No Gitmo-Berkeley Hook-Up

I admit to being relieved that Berkeley will not officially admit a couple of Gitmo terrorists to live in our fair city, which was the loopy idea of some far-lefties. They see the Guantanamo prison to be a foul leftover from the evil Bush Administration, and if they can’t shut it down, then they can at least demonstrate their superior pacifist virtue by welcoming the gentle victims of the meanie Bush.

Anyway, federal law does not permit Gitmo terrorists to be released into the country, so the peaceniks didn’t really have to worry about any genuinely dangerous people being added to the reprobate Berkeley criminal class.

But the vote indicated that the city leadership is not completely insane. We have low expectations in blue states.

They are dumb as rocks, these peace-and-love types:

Berkeley votes against welcoming Gitmo detainees, Associated Press, February 16, 2011

The Berkeley city council, known for its forays into international affairs, has narrowly rejected a measure that would have welcomed freed Guantanamo Bay detainees to resettle in this California college town.

The resolution would have asked Congress to allow Guantanamo prisoners who have been cleared of wrongdoing to resettle in the U.S. — and invited “one or two” of them to live in Berkeley.

The measure lost in a 4-1 vote, with four abstentions, late Tuesday.

At least two other U.S. cities — Amherst and Leverett in Massachusetts — have approved similar resolutions aimed at clearing the way for Guantanamo detainees to come the U.S. after their release from the American detention facility in Cuba.

“These men have suffered immensely,” said Cynthia Papermaster, who heads Berkeley No More Guantanamos. “It’s the right thing for all U.S. citizens to say, ‘We’re sorry for what happened to you. If you want to come here, we have a place for you.’”

Papermaster, a Berkeley resident who asked the council’s Peace and Justice Commission to consider the measure, said former detainees would be sponsored by volunteers and nonprofit groups, and no city money would be used to support them. [. . .]

The resolution singled out two Guantanamo detainees who have been cleared of wrongdoing but don’t want to return to their home countries because they fear persecution — Ravil Mingazov, a Russian ballet dancer, and Djamel Ameziane, an Algerian chef.

Perfect! A ballet dancer and a chef were probably the most Berkeley-appropriate terrorists the peaceniks could dig up.