President Obama is really trying his hardest… to offend as many European allies as possible.  The Daily Telegraph‘s headline reads, “Barack Obama ignores British over sending Guantanamo four to Bermuda.”

Basically, this is what Obama did.  Facing increasing opposition to dispersing Guantanamo prisoners to other nations (especially in Europe, where I thought he was supposed to solve all our problems…), he worked directly with Bermudan Premier Ewart Brown to arrange for the transfer of four Uighur prisoners to Bermuda. One slight problem- Bermuda is soverign British territory.  They are a one of fourteen British terrorities spread across the globe.  So while they have self-rule, all foreign policy and security matters are handled by Her Majesty’s Government back in London.

As the Telegraph puts it:

“Late on Wednesday night, British officials received a telephone call from the Obama administration informing them that four Uighurs – Chinese Muslims – were about to board a plane at Guantanamo Bay bound for Bermuda.

It was a fait accompli, arranged directly between the Obama administration and Ewart Brown, the Bermudan premier. The UK had no choice – it was too late for any debate about the issue. The Uighurs (lucky them, for the alternative was Albania) would be on Bermudan soil by Thursday morning.”

The British quickly responded:

“David Miliband, Foreign Secretary, had called Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State, immediately to protest.

‘The Foreign Secretary registered his surprise. It was a regrettable mistake. Bermuda, the UK and the US now need to work together to fix it and make sure it doesn’t happen again.’”

What Obama did would be analogous to Raul Castro negotiating with Puerto Rico over transfer of political prisoners to Puerto Rican soil.  And what does this say about our special relationship with Britain going back to FDR and Winston Churchill?  Coupled with existing tensions with Germany, not such a great record on establishing good relations with our European allies…