The special relationship between the U.S. and UK has taken some hits in recent months, at least in terms of public perception. And now it appears that the UK is not too happy that Bermuda, which is an overseas territory within its sovereignty, has agreed to the Obama administration's request to take in four Uighurs from Gitmo.
The Times (UK) describes the British government's response as "ill-disguised fury" and provides quotes from a statement by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office:
"We've underlined to the Bermuda Government that they should have consulted with the United Kingdom as to whether this falls within their competence or is a security issue, for which the Bermuda Government do not have delegated responsibility."
"We have made clear to the Bermuda Government the need for a security assessment, which we are now helping them to carry out, and we will decide on further steps as appropriate."
The bottom line is: The Obama administration negotiated the transfer of four Uighur detainees to Bermuda without first gaining approval from the British government. I suppose there are some in Bermuda's government that don't see this as necessarily a bad thing. There are some who want independence from the Brits. But you would expect that the Obama administration would at least seek to assuage British concerns first, instead of provoking British "fury."
Is this how diplomacy is done in Obama's supposedly new-found "multilateral" age?
We eagerly await objections from the left concerning Obama's cowboy-like unilateralism.
(Hat tip: Ben Smith at Politico)
