goldsmith spoke without researching the Bermudian constitution. For those of you that have forgotten the Bermuda constitution reserves the responsibility for external affairs for the Governor (presumably with the assistance of the British Foreign Office). Rather than some petty ego issue that Lord Goldsmith seems to suggest is the cause of the row it is in fact a breach of law, yes Law Lord Goldsmith, law! Surely someone involved so closely in Law should be aware of the severity of a breach of the constitution.
"However, the real point is that if the Foreign Office and the British Government had been more helpful regarding detainee transfers then the US wouldn't have felt that it had to go direct to the Bermudans (sic)."
Oh... So it's Britain's fault and there I was blaming Dr. Brown and his American contacts. How could I have been so silly? How could it be the American's fault that they conducted negotiations with someone they knew didn't legally have the right to do so, obviously they were forced to do so because Britain wasn't willing to lie down and let the American government walk all over them and force them to accept more detainees than they felt they should.
What a ridiculous world...
Law Lord used to be a title that carried a certain amount of respect to me much like the Premier in Bermuda. On both instances now I've been shown that to expect that someone who holds such titles to possess certain levels of maturity, reason and goodness is nothing but
Wishful Thinking
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