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With all the fuss and explanations about the four Uyghurs, here is my definitive, factual, and honest recount of what actually took place; who did or said what and when events occurred; who knew what was happening; who did not know what was happening. The information comes from official sources in the U.K., the U.S., official local sources and from press releases.

Day 1: Sometime on Wednesday, May 20, Premier Brown commenced discussions with the U.S. government on receiving persons from the Guantanamo Detention Centre. The Premier asserted to the U.S. government that he had authority to negotiate. According to statements from the Premier, he did not inform any members of the Cabinet of the start or the content or purpose of these discussions. He did not inform the Governor or the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office [FCO] of any outline or detail of his discussions with the U.S. government.   

Day 7: Tue. May 26 - Discussions with the U.S. continued. Cabinet held its regular Tuesday morning session. The Premier did not inform Cabinet of his actions.

Day 14: Tues. June 2 - Discussions with the U.S. continued. Cabinet held its regular Tuesday morning session. The Premier did not inform Cabinet of his actions.

Day 21: Tues. June 9 - Discussions with the U.S. continued. Cabinet held its regular Tuesday morning session. The Premier did not inform Cabinet of his actions.

Day 22: Wed. June 10 - A small aircraft, not belonging to any airline flying a regular passenger or cargo schedule into Bermuda, and coming from the U.S., landed in Bermuda after dark (around 2330hrs).

This aircraft took off later (around 0030hrs on June 11). This aircraft lifted off with Minister for Public Safety, Lt.Col Burch, as a passenger. It flew to the U.S. Detention Centre at Guantanamo Base in Cuba where it landed on U.S. military territory (around 0300hrs). The four Uyghurs boarded the aircraft. Except for bringing Minister Burch into his collaboration, the Premier still had not informed any of the other eight members of Cabinet of his actions or of the impending arrival.

Day 23: Thurs. June 11  - the day the Uyghurs arrived in Bermuda:

0620hrs - After taking off from Guantanamo Base in Cuba (not later than 0400hrs) the aircraft made a pre-dawn landing at 0620hrs at L F Wade International Airport, Bermuda. The aircraft carried Minister Burch, four Uyghur ex-detainees, an American interpreter, American lawyers, and U.S. State Department/Department of Justice personnel. The Bermuda Police did not know that four ex-detainees and others were arriving, in Bermuda, from Guantanamo, Cuba. The Governor was not aware that four ex-detainees had landed. The Premier still had not informed Cabinet.

0820hrs - Two hours after their landing, the Governor of Bermuda was informed that four refugees were coming to Bermuda. The Bermuda Police were subsequently informed by Government House. For at least two hours - from 0620hrs to their being informed around 0830hrs - the Bermuda Police were unaware that four ex-detainees from the Guantanamo Detention Centre had landed in Bermuda. Cabinet was still kept uninformed.

0845hrs Bda Time/0745hrs U.S. EST - Press releases started going out from the U.S. State Department/Department of Justice, and then from Premier Brown. These were sent to the media. At this time, the Premier still had not informed Cabinet.

Around 1100hrs - Through Bermuda's media, the other eight Cabinet Ministers (including the Deputy Premier and the Attorney General/Minister for Justice) finally began learning of the arrival in Bermuda, four hours earlier, of the four ex-detainees. 

The people of Bermuda also learned, for the first time, that four ex-detainees from the U.S Detention Centre at Guantanamo had been landed in Bermuda and, according to the Premier, were to be granted the right to live and work in Bermuda; and were to be offered Bermuda status.

Time not known on Thurs. June 11 - U.S. Consul Gregory Slayton was informed, by the U.S. State Department operative who had arrived with the clandestine operation, that these events had already occurred.

For the record, the United States, in answering queries from the FCO, said that it understood that the Premier of Bermuda had the right to negotiate in this case because the Premier asserted such to them.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent a letter on July 14 to Premier Brown thanking him for accepting the four Uyghurs. President Obama, during a June press conference, mentioned and thanked Bermuda for accepting the four Uyghurs.

Palau, Italy, Portugal, and Spain are some of the countries considering taking ex-detainees from Guantanamo. In all cases, especially in the small country of Palau - which is still negotiating taking the remaining 13 of the seventeen Uyghurs - all countries are conducting discussions in the open and with input from their electorates or people's representatives.

Since 2007, all those countries that have already accepted ex-detainees did so with everyone made fully aware of the intended action before the action occurred.

The U.S. Congress, reflecting the views of their constituents, refused to allow President Obama to resettle any Uyghur ex-detainees in the U.S.

Cabinet met on Tues. May 19, one day before the Premier commenced discussions with the U.S. government. On this day, the Premier could have told Cabinet that discussions would commence on the next day - Wed. May 20.

The Deputy Premier, the Attorney General/Minister for Justice, and the Cabinet, could have been told of impending discussions, or of discussions that were actually taking place on any of 22 days. 

In the final seven hours between 2330hrs Wed. June 10 and 0620hrs on Thursday June 11, this Parliamentary group as well as the Governor and Bermuda Police could have been told of actions that were then actually happening.

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