Britain Desperately Tries to Pretend that it Wasn't Mercenary Cowardice
From "Britain rejects talk of deal in Lockerbie release," by Danica Kirka, AP Writer (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090822/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lockerbie)
Gadhafi praised Prime Minister Gordon Brown and members of the royal family by name for what he described as influencing the decision to let the terminally ill Abdel Baset al-Megrahi return home to die. Thousands greeted al-Megrahi at the airport as he arrived in Tripoli after being freed Thursday from a Scottish prison.
"Good doggie! Nice doggie! You're not mad about me drowning your pup any more, are you! No of course not! Good doggie! Have some oil, you know you love the oil, num-nums!"
But British officials insisted they did not tell Scottish justice officials what to do - and in any case, they could not, because the decision was not theirs' to make.
I wonder how long it is before the English and Scots grasp that -- if this decision was really made indepedently by Scotland, that this is a good argument against Scots independence, because the Scots clearly aren't ready to handle themselves in the big bad world.
The idea that the British government and the Libyan government would sit down and somehow barter over the freedom or the life of this Libyan prisoner and make it form part of some business deal .... it's not only wrong, it's completely implausible and actually quite offensive," Business Secretary Peter Mandelson told reporters in London.
It's quite plausible. When a country loses its pride, it will submit to any humiliation in return for temporary gain.
Once upon a time, if Libya had pulled a Lockerbie on Britain, the British would have used it as an excuse to take over Libya. That was when Britain was proud. Interestingly enough, Minor Powers went out of their way to avoid doing that sort of thing to the British back then. Wonder why ...
Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill decided to release al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds because the Libyan has prostate cancer and was given only months to live by top British doctors. Compassionate leave for dying inmates is a regular feature of Scottish justice.
Note well -- it's "a regular feature of Scottish justice." It is NOT mandatory.
To further drive home the point, Brown released the text of a letter he sent to Gadhafi urging that al-Megrahi's return be treated as "a purely private family occasion."
"A high-profile return would cause further unnecessary pain for the families of the Lockerbie victims. It would also undermine Libya's growing international reputation," Brown wrote.
Prime Minister -- a reality check here?
You wrote a letter to the man who probably ORDERED the Lockerbie bombing pleading with him not to cause "further unnecessary pain for the families of the Lockerbie victims?
Did it not enter your empty British Establishment head that if Gadhaffi had not meant to cause such pain he would never have ordered the bombing in the FIRST PLACE?
You begged for compassion, basically, to the man who throughout the 1980's had training camps teaching Irishmen who to better blow up targets in your own cities!
What the hell did you EXPECT him to do? By writing that letter, you were actually communicating:
"and by the way, Colonel Gadhafi, if you want to score some more points at us, you could always have a big fancy welcoming party for your agent when you get him back. That would really embarass us!"
I think that this decisively establishes that Gordon Brown is a twit of the highest order. Not just releasing the agent, not just writing Gadhafi a pleading letter regarding the release, but then publicizing it after the fact?
Totally clueless.
Blair, who resigned in 2007, told CNN on Saturday that the Libyans did raise the issue of al-Megrahi but he told them he did not have the power to release the bomber.
In other words, Blair wasn't stupid enough to fall into the Libyan trap.
Although Libya has accepted formal responsibility for the attack over Scotland ...
Ok. My question is this.
Given that Libya has accepted formal responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing, why don't we and the British just make Libya a free-fire cruise missile training range? Smash their infrastructure. Then let them think we've given up on it, let them take out expensive international loans to rebuild it, then smash it again. We could film the action, sell it to TV news, and make money off of it which would be used to compensate the Lockerbie victims.
But naah. Even Bush wouldn't have done this, and with Obama in charge? Or Brown?
Maybe someday we'll get a competent President, and then Libya will burn.
As for this point ...
His lawyers have argued the attack was the result of an Iranian-financed Palestinian plot ...
I'm cool with bombing Iran, and giving Israel the green light to do anything they wish to the Palestinians. Not a problem.
(though I really think it was the Libyans!)
Gadhafi praised Prime Minister Gordon Brown and members of the royal family by name for what he described as influencing the decision to let the terminally ill Abdel Baset al-Megrahi return home to die. Thousands greeted al-Megrahi at the airport as he arrived in Tripoli after being freed Thursday from a Scottish prison.
"Good doggie! Nice doggie! You're not mad about me drowning your pup any more, are you! No of course not! Good doggie! Have some oil, you know you love the oil, num-nums!"
But British officials insisted they did not tell Scottish justice officials what to do - and in any case, they could not, because the decision was not theirs' to make.
I wonder how long it is before the English and Scots grasp that -- if this decision was really made indepedently by Scotland, that this is a good argument against Scots independence, because the Scots clearly aren't ready to handle themselves in the big bad world.
The idea that the British government and the Libyan government would sit down and somehow barter over the freedom or the life of this Libyan prisoner and make it form part of some business deal .... it's not only wrong, it's completely implausible and actually quite offensive," Business Secretary Peter Mandelson told reporters in London.
It's quite plausible. When a country loses its pride, it will submit to any humiliation in return for temporary gain.
Once upon a time, if Libya had pulled a Lockerbie on Britain, the British would have used it as an excuse to take over Libya. That was when Britain was proud. Interestingly enough, Minor Powers went out of their way to avoid doing that sort of thing to the British back then. Wonder why ...
Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill decided to release al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds because the Libyan has prostate cancer and was given only months to live by top British doctors. Compassionate leave for dying inmates is a regular feature of Scottish justice.
Note well -- it's "a regular feature of Scottish justice." It is NOT mandatory.
To further drive home the point, Brown released the text of a letter he sent to Gadhafi urging that al-Megrahi's return be treated as "a purely private family occasion."
"A high-profile return would cause further unnecessary pain for the families of the Lockerbie victims. It would also undermine Libya's growing international reputation," Brown wrote.
Prime Minister -- a reality check here?
You wrote a letter to the man who probably ORDERED the Lockerbie bombing pleading with him not to cause "further unnecessary pain for the families of the Lockerbie victims?
Did it not enter your empty British Establishment head that if Gadhaffi had not meant to cause such pain he would never have ordered the bombing in the FIRST PLACE?
You begged for compassion, basically, to the man who throughout the 1980's had training camps teaching Irishmen who to better blow up targets in your own cities!
What the hell did you EXPECT him to do? By writing that letter, you were actually communicating:
"and by the way, Colonel Gadhafi, if you want to score some more points at us, you could always have a big fancy welcoming party for your agent when you get him back. That would really embarass us!"
I think that this decisively establishes that Gordon Brown is a twit of the highest order. Not just releasing the agent, not just writing Gadhafi a pleading letter regarding the release, but then publicizing it after the fact?
Totally clueless.
Blair, who resigned in 2007, told CNN on Saturday that the Libyans did raise the issue of al-Megrahi but he told them he did not have the power to release the bomber.
In other words, Blair wasn't stupid enough to fall into the Libyan trap.
Although Libya has accepted formal responsibility for the attack over Scotland ...
Ok. My question is this.
Given that Libya has accepted formal responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing, why don't we and the British just make Libya a free-fire cruise missile training range? Smash their infrastructure. Then let them think we've given up on it, let them take out expensive international loans to rebuild it, then smash it again. We could film the action, sell it to TV news, and make money off of it which would be used to compensate the Lockerbie victims.
But naah. Even Bush wouldn't have done this, and with Obama in charge? Or Brown?
Maybe someday we'll get a competent President, and then Libya will burn.
As for this point ...
His lawyers have argued the attack was the result of an Iranian-financed Palestinian plot ...
I'm cool with bombing Iran, and giving Israel the green light to do anything they wish to the Palestinians. Not a problem.
(though I really think it was the Libyans!)