It's Not Bermuda But The Irish Like It

The recent removal of four Uighur prisoners from Guantanamo to Bermuda caused quite a stir.

Not that anyone was particularly upset at their release. After all, the men couldn't very well go home, not when the Chinese government was waiting for them with open arms...er, open cell doors and an open death sentence.

No, it was the fact that the impoverished Islamic lads ended up in the island paradise of Bermuda, on the U.S. taxpayer's dime. A stint in a lovely cottage was being paid for by people who were hard-pressed to pay their own bills, let alone even think about a vacation.

Two men from Uzbekistan are due to be released from Guantanamo soon. Again, they can't go back from whence they came and so they are being re-located.

Sorry, lads, but Bermuda is full up with former terrorist camp detainees.

Ireland has a couple of slots open. Cead mile failte, and yes, it is cold and damp.

Amnesty International worked behind the scenes to convince the Irish government that the two Uzbeks were quite harmless. They'll enter Ireland as something other than refugees, along with their families, in the hope that the Irish people will accept them as ordinary immigrants seeking opportunity in the Emerald Isle, where unemployment continues to climb and jobs continue to flee to Eastern Europe and Asia.

Colm O'Gorman of Ireland's Amnesty International section is thrilled to bits that his native land is playing a role in shutting down Guantanamo. Bet he'd be even more happy if the U.S. moved some of the unwanted detainees onto U.S. soil, but that's not about to happen.

Why would a politician expose himself to a voter's revolt, when he can find some other willing party to maintain the facade? Has no one asked why, if these two Uzbeks are so harmless, were they not relocated to Los Angeles or Dallas?

At least if they'd been sent someplace more akin to a tropical paradise, things would be fair for all former detainees. If four Uighurs get to go to Bermuda, you'd think that the Uzbeks would have pushed for Key West, Florida, at least. But Ireland?