What does it say when someone who engineered the murder of hundreds of innocent civilians in an American airliner is given one in Libya?
What it says to me is that we, and the West (even if we and they don’t recognize it) are in a de facto war with that nation. Of course, that’s really been the case for over two-hundred years — it’s just been a prolonged (and often faked) truce.
If nothing else, it should be a good lesson to the Obama administration.
This day should be remembered along with Germany’s release of the killer of Robert Stethem. That terrorist was also sentenced to “life”. He was released after 19 years.
These Western governments provide a poor example to those against the death penalty. I’m against it myself, but it can’t be ended while fools like this might be in charge.
Amnesty and HRW would be screaming about this if they truly wanted the U.S. to abolish the death penalty.
As with Iran, the war will continue because we refuse to recognize that we are at war.
I would apologise on behalf of the UK for this decision, but actually I am not going to. Why? Because it was not the UK’s decision. It was the decision specifically of Scotland, to where such matters have recently been devolved. And I am English.
Control of the Scottish Parliament swops at regular intervals between Labour and the SNP, both of which are only slightly to the right of Lenin.
My opinion? This man was an agent of the Libyan Government. At the very least, he should have been executed (preferably in public and by an extremely unpleasant method such as short-drop hanging) and sent back to Libya in pieces, wrapped in bacon.
I would have supported bombing Libya back into the Stone Age. This didn’t happen; as usual, the reason was money – oil equipment contracts, in this case.
And why were we spending large amounts of money on his medical treatment, recently? He should have been taken off his pain meds and left in a soundproofed room to rot.
By analogy, does the fact that the OJ verdict (which also set free a brutal killer) was greeted with joy by millions of African Americans indicate the continuation of a de-facto war between black and white America?
In both cases I’m not sure that “war” is the best way to look at it. It is definitely the case that Libyans and African Americans see themselves as aggrieved parties, at the hands of Western colonialism and white supremacism, respectively. In both cases they celebrate seeing the tables turned for once — it does not erase centuries of perceived and real oppression and humiliation, but it’s a feel-good moment for them.
That’s bad news if we were counting on Libya’s vote in a “most beloved nation” poll, but it’s hardly the same thing as war.
By analogy, does the fact that the OJ verdict (which also set free a brutal killer) was greeted with joy by millions of African Americans indicate the continuation of a de-facto war between black and white America?
No. That’s an idiotic analogy.
Jim, the Lybian agent was found “guilty” during a criminal-trial by jury. OJ Simpson was found “not guilty” by the same method. Please don’t tell us you can’t fathom the difference. Even for you, that would stretch credulity.
My understanding was that the celebrants believe the guy is innocent. Cheering for someone believed to be wrongly accused is much less odious than cheering for a terrorist. (By the way, I have a friend who was very close to people killed on that plane, and I saw her grief, so please don’t mistake this comment for any sympathy for terrorists.)
Bob, the only reason they think he is innocent is because they think it is OK to kill us.
That does not make it better.
My understanding was that the celebrants believe the guy is innocent.
I’ve noticed that Arabs are quite capable of believing two contradictory things at the same time, like Arabs weren’t capable of bringing down the twin towers and that it was great that they did it.
If the guy served an even 8 years in prison, that works out to a little over 11 days for each person he killed. So, if someone were to murder only 1 person in Scotland, would they be out of prison in less than 2 weeks or is there a discount for murdering in volume?
I’ve noticed that Arabs are quite capable of believing two contradictory things at the same time, like Arabs weren’t capable of bringing down the twin towers and that it was great that they did it.
I believe that’s a property of humans, not Arabs specifically. There are non-Arabs who believe that the government can’t do anything right, and that everyone will choose to get their health insurance from the government. That Medicare can’t control its spending, and that it will pull the plug on granny to save money. That no government bureaucrat can be trusted to make a life and death decision, and that a few hundred government bureaucrats can be trusted to run a war-torn country of 25 million people. That it’s okay for the government to listen in on citizens’ phone calls without a warrant, but not okay for the government to be given citizens’ email addresses. Etc.
If the guy served an even 8 years in prison, that works out to a little over 11 days for each person he killed.
He was released because he has 3 months to live. I don’t agree with the decision, but it wasn’t motivated by a judgement that he’d been in prison long enough. If he’d been healthy enough to spend another 30 years in prison, he would have.
About this mess; some of you might have forgotten that this jihadist scumbag murdered 11 Scots as well – which makes his release on “compassionate grounds” by the Scottish government even more disgusting. He didn’t have much compassion, did he?
And one more thing again about this that REALLY makes me incandescent – part of the reason for release was Ramadan. Yes, that’s right – the reason was the same religion that he murdered 270 people for.
Not all Brits are like our courts and judges though. I remember seeing a report that one of the emergency personnel summoned to the Glasgow Airport bombing last year refused to even attempt to help. IIRC, the precise words used were “Let the bastard burn”.
bullet in the back of the head, ’nuff said.