Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi has been convicted of Britains worst terrorist atrocity. The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 cost 270 lives on board the US plane and in the Scottish town of Lockerbie. The painstaking investigation and meticulous legal case built up against him and another former Libyan secret service agent, and the long diplomatic wrangle over their extradition, meant that it was not until 2001 that he was convicted in a Scottish court sitting in The Hague. He is now serving a life sentence in a Scottish jail, with a minimum tariff of 27 years.
Last year, however, he developed prostate cancer, diagnosed as terminal. The Scottish government is now considering his release on compassionate grounds. Reports suggest that he could be flown home to Libya within a week, in time for the start of Ramadan. Any such move would be an appalling miscarriage of justice and a political scandal, displaying contemptuous disregard for the families of his many victims.
Prisoners in Britain are not routinely released on compassionate grounds. Ronnie Biggs may have been let out to die; Myra Hindley was kept in prison until her death. Why should alMegrahi, convicted of killing more people than any other murderer in Britain, be set free when lesser-known prisoners are denied parole? The suspicion must be that two factors are swaying Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Minister. The first is a widespread and lingering concern that al-Megrahis conviction was somehow unsafe. The second is the hope that such a gesture would complete Britains reconciliation with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, and lead to substantial political and economic benefits. Neither has any place in a decision on an early release.
Al-Megrahi has always maintained his innocence. And although the court convicted him after an exhaustive review of the evidence, most people accept that the full story of the bombing has not come out and will probably never be known. It is hardly credible that a single lowlevel Libyan agent should have masterminded and executed such an elaborate terrorist plot. Intelligence officials have suggested that Iran, which suffered the loss of a passenger plane shot down in error by a US missile five months earlier at a cost of 290 lives, may have been implicated. Some of the Lockerbie victims families themselves have voiced doubts. But al-Megrahis appeal is going through. It should, perhaps, be accelerated. The outcome must be judged in court, not anticipated by a politician. If there has been a miscarriage of justice, a compassionate release will not right that wrong but prolong it for ever.
The second factor, were it true, would be even more disgraceful. Justice must never be perverted by political expediency, as it was over investigations into BAes dealings with the Saudis. Colonel Gaddafi will soon celebrate the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought him to power. On the eve of his address to the UN General Assembly, the return of al-Megrahi would confirm in Libyan and African eyes his rehabilitation and acceptance as a leader free from the taint of terrorism.
No British government should be party to any deal. Even a hint that al-Megrahis return would open the door to contracts in Libya is unacceptable. If British companies were invited in as a result, they could never free themselves from the association with a despicable deal.
A decision to free al-Megrahi must be driven neither by a sense of doubt nor the promise of profits, but by principles of justice. The families of US victims, the majority, would be outraged. The fallout would be bitter and shaming for the international standing of British law and for a devolved Scottish government. If an appeals court finds al-Megrahis conviction unsafe, he should be released. If not, he deserves no compassion.
On Sunday evening, I received a compelling email that I simply could not ignore calling me to action (click here to see a graphic of the full email):
All throughout August, our members of Congress are back in town. Insurance companies and partisan attack groups are stirring up fear with false rumors about the presidents plan, and its extremely important that folks like you speak up now.
So weve cooked up an easy, powerful way for you to make a big impression: Office Visits for Health Reform.
All this week, OFA members like you will be stopping by local congressional offices to show our support for insurance reform.
Well, as a bona fide, long-ago signed-up member of Organizing for Astroturfing, er, America, I could not turn down such an important request. (Never mind that the email refers to health reform and insurance reform, which, last time I checked, are different things.) So I went to the OFA website and found this sign-up form (red box at link added by me). It informed me of the 2nd District Republicans office hours, address, and phone number, and asked me to select a time to visit. Youll notice that the form also required me to provide my phone number, so that an organizer can follow up with you. How thoughtful.
Separately, in keeping with the spirit of the OFA email, I cooked up the idea of also visiting the office of 1st District Rep. Steve Driehaus, whose districts boundary is about ten miles away from the BizzyBlog bunker. Driehaus is, at least in theory, one of the on the fence Blue Dog Democrats. At an August 4 town hall meeting that made national news, he got an earful from those opposed to the plan and told those who attended that he hasnt decided how he will vote. Thus, Driehaus is a guy OFA should be targeting.
I made a commitment to visit Schmidts office at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, August 10, and to visit Driehaus at 3:00 p.m. In each case, I received a confirming email response that also directed me to a two-page Office Visits for Health Reform Guide (PDF).
As youll see, the guide has a few amazing claims, with no sourcing, about the cost of inaction in Ohio...I did my own sourcing and determined that the claims are either flat-out wrong or squishy deceptions....
Since Congressman Driehaus office is on the 30th floor of a downtown office building, most of his constituents cant come to see him unless they pay to park somewhere (as I did). Of all the sites he could have picked as his one and only First District office, he picked one at its furthest southeast end downtown. This doesnt seem like a guy whos a man of the peeps.
I got there at 3:25 p.m. You might think that I was worried about being late. After all, the rest of the 3:00 p.m. OFA crowd might have filled up the available meeting room and my precious activist voice might not be heard.
Not exactly.
Thats because I was the first and only visitor from Organizing for Astroturfing, er, America, that day. This either means that no one from OFA had committed to visit Driehaus office during any of the previous six hours or that, if they did, they didnt show up.
Because Driehaus was not available, the front-desk person located the congressmans community outreach/field representative, who told me that he had to be on a conference call shortly. He gave me his business card and said that he would be glad to meet with me at some other time to discuss ObamaCare. Since I didnt get a chance to do so during the visit, I separately spoke with that person on Wednesday and told him that I oppose ObamaCare and that the congressman, both as a representative and as a Catholic, should vote against it. Frankly (I didnt say this at the time, but should have), if alleged Catholic and Cincinnati Bishop Elder High School graduate Steve Driehaus doesnt understand how fundamentally immoral ObamaCares statist health care is, especially from a Catholic perspective — even if abortion is totally excised from it — hes beyond help.
Because my visit to Driehaus office was so brief, I was able to get to Congresswoman Jean Schmidts office 13 miles away on time to meet my 4:00 p.m. commitment. Ms. Schmidt was not there. The front-desk person at Ms. Schmidts office (which, by contrast, is located in a building where visitors can park for free), showed me that he had three earlier visitors who had dropped off their OFA fact sheets. One, who had written the word FREEDOM in large letters inside OFAs message box, used the opportunity to encourage Ms. Schmidt to continue to oppose ObamaCare. I did as well, without bothering to print anything out. The other two visitors to Schmidts office that day were ObamaCare supporters.
So lets recap: In 15 possible visiting hours on Monday, the two members of Congress had four OFA visitors — two for ObamaCare and two against. I have since followed up with the offices of Schmidt and Southwestern Ohios 8th District congressman, Republican John Boehner. They have reported slightly higher turnouts, but they were averaging nowhere near even one person per office per hour overall as of late Tuesday afternoon.
I doubt that readers are blown away by the grassroots support Organizing for Astroturfing, er, America, has been able to generate....
Posted by: Mike ||
08/14/2009 08:26 ||
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Link ||
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#1
Under the Obama administration, rent-a-crowds are now surprisingly affordable.
I think the writer is confusing two separate things: the tools of guerrilla warfare and terrorism. Roadside bombs, IEDs, infiltration, sabotage, and what have you are all used in irregular and for that matter regular warfare. What makes it terrorism is when the tools are used against illegitimate targets.
That's why the charges of "state terrorism" that periodically get chanted by various sources ring hollow. There ain't no such thing. States may oppress their citizens (and inhabitants -- not all are citizens) and they might commit war crimes, but they can only sponsor terrorism. The Basij are instruments of oppression; Hezbollah's a proxy for the Iranian government and it's a terrorist organization in that it takes hostages and blows people up.
I've never seen "V" but from the description it sounds like a fictional depiction of guerrilla warfare. Guerrillas may use terrorist tactics -- MILF in the Philippines and PUK in Turkey both pop to mind, and the Viet Cong were pretty devil-may-care when it came to the rules of war -- but terrorist organizations are conceived and organized for purposes of targeting civilians. That's the difference between MILF and Abu Sayyaf.
Yes, terrorism on US soil was once a good thing, at least to couch potatos. In the early eighties, TV viewers were treated to the series, "V," where shapely, just-out-of-the-beauty-salon aliens, duped Earthlings into outward cultural integration, as they implemented their hidden agenda: tricking us to journey to their homeland, where we would be served as dinner. Fortunately, Patriots got wind of their true reptilian nature, when they witnessed them devouring live mice, rats and bunnies, whole. Then, an armed rebellion commenced.
What does this have to do with the War on Terror? Re-runs of "V" reveal that Patriots used: Improvised Explosive Devises; Roadside Bombs; Hearts-and-Minds' cover for infiltration; Sniping; Theft of enemy weapons; Ambush; Conscription from the enemy (the actor who later worked as Freddy Kreuger, played one). In at least one episode, a wired man who was cornered blew himself up in order to destroy an enemy installation. (See Youtube for clips from that bizarre and silly series)
What is my agenda? The fact that even Hollywood script-writers know how to devise effective weapons on paper, should fall on the rest of us. Resources used by the enemy in Afghanistan are: Juggernaut-Weapons. The Taliban is using morale-killers that effectively tie up resources. They are working on the principle that they can win a protracted war. And win they will, if we continue to send NATO soldiers to battle, under UN rules of engagement. Lesson: use effective counters. Disproportionate-Retaliation is the only thing that has ever crushed a jihadi army, and must form the basis of NATO's operational policy. Further, we have to re-zone the terror-horde to encompass its source. Much of their action is cross-border, thus, sovereignty must not be an obstacle.
It will be ironic when next year's TV season features American Patriots using weapons and tactics that are being used against US soldiers in Afghanistan. "Winter Soldiers" and other morale-cripples will use that to defend enemy operations. Since Bismarck applied Rudolf Virchow's "Kultur Kampf" notion of social perma-war, wars have been - or should have been - fought on the battle-front and the home-front. No war can be won abroad, when it is being lost at home. Defeat follows defeatism.
Unitle Borgia4836, this reads like an opinion piece to me, so I moved it.
#3
Yah, "opinion" might be a better spot than "short attention span."
I forgot about "Red Dawn." And a little search tells me that that will be remade next year. I don't trust Hollywood. Leftists want an excuse to equate American opinion on occupation ethics, with that of Taliban/al-Qaeda.
So expect to see American rebels planting IEDs, etc. But don't think that these films are apolitical.
I only watched "V" to see "Diana," the shapeliest and most evil Reptilian, eating rodents. It was cool watercooler talk, back then. Check Youtube for the Twilight Zone classic, "To Serve Man." Spoiler: "It's a Cook Book."
#4
Totally agree with the commentary on the side. There was a Star Trek Next Gen Episode in which a terrorist said the only difference between a terrorist and folks like George Washington is between winners and losers and who writes the history books. Well history books can white-wash a terrorist of course but George Washington never targeted civilians.
#7
Damon Knight, author of How to Serve Man, should have sued.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
08/14/2009 18:20 Comments ||
Top||
#8
"We used biological warfare agz them" > IIRC, it was called "SEX", as a number of Allyens had had babies wid humans. PLUS, also IIRC, the aliens' diet extended to BIRDS???
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
