Robert Spencer writes on Human Events about how Britain is shutting out free speech in discussing Islam and jihad…

The only doctor who made this claim wasn’t an oncologist or even a urologist (who might know something about the prostate). In fact, he might have been directly employed by the Libyans. The medical report stated that the “less than……

I’ve really come to respect…
You’re always on the cusp of the defining certitude…
I luv it…!

Though it must disagree with this assertion: it thinks that’s an incorrect extrapolation. The statement was in reference to the main point of this thread; that the return of Megrahi pivoted (mostly/partly?) on burgeoning petrol contracts between Libya and the UK, which spanks smacks of politics, and therefore prostitution. What Ghadaffi the Younger thinks doesn’t really concern it.

What’s this then?
–Fair action by the sound of things. Good on them.

Speaking of turnabout, a (believe it or not) friendly suggestion: if you want to claim the moral high ground, drop the Gollum-gone-Thelma Harper routine.

BBC: Call for Libya to pay IRA victims

Relatives of IRA terrorist victims have renewed their calls for compensation from Libya following the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

During the Troubles, Libya supplied guns and explosives to the IRA, and the families want the country to face up to its responsibilities.

They are calling on the Libyan leader to demonstrate the same compassion shown to Abdelbaset Ali Al Megrahi.

/nemo me impune lacessit

No. I wondered how creepy you are for maintaining “improved relations” (secured by releasing this thug) are worth the price of inflicting this awful agony– on victims’ widows, orphans and aging parents– if only “accompanied by little fanfare.”

Idiotarian sneered: “I am shocked that you could conspire to violate the survivors’ dignity for petroleum, among other things.” I think it was Reagan who said something about politics resembling the world’s oldest profession.

And now it equates victims’ compensation funds with prostitution– that Kaddafi was right to describe widows, orphans and aging parents as a bunch of “greedy” whores.

So, that’s how creepy it is, folks. Now we know. Pray we never meet in person.

Presumably some of the victims who aren’t included in this tort may hold other people (Loyalist paramilitaries, IRA splinter groups) responsible as well. But I trust you know exactly what all the aggrieved think and who they blame.

And your moronic insinuation that ILLICIT arms shipments are (somehow) morally equivalent to Kaddafi’s LICIT Libyan state-sponsorship shows very weak reasoning skills.
–I didn’t insinuate that – I was pointing out that Ghadaffi didn’t direct IRA policy and only provided a portion of the “tools” used to further their politics. Re: legality, Ghadaffi’s “donations” weren’t licit, either; that’s why they were typically smuggled on liners and container ships (e.g. the Claudia affair).

One major moral difference, if you like, is that the arms shipments from the US didn’t have the stamp of a US President, whereas Libyan equipment probably couldn’t have left that state without official state assistance. Another is that arming rather unpleasant “revolutionary” groups was a disproportionately focal part of Libyan foreign policy.

None of this changes the fact that the IRA were (and maybe are) dependent on arm supplies from North America and places outside Libya – including old British Army hardware.

No. I wondered how creepy you are for maintaining “improved relations” (secured by releasing this thug) are worth the price of inflicting this awful agony– on victims’ widows, orphans and aging parents– if only “accompanied by little fanfare.”
–Since oil is at the heart of the accusation in this thread, I’ll take that as a “yes, I am shocked that you could conspire to violate the survivors’ dignity for petroleum, among other things.” I think it was Reagan who said something about politics resembling the world’s oldest profession.

Because clearly, their suffering doesn’t concern you.
–Outside of killing this man (mentioned earlier, not the worst alternative as these things go), I’m not sure how their suffering could be eased. Doubtless this little escapade didn’t help. Their story is moving but I don’t pretend to share their grief or speak for them; some, surprisingly, supported Megrahi’s release.

I regret my support of his release given the consequences, even despite the possible benefits it might have accrued. But in this instance like a lot of things, words carry little weight after the fact.

Grade: F
–Would that be “fantastic” or “flattering?”

idiotarian drooled: Pretty sure the IRA was the IRA.

Not according to the IRA victims who (yes) still hold Kaddafi responsible for the IRA’s bloody atrocities. They can no longer afford to ignore the kabuki theatre of Libyan state-sponsorship.

And your moronic insinuation that ILLICIT arms shipments are (somehow) morally equivalent to Kaddafi’s LICIT Libyan state-sponsorship shows very weak reasoning skills.

idiotarian sneered: Are you saying oil isn’t worth blood?

No. I wondered how creepy you are for maintaining “improved relations” (secured by releasing this thug) are worth the price of inflicting this awful agony– on victims’ widows, orphans and aging parents– if only “accompanied by little fanfare.” Because clearly, their suffering doesn’t concern you.

idiotarian sneered: Sending him to die elsewhere won’t bring their families back.

Gee, thanks for reminding folks– as if that trite remark justifies Megrahi’s release. MacAskill’s appeasement conceit (cheapening the value of innocent blood) will only invite more terrorism against other families– as surely as rewarding Kaddafi will only embolden his jihadist proteges, imitators and competitors.

Grade: F

/dismissed

But now that you bring it up, the link you cited indicates that Republican paramilitaries obtained weapons from Europe, Libya, and, most importantly, the US.

The “Armalite and ballot box strategy” of the 80s and 90s had little to do with Muammar Ghadaffi or the victims of PA103 – mostly because he didn’t usually deal in US arms. Significantly, large elements of the IRA moved away from violence (the “Armalite”) as a political tool at the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which was a stepping stone to the (ongoing) Good Friday Agreement.

Here we see a perfect example of the dysfunctional moral compass that flew Lockerbie justice into ruin.
–Well thanks. If you’re done preaching, it might have been easier to shoot him. But clearly that option wasn’t on the table. Nor, apparently, is the Carthaginian scenario you’ve hinted at.

The oil “improved relations” secured by releasing this thug is (apparently) worth the price of inflicting this awful agony…
–Are you saying oil isn’t worth blood? Maybe I’m the only one who found that slogan insulting for the wrong reasons.

That release might be worth it if it helps influence a Libyan regime (Ghadaffi or not) to rejectterrorism as a central plank of its foreign policy.

not the agony WE inflicted upon the victims’ loved ones…
–Sending him to die elsewhere won’t bring their families back.

/Nemo me impune lacessit… Kaddafi delenda est

Grunchy Cranola: I supported the release of this thug on the condition that he was on his last legs, that it would improve relations with a regime that I despise but has moderated its behaviour towards the outside world, and that it would be accompanied by little fanfare. I should have known they would pull a Kuntar.

Here we see a perfect example of the dysfunctional moral compass that flew Lockerbie justice into ruin.

The oil “improved relations” secured by releasing this thug is (apparently) worth the price of inflicting this awful agony– on victims’ widows, orphans and aging parents– if only “accompanied by little fanfare.”

The shame of a cheering Libya mob– not the agony WE inflicted upon the victims’ loved ones– is all many find objectionable.

That appalling nihilistic animus is precisely what motivated this grotesque Faustian bargain.

/nemo me impune lacessit… Kaddafi delenda est

Grunchy Cranola: The IRA lost in Northern Ireland and show little enthusiasm for a second round with their countrymen. It appears British diplomacy had a role in their disarmament programme.

The sad irony (lost on Brits) is that Kaddafi was the IRA. Kaddafi financed, supported, trained and armed the IRA for decades.

Up to 6,000 innocents were killed or injured with Libyan supplied guns and explosives. And many IRA bombs employed the same Semtex that destroyed Clipper Maid of the Seas.

IRA victims still seek to hold Kaddafi accountable for those countless bloody atrocities.

Kaddafi’s IRA proxies might still be in business if not for the tireless efforts of the Victims of Pan Am 103 to sanction and isolate Libya.

/and no good deed goes unpunished

“Megrahi is all alone,” Mr Mandela told a packed press conference in the prison’s visitors’ room. “He has nobody he can talk to. It is a psychological persecution that a man must stay for the length of his long sentence all alone.”

Kaddafi even bought Megrahi’s wife and children an estate in Glasgow.

/“compassionate release” is a rancid lie

While one may empathize with the idea of compassion for the dying, the consequences of this decision – giving Ghadaffi’s purported hundreds of supporters and the worst of the Arab world a “victory” – are not commensurate with that principle.

I supported the release of this thug on the condition that he was on his last legs, that it would improve relations with a regime that I despise but has moderated its behaviour towards the outside world, and that it would be accompanied by little fanfare. I should have known they would pull a Kuntar.

Not hard to believe the British government would do this though given their shameful surrender to the IRA and desire to negotiate with the ‘moderate’ elements of the Taliban.

This would allow Megrahi “to continue his sentence in a Libyan prison, particularly since he is suffering from an advanced stage of cancer and has only a few weeks left to live,” the source added on condition of anonymity.

Back in April he had only a few weeks to live, it’s now late August and yet somehow he’s still alive.

I feel a miraculous recovery in the works or perhaps a very quick death with no one able to see the body and then Megrahi and his entire family will disappear from public view to an undisclosed location.