Under the headline “Nations Hope Veil Lifts From Libya’s History of Terrorism,” John Burns writes in today’s New York Times (8/30/11):
Television footage of the only man convicted in the Lockerbie bombing lying in bed, purportedly comatose with advanced prostate cancer at his Tripoli home, has provided a focal point for a question asked with new urgency in places far from Libya: With Col. Muammar el-Gadhafi’s government in ruins, what reckoning is likely for the terrorist bombings that were once a signature of the former Libyan leader’s war with the Western world?
So terrorism was Gadhafi’s “signature,” and many “nations” hope a full accounting will be forthcoming. What’s the record that Burns has put together?
Obviously he talks about Pan Am 103, which is the most visible example. But there are serious questions about the link between Libya and the Lockerbie bombing. Burns mentions the 1986 Berlin nightclub bombing, which killed three people. The judge at the 2001 trial said the Libyan government bore some responsibility, but a connection to Gadhafi could not be established. The Times account of the trial mentioned in passing that prosecutors alleged that the disco bombing was launched “to retaliate against the sinking of two Libyan boats by the United States in the Gulf of Sirte.” It’s unlikely that many people remember these acts, which likely killed a fair number of Libyans.
The other examples Burns cites are support for the Irish Republican Army–similar schemes were undertaken around the world, including here in the United States–a shooting outside a British embassy that killed a police officer and the disappearance of a religious leader in Lebanon during a visit to Libya.
This is not to suggest that Gadhafi was innocent of any of these charges. His rule in Libya was marked by vicious attacks and repression inside the country.
But it’s difficult to imagine someone at the Times writing about international hunger for accountability for terrorist acts supported, linked to or committed by George W. Bush or Ronald Reagan. It’s not as if it would be difficult to point to their “signature” acts–support for deadly, anti-democratic death squads in Latin America, the massive destruction and violence unleashed on Iraq, or the torture and prisoner deaths that occurred on Bush’s watch. But something tells that if you were to to try to write about these “signature” acts of American terrorism in connection to either–or even to Henry Kissinger’s record–someone at the New York Times might try to have you committed.
That signature has been scrawled in blood across the globe in a true spirit of bipartisanship since Hector was a pup, hasn’t it?
When it comes to body counts, there’s no red or blue.
Only the black of hearts devoid of humanity.
USans are beyond hope. The left is dead, and what remains is a willfully ignorant, intolerant, nationalist, self-entitled, Christofascist population that worships the military as one of its gods, shoots itself in the foot on social issues, knows not a whit about economics, and one that has become totally susceptible to the whomever is the top fascist of the day, and one that sees itself as the hope of the world. There truly is no hope for such a group.
As harsh as it may sound to some, HReading is actually being pretty mild here. The left is not only dead, it’s a mess. AFter Obama’s big sellout, you’ve either got people running around defending whatever he does because he can only do what he can do because of the GOP obstructionists or you’ve got other lefty’s (like me) who no longer care if Daffy Duck becomes president. The right is even worse than described here, they’re on such a roll of hate, greed and a lust for return to power they’re forcing almost every sane member of the party to sign this or that pledge to never do anything that the country needs to have done. And then Obama seems to feel the need to outdo tn it. One up them on civli liberty take awaysm you had 3 wars, i’ve got 6; you want austerity, i’m ready to toss medicare, mediaid and Social Security to Eric Cantor and let him decide what to do with it.
Venezuela is looking better and better.
Mike,
Well stated . . . I agree with you. There used to be a difference between the good cops and the bad cops . . . not so much anymore . . . in fact the actual policies of the good cops are worse than the bad cops rhetoric.
Medical care in Cuba is among the best in the world. But their doctors train in Russia. South Americans in need of advanced medical attention go to Cuba, not the US any more. Venezuela is struggling to copy the Cuban model (however their great sin is to not think their oil belongs to the US). It seems that the object of socialized medicine is to cure sick people. The object of capitalized medicine it to make money from the sick and dying. So, Mike, Venezuela might not be a bad choice. It’s illegal for a United Statesian to go to Cuba for medical treatment. The AMA made sure of that with political contributions… using money gleaned from the sick and dying.
I notice in the example used of Terrorism- you used two republican presidents.You totally missed Carter-Clinton ,and Obama.Strange isn’t it?Look no recent US president has enacted any policy or movement of our military forces to kill non combatants and innocents at as high a level as we are capable.Or for that matter at any level above zero.We are” capable” of killing 20 million people in 15 minutes.The whole idea of it is preposterous.If OBL could of brought down every plane here..he would of.He was a terrorist. The head of Libya undertook at times to kill ,or help those who killed ,innocents as the purpose of their mission.FAIR might as well compare America with the worst atrocities of Nazi Germany.