Two Gitmo Detainees Headed to Ireland

Yeah!!! Good on the land of my ancestors.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs announced this morning that Ireland today announced it will accept two Uzbek detainees transferred from Guantanamo Bay.

“I know they wanted to be helpful, and we appreciate their willingness and ability to do that,” Gibbs said of the offer from the Irish government. “These were detainees that were ruled to be able to be transferred without further detention.”

(snip)

Irish justice minister Dermot Ahern said in a statement that “In making this decision I am conscious of the intention of the United States to close the center at Guantánamo Bay, in part by transferring detainees, no longer regarded as posing a threat to security but who cannot return to their own countries, to other countries willing to accept them.”

Obama Offered Irish Ambassadorship To Rep. Pete King (R-NY)

Other than the straight up loveliness of the politics behind this, the fact that King plans to run for the Senate (and should have his butt handed to him) makes it even sweeter. Believe me, come 2010 when King ends up with nothing to do with his days, that gorgeous residence in Phoenix park is going to make him very sad.

Still not convinced President Obama wants to sabotage the Republican party by luring all moderates** to his side?

The New York Daily News reports the White House "dangled the ambassadorship to Ireland" in front of Rep. Pete King (R-NY).

However, King "chose to remain in Congress despite the Democrats' desire to wipe out all the Republican members of Congress in the Northeast."

**Pete King a moderate?

Obama taps Steelers owner as ambassador to Ireland

I'm seriously jealous. That's the Ambassador's residence that sits smack dab in the stunning Phoenix Park in Dublin. If I had only known that owning a NFL franchise was what it took...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Tuesday selected Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney to be U.S. ambassador to Ireland, turning to a lifelong Republican who provided the Democrat critical campaign support during the White House race.

The 76-year-old Rooney endorsed Obama over Hillary Rodham Clinton during Pennsylvania's contentious Democratic primary; Clinton won the contest last April. Rooney later campaigned for him in Steelers country in western Pennsylvania, and Obama went on to win the state last November.

In the 1970s, Rooney helped found the American Ireland Fund, an organization that has raised millions for advocacy of peace and education in Ireland. His legacy is reflected in a Steelers-themed bar in a disused linen mill in one of the roughest parts of northwest Belfast.