Last April (9 months ago), I contrasted the sling and arrows of fortune as they applied to an admitted mass-murderer and one convicted of mass murder who always protested his innocence. (see Megrahi and Calley Compared and Contrasted)
Now, fully 9 months after the wholesale shock in the West at Megrahi’s early release (the personal recollectionally-challenged Vice-president Clinton was notable in her non-charitable words about all this), the journalists at the BBC have seen fit to look at the matter more closely. (see ‘Flaws’ in key Lockerbie evidence)
Well this is great! It looks like Megrahi was stitched up after all. As he has always claimed.
Research
Another ‘expert’ has decided that there was no way that a crucial piece of evidence could have survived the bomb blast. More importantly, the evidence wasn’t examined correctly and was just assumed to be “the bit that everyone was looking for”.
For me, the absolute key piece is that Megrahi was identified by someone in Malta who did not like him, several months after the bomb blast and even longer than after he’d met him!!! In all the cases of identification evidence, this has to be the most shoddy and flimsiest I’ve ever seen!!!
But the big questions are:
Why was none of this done decades ago?
What is wrong with us and our judicial system?
Why are so many innocents convicted for BIG crimes?
Of course, someone still did the heinous deed. It just wasn’t Megrahi, that’s all. But we all know where the solution lies.
Who? Who Are Megrahi and Calley Megrahi is a Libyan, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering 270 people by blowing up a 747 over Lockerbie in Scotland – but released early after 8 years (but 10 years in prison) and sent to Libya to die of cancer. Calley is an American, convicted and...
CIA Guilty of Torture and Kidnap – Damages of 1.5 Million Euros Amazing news today. An Italian court has bravely taken on the leader of the Western World and convicted 22 CIA agents of kidnap and torture. (see CIA agents guilty of Italy kidnap). The man on the left with the wacky beard and hat,...
His world view isn’t set by the media, and the Western media at that.
The thing is when Barack speaks…
Photos showing prisoner abuse in Iraq caused a major scandal in 2004 (click for news item)
The thing is, it all sounds great when Obama speaks. But as with everything, it’s actions that count, not words. And the latest action in America is not pleasant at all.
Under direct command from Obama, Defence Secretary Gates has blocked the publication of any more images featuring Americans abusing and torturing people.
Q. The Reason?
A. National security, of course!
These aren’t all old images, mind you! No! The images span the period from the Twin Towers’ collapse to 22 January 2009 – this year! Gates’ reason for blocking the picture releases is;
“Public disclosure of these photographs would endanger citizens of the US, members of the US armed forces, or employees of the US government deployed outside the US”
Germany Calling
Now can you imagine the scenario if a German had said that at the Nuremberg Trials after WW2? What would the US and British media have made of that? Let’s see what it sounds like, should we?
“Public disclosure of these photographs would endanger citizens of Germany, members of the German armed forces, or employees of the German government deployed outside Germany”
It’s ridiculous, isn’t it? The whole point is that these people have done wrong.
Obama and Opinion
Eye Swear, hope to die .......
Obama’s new response to the blocking of all torture images is wholly at variance with Eisenhower’s at the end of WW2.
Eisenhower got all media and persons to visit the death camps and tell everyone they knew all about them.
Obama? He said;
“…the release of such images would be ‘of no benefit’ and might inflame opinion against the US” – !!!! ???
My opinion is that across the globe, people have been yearning for some leadership on this. A demonstration of the ‘right way’ to behave. A feeling that justice can be done. A beacon of hope to show that actions and attitudes really can change.
There’s a fat chance of anything like that now, is there?
Q. Just what exactly did Obama learn when he lived abroad and elsewhere as a “normal person” as this author confidently states?
A.It certainly wasn’t ethics and it certainly wasn’t honour.
France
Shakespeare says in Henry V, “Done like a Frenchman: turn, and turn again!” So despite being cool about Sarkozy, Obama has definitely picked up lots of tips on his French trip on D-Day this year about how to behave like Frenchman and how to run a Republic.
See My Old Posts on This – I won’t stop until they do!
Brave Italians versus Torture – (CIA Guilty of Torture and Kidnap – Damages of 1.5 Million Euros) - only 10 days ago!
Megrahi and Calley compared and contrasted (in this post, VP Clinton said it was a bad day for justice and law… I just say wah? I also remember the deep embarrassment during the US primaries which all Americans should have felt, but forgot, when she claimed to be bravely dodging bullets and plainly wasn’t when the video surfaced.)
CIA Guilty of Torture and Kidnap – Damages of 1.5 Million Euros Amazing news today. An Italian court has bravely taken on the leader of the Western World and convicted 22 CIA agents of kidnap and torture. (see CIA agents guilty of Italy kidnap). The man on the left with the wacky beard and hat,...
Coroner and Law I’m often struck when reading the papers or news, to see the coroner’s verdict on someone’s death as: Ending his own life while the balance of his mind was disturbed Well they have to say something, it’s their job, but the phrase is very peculiar. Take this couple, the Milners, who were...
CIA Guilty of Torture and Kidnap – Damages of 1.5 Million Euros
Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr was snatched from a street in Milan
Amazing news today. An Italian court has bravely taken on the leader of the Western World and convicted 22 CIA agents of kidnap and torture. (see CIA agents guilty of Italy kidnap).
The man on the left with the wacky beard and hat, was snatched from the street in Italy, flown to Egypt, and tortured.
America’s great liberal hope, President Obama, and his government, have expressed,
…”disappointment at the convictions”….
This is not surprising to me, given what I wrote here earlier in the year when I realised that after only 100 days in office, Obama thought torture was okay… (contrast this to the optimism shown here and here, for example. Sometimes speaking well just isn’t good enough, especially if your actions are in complete disregard of your own constitution.)
Absent From Trial
The CIA people (including high ranking colonels etc) were all tried in their absence – you see, Italy doesn’t kidnap people! (Interestingly, the CIA, as judge, jury and executioner have just bombed 2 ‘insurgents’ in Pakistan with a drone plane again – “It is not clear if there was any high-value target, We also do not know the identity of the militants” the CIA said; but Insurgents …were pulling bodies out of the rubble… Obama condones all this as drone flights and civilian deaths have wildly escalated under his rule.)
So while Italy is usually thought of as the laughing stock of Europe because of the uncountable number of elections it has and the current buffoon of an incumbent that they keep electing – it’s actually been very brave and done the right thing.
Will America do the same? Will it do the right thing? Will Obama strive to regain the high moral ground that he stood on to be elected and which he espoused so eloquently on Inauguration Day?
No Confidence
I doubt it very much. When 52% of USA citizens think torture is okay and Utah remains a cesspit of corruption and evil business practices, when most Americans don’t care a damn about rising sea levels – and the rest… ..and the rest!!
I doubt it very much indeed.
UK Caught With Pants Down and Hands on the Trigger
Our UK government isn’t any better having colluded in the kidnaps (called extraordinary renditions as a smokescreen to reality) and torture. Are they in Europe or out? Do they agree with “The Hague” or not? Have they signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or not?
Answers
Answers to these and other questions can be found in my earlier posts from this year. What a year!
Megrahi and Calley compared and contrasted (in this post, VP Clinton said it was a bad day for justice and law… I just say wah? I also remember the deep embarrassment during the US primaries which all Americans should have felt, but forgot, when she claimed to be bravely dodging bullets and plainly wasn’t when the video surfaced.)
Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, aged 23, of Ketchum, Idaho, is a member of the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, from Fort Richardson, Alaska. He was captured in circumstances that aren’t clear and has appeared in a Taliban video (prev at http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-soldier20-2009jul20,0,4913063.story), seen world-wide. So far, it appears...
In the above video, shot with a mobile phone and first reported at the beginning of April this year, some blokes, watched by a load of other blokes, whip a young woman for breaking some law. At that time, the Taliban blokes (for it is them) had just come to an agreement with the Pakistan...
Megrahi: only person convicted over the Lockerbie bombing
Megrahi is a Libyan, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering 270 people by blowing up a 747 over Lockerbie in Scotland – but released early after 8 years (but 10 years in prison) and sent to Libya to die of cancer.
William Calley - convicted American war criminal
Calley is an American, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on 22 sample charges of murdering over 500 people by shooting, beatings, torture, mutilation and sexual abuse in Vietnam – but released early after 3 years and has so far lived quietly for over 35 years.
Further similarities and differences exist.
1988: wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 in a field in Lockerbie, Scotland.
Megrahi has always said he was innocent and was convicted on one piece of clothing evidence and the say-so of a disgruntled acquaintance in Malta.
Moammar Gadhafi - Libyan Dictator
It’s been suggested that people at the highest level in Libya organised the plane bombing. Gadhafi has always remained aloof, grunted and ambiguously farted.
The evidence could have easily have been tampered with as it remained for many months in disputed, easily corruptible circumstances.
My Lai massacre
Lt Calley admitted the murders but always claimed he was acting under orders. This higher command, Ernest Medina, has always disputed this. Medina too, was tried. His trial lasted 60 mins and he was acquitted of all charges. Nevertheless, this ‘innocent’ man’s career was over.
Current Status
When Calley was released by the soon-to-be-disgraced Republican President Nixon, many in the US and elsewhere were outraged and shocked. Calley was hidden from view and eventually forgotten about, except for his recent admission that he’s ‘sorry every day’ – see news link.
Along with a whole charade of political shenanigans including the notable damning silence from prime Minister Brown, Megrahi has been released to Libyan custody who immediately paraded him as a Terry Waite-like hero. The custody thing is a blur. He will die soon. Megrahi’s public statement on his release bears detailed reading. If he is telling the truth, his words are those of a patient, honourable man, restraining himself against the unjust forces of the world.
He bears no ill-will to the Scottish people, medical and prison staff.
For the victims’ relatives of the bombing, he expresses sincere sympathy.
For his trial, he expresses disillusionment at the failings of a supposedly fair system. I’ve studied his face in Amsterdam and elsewhere. This is genuine.
Now these are his actual words:
I cannot find words in my language or yours that give proper expression to the desolation I have felt. This horrible ordeal is not ended by my return to Libya.
It may never end for me until I die. Perhaps the only liberation for me will be death.
And I say in the clearest possible terms, which I hope every person in every land will hear: all of this I have had to endure for something that I did not do.
The remaining days of my life are being lived under the shadow of the wrongness of my conviction.
He finishes by saying,
I say goodbye to Scotland and shall not return. My time here has been very unhappy and I do not leave a piece of myself. But to the country’s people I offer my gratitude and best wishes.
Conclusion
These are not the words of a lying man. He is a disillusioned patsy, a fall-guy for bigger forces. This is the likely reason for his release. It’s as if there’s an un-written code that everyone knows but dare not admit – but it must be enacted to equalise the communal guilt of an informed nation that suspects a gross injustice.
V for Vendetta
Gadhafi, on the other hand, is laughing up his sleeve. And the rabid right in the USA just use his release as fuel for their strident cries for battle. The real power in the USA just sit tight, saving that fuel for another day, when another mass of innocents are mown down for profit in the hills of Pakistan.
Calley, exams failure of the US schools system, is right to think on his actions every day, and to think how truly lucky he is to be alive. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, ha ha.
Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, aged 23, of Ketchum, Idaho, is a member of the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, from Fort Richardson, Alaska. He was captured in circumstances that aren’t clear and has appeared in a Taliban video (prev at http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-soldier20-2009jul20,0,4913063.story), seen world-wide. So far, it appears...
In the above video, shot with a mobile phone and first reported at the beginning of April this year, some blokes, watched by a load of other blokes, whip a young woman for breaking some law. At that time, the Taliban blokes (for it is them) had just come to an agreement with the Pakistan...
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