While some may be busy contriving mass global conspiracy theories on why we ended up with former Guantanamo Bay detainees it seems the blatantly obvious has been far too readily discounted; Premier Brown was already on his way out.  When we really get down to it Brown at best had months to go before a formal challenge of his leadership.  With his recent failures to get support for his bills in the house it was becoming increasingly apparent that the end of his reign may have been nearer still.  Brown knew it as did nearly everyone else, so why would Brown choose this as what could be his last act in office?

Premier Brown may be said to be many things but he is not an idiot when there is something to be gained.  He has proven far too cunning to be caught up in a move of simple ignorance to the potential fallout of a so called ‘humanitarian’ act gone wrong.  Is it really likely that Brown was so corrupt in his self belief in this being a good idea that he would not only disregard the biggest complaint that has ever been lodged against his leadership but also do so in such a grandiose fashion that turned this into an international incident?  This to take such a massive gamble for something to which he negotiated no upside aside from ‘doing the right thing’?  This simply doesn’t fit.

Certainly Brown could have negotiated something for Bermuda, anything really.  A cleanup of the waste at Morgan’s Point is something the United States should be doing anyway but would have been welcome and would have earned him at least some points.  How about resident as opposed to international school fees for Bermudian students?  Some concessions when it comes to this tax haven malarkey?  Surely there are a dozen ideas of what could have been negotiated that would have made this deal more palatable for Bermudians so why would we negotiate no compensation?  It simply doesn’t add up, why would Brown turn down the perfect opportunity to sweeten the deal?  It just doesn’t sound like his style.  That is, unless the deal really was sweetened, we just don’t know how and who will ultimately benefit.

So the question stands why Brown would take the chance of this being his legacy, his last act?  Why would he turn down the opportunity to come out looking like he’d gotten a great deal for Bermudians?  Why would he continue to perform as the one man band when it increasingly gets him booed off stage?  Why would he risk making this act his legacy?  Perhaps one more theory can be garnered through examining Brown’s infatuation with American politics and independence.  Could we wonder if perhaps the last acts accorded a leader of an independent nation served as an inspiration for his own last act?