The American Spectator : Lax on Libya

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Lax on Libya

By The Prowler on 8.31.09 @ 6:09AM

Obama officials allow UK to go scot-free as well. Plus: Obama’s Internet security precautions.

SCOT FREE
British intelligence and Foreign Office officials were surprised by what they called the “seeming lack of enthusiasm” by the Obama administration in the run-up to the release of convicted Libyan terrorist Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, the man responsible for the murder of more than 270 passengers on Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988.

“We know that [Attorney General Eric] Holder and [Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton weighed in with the Scottish justice ministry, but we expected more, particularly given the circumstances,” said a foreign office staffer. “We would have expected, given that a Department of Justice official was one of the passengers on that flight, that the department would be more aggressive in ensuring al-Megrahi remained imprisoned.”

According to the British sources, the Obama White House was advised that due to internal, United Kingdom politics, it was going to be difficult for the British government to provide a full-court press on Scottish justice minister Kenny MacAskill. As it was, the British embassy in Washington provided the families of Pan Am 103 opportunities to speak to MacAskill and make their case for al-Megrahi not to be released.

In the days leading up to the Scottish decision, Holder and Clinton made calls to MacAskill, but “it isn’t clear that much more was done,” says the British career diplomat, who has spent time in both Washington and New York. “It seemed to be very much about going through the motions.”

Holder did raise a number of concerns with MacAskill during the phone conversation, word of which was leaked by a senior Obama administration source inside the Department of Justice after the administration started taking more heat for not taking a greater role in preventing al-Megrahi’s release.

But according to Department of Justice sources, Holder never asked for legal options related to al-Megrahi, nor did the State Department present options to DOJ or the White House. More troubling, during the period when the Scottish government was seeking input from the U.S. and Pan 103 victims’ families, President Obama was meeting with Libyan dictator Moammar Qaddafi at the G-8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy. At the time, according to White House sources, Obama had not been fully briefed on the al-Megrahi situation.

While the British source says that British officials bear much blame for al-Megrahi’s release under a Libyan-British prison transfer treaty ratified in April, “those of us who were attempting to block the compassionate release here were hoping for greater support from the United States, and it was lacking.”

Department of Justice officials privately put the blame on the State Department and the White House National Security Council, both of which seemed not be communicating with each other or with the Department of Justice. “Holder was at DOJ during the al-Megrahi trial in 2001 and 2002, so he has some skin invested in this case,” says one DOJ source. “He made his calls and made his opinion known, but this was a foreign policy issue, too, and it’s not clear just how hard State or the White House pushed on this.”

SECURITY PRECAUTIONS
At the same time that the Obama administration’s Federal Communications Commission looks at ways to gain greater regulatory control of the Internet via a policy called “Net Neutrality,” aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) have drafted legislation that would give President Obama the legal ability to take temporary control of private-sector broadband networks if he or his administration determined there was a “cybersecurity” emergency.

Under the draft bill, which was leaked to the media late last week, the president could “declare a cybersecurity emergency” and take control of “non-governmental” Internet networks. The bill would also create a government certification process, which would require that some individuals seeking private sector jobs that require contact with certain secure broadband networks or the Internet be required to undertake government-approved licences or certification before getting those jobs. The Obama administration would determine what that certification process would entail.

In the House of Representatives, Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) has introduced legislation that would allow the Obama Administration and the FCC to regulate broadband networks. The legislation would limit the ability of private network operators like AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast to manage their networks. Ironically, much of that management involves security and so-called “traffic management” issues related to spam and other online traffic that presents security threats to the networks — security threats that the Obama administration would be able to use as cause to take control of those networks.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (147) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Robert| 8.31.09 @ 7:39AM

"More troubling, during the period when the Scottish government was seeking input from the U.S. and Pan 103 victims' families, President Obama was meeting with Libyan dictator Moammar Qaddafi at the G-8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy. At the time, according to White House sources, Obama had not been fully briefed on the al-Megrahi situation. "

Not fully briefed? Are you kidding? The whole reason for the meeting with Obama was for Qaddafi to request that the US lay low when the Brits release al-Megrahi. We may never learn what the quid pro quo was, but you can be sure there was one.

Maybe it was permission for Qaddafi to pitch his tent during his UN visit. It took the outrage of New Jersey private citizens to quash that.

As regards the Internet Security trial balloon, Obama intends to shut down the Internet after his announcement that the 2012 presidential elections must be suspended because "rightwing agitators have created a crisis in the US." The Internet, freedom-loving citizens' last refuge for communication in this country, will not be there for organizational response to the coup de etat this administration is wheeling into place.

Do you not see the Big Picture? We are frogs in the kettle while the heat on the fire is being turned up by the Obama Marxist radicals following to the letter Alinsky's Rules for Radicals. When will we start jumping out?

Melvin| 8.31.09 @ 8:14AM

Robert... The larger percentage of the Frogs will start jumping out of the pot, when the power gets cut to the wide screen plasma, and Disney Land stops taking credit cards.

gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com| 8.31.09 @ 9:37AM

In the golden calf’s mind, al-Megrahi is an American hero, whose Muslim ancestors wrote the U.S. Constitution, advised Thomas Jefferson in writing the Declaration of Independence, fought at Yorktown, Gettysburg, in the trenches of France and stormed the Beaches of Normandy. In the spirit of those other brave Americans, he was simply striking a blow for Freedom. Now his country is simply honoring him as he deserves.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
Don’t Tread on Me!!

Crimes in High Places| 8.31.09 @ 10:48AM

Ehud Olmert has become the first prime minister in Israeli history to be charged with serious criminal offences. Skip related content
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The ex-premier faces a lengthy charge sheet including fraud, breach of trust, tax evasion and taking bribes.

The charges present him "as a thief, a liar and a serial grafter", according to the Haaretz newspaper.

He stands accused of abusing his position "in systematic and drawn out activities for financial benefits".

In what has become known as the Rishon Tours case, he is charged with double and triple charging public organisations and the state for reimbursement for travelling overseas.

He accumulated almost a hundred thousand dollars which he spent travelling with his family and alone, it is alleged.

In the Talansky affair he is said to have pocketed $600,000 dollars from the American fundraiser Morris Talansky.

It is alleged Mr Talansky either wired him the money or handed it over in envelopes stuffed with cash.

Talk of "cash stuffed envelopes" has caused the most distaste among the Israeli public with their former prime minister.

The indictment alone is an embarrassing postscript to Mr Olmert's lacklustre career.

He was forced from office because of the welter of corruption allegations, but his popularity ratings had collapsed anyway in the wake of the failed Israeli war against Hizbollah in 2006.

His spokesman insists Olmert will be able to clear his name.

He said: "After they removed a prime minister it was clear that the Attorney General and the State Prosecution had no other option than to file an indictment against Olmert.

"The court of law, on the other hand, is free of such ulterior motives, and therefore Olmert is convinced that at the court he will be able once and for all to prove his innocence."

In the meantime, Israelis face the prospect of another former leader's alleged wrongdoings being paraded in a lengthy trial.

Ehud Olmert's former justice minister Haim Ramon was convicted of forcibly kissing a young Israeli soldier.

His ex-finance minister Abraham Hirchson was sentenced to five years in jail for embezzling hundreds of thousands of pounds as chairman of a trade union.

gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com| 8.31.09 @ 10:59AM

I see the anti-semitic insects have escaped their roach hotels. A good can of Raid and they can be safely flushed back into the septic tank where they belong.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
Don’t Tread on Me!!

hardius| 8.31.09 @ 12:12PM

The fear of the Government taking over the entire media is not a new thing. This event can only take place if Congress is totally corrupt. This fear can only exist if you believe the voting public is unable to vote intelligently. I am looking for something really sarcastic to say here but my true feelings can not be printed in a public forum.
I simply do not believe that we any longer have a two party system and if we continue to trust the GOP to represent Constitutional conservatives then we will have no voice. Only time will tell if this belief is valid. The sad part is by the time we know the truth it will be to late.

Ken (Old Texican)| 8.31.09 @ 1:40PM

hardius
Do not lose heart!

Ken (Old Texican)| 8.31.09 @ 2:55PM

Ladies and gentlemen

SCREW LIBYA! SCREW SAUDI ARABIA! WE HAVE MORE OIL AND GAS THAN BOTH OF THEM!

OUR SO-CALLED PRESIDENT COULD ISSUE AN EXECUTIVE ORDER TOMORROW AND THE ARAYABS COULD TRY TO EAT THEIR OIL!
No Republican could do it until after 2010. By then our country will be in so much of a mess that...Mickey Mouse would look pretty good as an opponent candidate...for any office.

BIG OIL brass has a knife edge to walk. Don't get nationalized and screw your stockholders...but most of them are patriotic Americans...duh!

Let's help them! Let's put seven million fine men and women to work getting the energy out of the ground beneath our feet...
...DUH...END UNEMPLOYMENT EXCEPT FOR UNION THUGS. (5%)

S.L. Toddard| 8.31.09 @ 4:12PM

Has there ever been, in all of history, a people more prone to cowardice than the American people? I should think it a genetic pre-condition, were we not now a cross-breed of different genetic groups. Our inherent, overwhelming cowardice must be a byproduct of our degraded culture.

We spent a good half century shivering in stark terror over the communists - a group of people adhering to an ideology we knew would make itself extinct, and who couldn't even feed themselves. Once that threat evaporated we quickly found a new spectre to scare us - "The Terrorists". The countries where this poverty benighted, largely ignorant rabble have any sway have a combined GDP roughly the size of Jim J. Bullock's. Yet that doesn't stop the faint-hearted, gutless American from spending each day in a terror-stricken, panicked state, so scared, so fundamentally chicken they demand that other people's sons be sent off to war to die fighting potential, hypothetical threats that have yet to manifest themselves. It goes doubly for the so-called "Right" - it would probably be easier to list the things that DON'T send this effeminate gaggle of women-hearted wussies into shivering fits of panic. Crypto-marxists, "Fascism", Islam, ACORN (!), government health-care, Iran, affirmative action, their own president, etc.

Jessie| 8.31.09 @ 4:51PM

"...a group of people adhering to an ideology we knew would make itself extinct......" We knew? Really? Please cite statements from that time that prove your claim.

Jeremiah| 8.31.09 @ 7:29PM

This is S.L. F.ucking Toddard again!

Ken (Old Texican)| 8.31.09 @ 8:17PM

Yeah Jeremiah
He has to be an older guy. Probably divorced and moved back home with mommie Heh!
He is good at projecting self though isn't he?
Join us at http://judgeroy.wordpress.com

Big J| 8.31.09 @ 8:42PM

I'll not respond to toddard except for this: you sir, are a fool and a liar. Not quite sure if I have the order right, but you get the point.

I suppose the most I can hope for is to get a 2 or 3 day reprieve from your ridiculous rants (along with the welcome reprieves of the like from bob, marcell, liberal reader, jim rice, william 5 and the rest of you friggin cooks).

I fear that none of you fools will ever get a clue. It's right in front of your face, if you would only allow yourself to see it.

I would like to think that it's a positive thing that you are at least reading some conservative publications, but apparently it is not sinking in. You are still as clueless as you were when you transferred from the daily kos, or wherever it is that you came from.

Sadly, you folks will be left behind when the freedom bell rings once again.

I think at some point in the not too distant future, you might just reconsider your definition of coward.

I'll bet 5 bucks to a doughnut that the shoe fits a lot more comfortably on your foot than ours.

Regards,

Big J

Mike| 8.31.09 @ 9:02PM

S. L Toddard...

It is taking me so long to write this due to shaking my head in disbelief and wonderment as to where and how you where educated and what experiences shaped you.

Perhaps the cowards at Lexington and Concord were just reacting to the latest specter of totalitarianism of the time.

Your visceral hatred of American exceptionalism marks you as a sad example of someone who needs better men to stand watch for you.

Continue on sir; continue on your journey of hatred and bewilderment. We will ensure you and your kind safety.

Mike Johnston
SFC USA (RET)

Nobama| 8.31.09 @ 11:22PM

Yeah, SL Toddard is one nasty A-Hole and a big hater of all things American. Could be Jeremiah or Bob--all three trolls are vicious.

Daisy| 8.31.09 @ 11:35PM

Toddard, you are the quintessential coward. You spew your hatred anonymously, free from reproach.

You'd never spout your vile insults in person to the men who post at AmSpec. Gutless wonder, you certainly aren't worth their time of day.

Jeremiah| 9.1.09 @ 8:57AM

Nobama, with all due respect, please do not confuse Jeremiah with the Slimy Lib Turdo.
Sometimes Jeremiah is the real Jeremiah but I'm just his worst nightmare ;+)

sure | 4.13.10 @ 2:17AM

Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.

sure | 4.13.10 @ 2:18AM

Go where he will, the wise man is at home His hearth the earth, his hall the azure dome.

sure | 4.13.10 @ 2:19AM

Money spent on the brain is never spent in vain.

sure | 4.13.10 @ 2:21AM

Constant dropping wears the stone.

sure | 4.13.10 @ 2:22AM

Experience is the mother of wisdom.

Bob| 9.1.09 @ 9:01AM

... or Bob's nightmare...

S. L. Toddard| 9.1.09 @ 9:05AM

... I kinda like it. I apologize to everyone for my dumb liberal views and I promise I'll try not to bother you again. God Bless America, Sarah Palin and President George W. Bush.

Jeremiah| 9.1.09 @ 9:08AM

See? It's easy... Do it to the libturds because they 'd have no qualms doing it to conservatives.

I can't wait for 2010.

S.L. Toddard| 9.1.09 @ 12:20PM

"Your visceral hatred of American exceptionalism marks you..."

False. It's not possible to hate something that doesn't exist.

S.L. Toddard| 9.1.09 @ 1:18PM

"Your visceral hatred of American exceptionalism marks you..."

That reminds me, the entire idea of “American exceptionalism” speaks volumes about our gutless countrymen and their lack of patriotism. Because they do not love their country they must be repeatedly told, daily, how Great it is. It’s not enough for their country to be Good. It’s not enough for it to be Great. It’s not even enough for their country to be The Greatest Country In The World. They must be told that their country is… The Greatest Country That Exists…. OR EVER HAS EXISTED!!! Think about the deep, profound insecurity one must have about one’s country to need that sort of crackbrained reassurance. One must truly lack faith in one’s country, one must utterly be without love for it to constantly need (what passes for) their patriotism bolstered by such ridiculous boasting.

I’m trying to think of what people really mean by “American exceptionalism”. We have become unexceptional in many ways – for instance, like most of the industrialized world our country is dominated by parties who accept democratic-socialism as a matter of policy – just revue the record of our last president and the one we have now for unassailable proof. Like many other despotic regimes throughout history we now wage imperialistic wars of conquest, slaughtering civilians by the hundreds of thousands. Like similar barbaric regimes of the past we also torture as a matter of policy, and have in fact murdered over a hundred people in our torture chambers. Like Hitler’s Germany we now maintain concentration camps where we cage and torture detainees convicted of no crime. Like Stalin’s KGB our intelligence services now spy on our own citizens on our own soil. Like the absolute monarchies of the past our citizenry is servile and afraid, and passionately believes that our government should not be held accountable when they break our laws or violate our Constitution (just witness the defense of those who broke the law torturing or spying on American citizens for proof of THAT fact).

That’s not to say that we are not exceptional in many ways, I suppose. We are exceptional in that we are the Least Free people on earth – our gov’t keeps more Americans in cages than any government in the history of the world - literally. We keep more of our own fellow citizens in prison than did Stalin with his chain of gulags. We are also the fattest country in the world, though I doubt that is what people are referring to when they boast of American exceptionalism. We are one of the dumbest people in the industrialized world, it is true, but there are third world countries that are even dumber, I should think.

Is that what proponents of this idea – “American Exceptionalism” – mean? That we are Fat, Stupid and Unfree? I suppose it’s not possible for one to argue against these facts but really is that something to be proud of?

I don’t think so.

Mike| 9.1.09 @ 2:02PM

S.L. Stoddard

I almost feel sorry for you. Although living in denial as you seem to do may be quite comforting. I can just imagine all of the obligations of citizenship you ingnore due to your skewed worldview.

In what other nation could Bill Clinton or Barak Obama rise to be head of state? Both come from broken, disfunctional, poor families and yet they have succeeded here.

The majority of us don't need to be told how exceptional and good America is, we need only open our eyes and observe. It is the S.L. Toddards of the world that need to educated.

Mike Johnston
SFC USA (RET)

lin | 4.13.10 @ 2:23AM

Every man is his own worst enemy.

S.L. Toddard| 9.1.09 @ 2:10PM

"In what other nation could Bill Clinton or Barak Obama rise to be head of state? Both come from broken, disfunctional, poor families and yet they have succeeded here."

No "conservative" would point to the election of Barack Obama and Bill Clinton as evidence of America's greatness. That these two men, not to mention George W. Bush, have been voted to high office in the United States is proof of how degraded our political culture has become. Anti-constitutional, big-government quasi-socialist imperialists to a man.

S.L. Toddard| 9.1.09 @ 2:59PM

"The majority of us don't need to be told how exceptional and good America is"

One of the justifications for claiming American exceptionalism - the one I hear most often - is that we are "the freest country on earth". Since we know that is untrue - since we are categorically the *least* free country (which is to say the Most Unfree country) in the history of the world - don't you think the case for American exceptionalism is one that should be made in shame rather than in pride? I mean, being an American, don't you think that the fact that we are now the Most Unfree Nation In History is something of which we should be ashamed?

Obviously "exceptional" does not equal "Great", right?

Jenda | 9.1.09 @ 6:35PM

A non insidious but depressing conclusion is that they still haven't resolved their staffing issues, and the lack of manpower coupled with an ideological aversion to backbone among the new placeholders makes it especially hard to the administration to actually do anything besides arranging tours for the cheerleader/lecturer in chief. I'd be happy about that if it didn't lead to decreased American influence abroad.

airjordanpremium | 9.2.09 @ 1:24AM

Thanks for sharing news about "seeming lack of enthusiasm" by the Obama administration in the run-up to the release of convicted Libyan terrorist.

Jeremiah| 9.2.09 @ 10:22AM

S.L. Rettard, what the f.uck do you mean about absence of freedom in the USA and what do you know exactly about absence of freedom? You should live in Europe or just in any other dump that you worship as a paradise on earth just to realize what you would be sorry to miss, dumb spoiled brat of a libturd!

Nobama| 9.2.09 @ 2:37PM

Jeremiah, I've read your "Jeremiah" posts and I know what you're doing. You've made me laugh out loud.

I was referring to LibReader/Jeremiah, okay? Sorry for the confusion.

SL Dullard is a particularly nasty piece of work, wouldn't you agree? The f.uc.ker is ripe for the pickin', as my daddy used to say!

Keep it up--you've got fans. Talent, too!

Jeremiah| 9.3.09 @ 8:37AM

Thank You, NoBama. I've been out of town for quite a while but I'm slightly puzzled to see the usual libturds still aimlessly wandering around this site and belching nonsense. The difference, and it is a welcome one, is that you guys are a lot meaner than you used to be one year ago! Do not get mad, get even! No liberal deserves to be treated with fairness and respect. Everything goes. Talk hard!

Jeremiah| 9.3.09 @ 8:40AM

... and the moderator must be after me, because I couln't reply to your post before I had erased all the cookies on my hard drive. Strange stuff, am I worse than the real Jeremiah or the Interschlepper?

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biologicalanimal Life is short!So enjoy it!

anna | 3.29.10 @ 1:35AM

genius only means hard-working all one’s life

anna | 3.29.10 @ 1:36AM

4 When an end is lawful and obligatory, the indispensable means to is are also lawful and obligatory.

anna | 3.29.10 @ 1:37AM

it is at our mother’s knee that we acquire our noblest and trust and highest, but there is seldom any money in them.

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if you would go up high, then use your own legs! Do not let yourselves carried aloft; do not seat yourselves on other people’s backs and heads.

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6. But has the last word been said? is all I hope to be lost? Is the defeat final no !

daisy | 3.30.10 @ 6:38AM

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Mind your own affairs.

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Without entering the tigers lair, how can one catch the tiger

anna | 4.4.10 @ 5:22AM

He that gapes till he be fed will gape till he be dead

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