Popbitch on Libya
You can always rely on Popbitch to come up with an unusual take on the most serious of stories. This was in today’s edition.
Convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi has requested to be returned from Libya to prison in Scotland for his safety…
I wouldn’t think it’s true, but it could easily be argued that even the most violent prison in Scotland will be much safer than Libya.
Should We Rescue Britons From Libya?
The question has to be asked, “What all these people are doing in Libya?”
Most have gone there to make a lot of money. So shouldn’t they or the companies they work for be responsible for getting them home.
After all, when I had my stroke in Hong Kong, it was up to me to pay to get myself back to UK.
People can’t have it all ways. High salaries and probably low taxes in a country run by a mad and very dangerous nutter and then be expected to be brought home, when he finally loses it.
Gaddafi on the Ropes
It looks like the odious Colonel Gaddafi’s evil hold on Libya is coming to an end.
His son has blamed all and sundry in a speech.
But we are the ones to blame, just as we were to blame for the rise of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
Western governments seemingly will do anything to get the oil they need to keep their people happy, so we gave them everything they wanted years ago.
As an example, when Yvonne Fletcher was shot dead outside the Libya embassy in London, we let the Libyans sneak out of the country, without a proper investigation. Some believe that the shot didn’t come from the embassy, but surely a thorough investigation at the time could have proved the truth.
Supposedly now, some claim that we are selling him the arms he has used to kill his own people.
We’ll do anything to get oil! But as I have shown in the last few months, only the selfish need a car of their own. We’ll all going to have to change our lifestyle sooner or later, so why not do it now?
Who’d Go on Holiday to Libya?
Out of curiosity I typed Lybia holidays into Google and found that I could book one with several reputable countries.
Even without the current troubles, you wouldn’t find me going to Libya, as I don’t give dictators any money and wish them the bad luck they deserve. Also included on my list are any countries without proper democracy, those that have cruel dictators and those that still use the death penalty.
On the other hand if say the United States wanted to give me a large sum of money for something I’d created, I would go to collect it. I’m not that stupid, but they’d hear my views on the death penalty in no uncertain terms.
How to Behave, Libyan Style
This article in The Times caught my eye. Here’s the first two paragraphs.
A Swiss businessman who has been holed up in his country’s embassy in Tripoli for much of the past 19 months finally surrendered to the Libyan authorities yesterday after they ringed the compound with police and allegedly threatened to storm it.
Max Göldi walked out of the embassy and was taken to prison two hours after a noon deadline that the Libyan regime had set for his surrender. It was the latest twist to a saga that began when Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s son was arrested in Geneva in 2008 and led to Libya denying entry to most Europeans last week.
Colonel Mad (a.k.a. Gaddafi) seems to be up to his old tricks again, perhaps this time on behalf of his son, Hannibal. The son, sounds like a very bad chip off the old block, if the list of his offences in the article is to be believed. But he’s obviously a devout Muslim, so it doesn’t matter.
But we’re supposed to be all friend’s with Gaddafi now. He has the oil. And the blood on his hands!
No Smoke?
The Megrahi affair refuses to go away.
The Sunday Times says that Jack Straw.
Backed down citing “overwhelming” UK interests. A major oil deal was being discussed at the time.
So how much did Prudence and his cronies really know?
Prudence Gets Angry
Gordon Brown is now reported to be very angry about how the Libyans have feted Megrahi when he returned home.
But he has said nothing on his part in the early release of Megrahi except that it was all down to the Scottish government. That strikes me as a bit of a cop out.
The Daily Mail thinks he has something to hide. Perhaps, he doesn’t, as he has actually done nothing, which would be even worse.
I’m just waiting for the day his government goes and the next Prime Minister is able to unlock the files and see the truth about what has happened under this disastrous idiot.
A Legal View on Megrahi
My posts on Megrahi seem to be getting a lot of hits, as obviously and quite rightly people are concerned and interested in the case.
I found this post by Jonathan Mitchell, QC. It covers the law and some of the reactions in detail. This is the opening paragraph.
If Megrahi was indeed rightly convicted of mass murder, which I doubt, it is not in doubt that he acted on the orders of the Libyan government. He was a senior member of its intelligence service. Yet both the UK and US governments have for some years been on friendly terms with the people who, they say, ordered the destruction of PanAm 103. They dine with them. They have cocktails with them when they meet at mutual friends. The week before Megrahi’s release, as reported in the Washington Post, a delegation of four American senators led by John McCain met with Colonel Gaddafi to discuss the sale by the US to Libya of military equipment. In April, Hilary Clinton welcomed another member of the Gaddafi family, the régime’s National Security Adviser, to Washington. She said “We deeply value the relationship between the United States and Libya. We have many opportunities to deepen and broaden our cooperation. And I’m very much looking forward to building on this relationship. So, Mr. Minister, welcome so much here.”
Read the full article.
Libya, the West and Al-Megrahi
This is the headline of an editorial in the Khaleej Times, which is an English language publication in the UAE.
It sums up the issues well and doesn’t really take any particular point of view. But it does add a fact that a lot of people seem to be forgetting in the last paragraph. That is the shooting down by the USS Vincennes of an Iranian Airbus.
Most Western intelligence services saw the bombing of Pan Am 103 as an act of revenge, which obviously it was. The US warship Vincennes had shot down an Iranian Airbus five months before the Pan Am bombing, killing all 290 mostly Iranian passengers, and the Iranians were seen as getting even. Of course, this is not to suggest Teheran had been behind the bombing. As we have argued, there was no dearth of America’s enemies then, just as there’s no dearth of them now. Just about any body could have done it. This is why the Western nations and Libya would do well to exercise restraint. They mustn’t undo all the good work that has been done to bridge the gulf between the Arab country and the West.
The last point is also put very well.
What’s done is done and although it was horrific beyond belief, we all owe it to the world to move on.
The Anonymous Widower 