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At Large
A Test of National Honor
So what is the U.S. going to do about the sentencing of Dr. Shakil Afridi?
(Page 2 of 2)
Don Pacifico applied to the Greek government for compensation and was told, in effect, to get lost. Don Pacifico was plainly one of the little people who are ground like insects under the wheels of international politics. The fact he was a Jew probably did not increase sympathy for him.
But one little point of law had been overlooked when the Greek government threw out his claim: Don Pacifico had been born in Gibraltar and was therefore a British subject.
One morning shortly afterwards, the good citizens of Piraeus, the port for Athens, awoke to find their view of the sea had been embellished by the addition of a squadron of British battleships.
They blockaded the port for two months, until the Greek government had second thoughts and decided Don Pacifico had a case for compensation after all.
British Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston said in Parliament: “As the Roman, in days of old, held himself free from indignity, when he could say, Civis Romanus sum [I am a Roman citizen], so also a British subject, in whatever land he may be, shall feel confident that the watchful eye and the strong arm of England will protect him from injustice and wrong.”
The parallel is not exact — Dr. Shakil Afridi is obviously not an American citizen — and what to do in this case is not quite so obvious, but the principle at stake is the same.
About the Author
Hal G.P. Colebatch’s “Immram,” Counterstrike, is being published by Australian publisher Imaginites.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (46) | Leave a comment
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Jack in Wi.| 5.25.12 @ 7:06AM
I suggest we let Pakistan run it's own afairs and take care of it's own people. They can decide for themselves what a traitor is. The Israeli's make the same kind of argument about letting the traitor Jonathon Pollard out. Well Pollard is right where he beongs and both Israel and Pakistan need to be cut off foreign aid right now, along with everyone else. We are broke and our military is worn out. Bring the troops home and let the world run itself. Let there be no more mothers crying about future wars on Memorial Day.
Mike W| 5.25.12 @ 8:02AM
On this board the Pollard analogy might not work well. There are bloggers and posters that think that Pollard should be a free man, even though he betrayed his country of citizenship. Their argument is that he was spying for a friend so it's ok. They forget or fail to mention that the information he stole went to the USSR in an Israeli effort to get more Soviet Jews out of there.
Booger| 5.25.12 @ 10:36AM
This is totally off topic, but it shouldn't be. Since this is blog about Brett Kimberlin (the convicted terrorist) day, and Robert Stacy McCain, one of Spectator's own, is currently in hiding with his family due to threats from Kimberlin, why is there no mention of it here today? Shame on Spectator for not sticking up for its own.
Tweety| 5.26.12 @ 11:03AM
Evidence for this claim, please?
Porfeus Richmond| 5.25.12 @ 10:52AM
The guy is a citizen found to be on the payroll secretly of a foreign government. Sounds like treason to me.
Of course we should try to help him.
But please save the moralizing cant for a better case.
The fact is, the Pakistanis are not our allies. In fact, they're probably are enemies.
We'd do the same thing. Ask Jonathan Pollard and the Israelis.
Clint| 5.26.12 @ 3:57AM
Ben ami Kadish, Is A Recently Convicted Israeli Spy,Who Had The Same Handler Out Of The Israeli Consulate, As Jonathan Pollard.
Tweety| 5.26.12 @ 11:05AM
Clever of you to know he was "On the payroll." Who told you this? Maybe he did it as a matter of honour and a desire to see Bin Laden brought to justice and the war ended. Have you any proof otherwise?
Alan Brooks| 5.26.12 @ 6:34PM
"Bring the troops home and let the world run itself."
Agreed, the optimism of 9-12-01 was predicated on the belief we could pay for the wars of the future.
Occam's Tool| 5.27.12 @ 11:38PM
This guy helped us kill Bin Ladin, Jack. He HELPED US KILL BIN LADIN. He did a hell of a lot more for the USA than you ever did, Jack the 4-F coward. He deserves a threat to destroy Islamabad.
SC Mike| 5.25.12 @ 7:14AM
Who’s the bonehead who released the name of and role played by Shakil Afridi? Why did the Paks just sentence him to 33 years in prison?
It’s quite touching that Leon Panetta regards Afridi’s efforts as very helpful: "For them [the Pakistanis] to take this kind of action against somebody who was helping to go after terrorism, I just think is a real mistake on their part.”
What of the greater mistake on our part, revealing anything about anyone who helped and how they helped? How did the Pakistanis find out?
Not only is a good a brave man incarcerated, but this will give anyone thinking about helping the US second thoughts.
Or is that the idea?
spoofproof | 5.25.12 @ 8:05AM
The bonehead who gave up the man's name is probably the same bonehead U.S. Army General who whined about preserving "precious diversity" after the militant Muslim shrink went on that killing spree at Fort Hood, Texas. We The People need to shake up the General Staff and weed out the P.C. pansies.
TLP| 5.25.12 @ 9:53AM
FOCUS.
Everybody has got to stay Focused on what we're dealing with.
Think back to The Exorcist. When Father Marin arrives at the house, the young Preist informs him that he has witnessed Multiple Demons, speaking through the Young Girl.
The old Preist brushes his observations aside, saying: "No. There is only ONE."
This is not some General's Fault. This is not Leon Panetta's Fault. This is not that Fcking Idiot Brennan's Fault.
No. there is only THE ONE.
This POS wants to Spike the Football in everybody's face when SOMEBODY ELSE kills Bin Laden? Then he gets the Blame, for all of the LEAKS that came out when he smashed open the Intelligence Piñata, at his Party.
THE BUCK STOPS with this MFer.
Everything that has occurred ON HIS WATCH, belongs to HIM.
Period.
Alej| 5.25.12 @ 7:18PM
Damn right. When the now-famous term "Seal Team 6" was emblazoned across the world by the illegal alien in the White House as having been involved in the snatch, it wasn't two weeks before AlQuaeda staged an ambush of the same unit.
Setting up a trap, they attacked a NATO unit which was positioned between itself and the location of a Team 6 unit ( the unit is not composed of just a few men) and set up an anti-aircraft rocket ambush in a valley the reaction helicopters would have to traverse to get to the beleaguered NATO unit. Shot the helo down. Killed all.
Fatmouthed bastard narcissistic murdering POS.
TLP| 5.25.12 @ 8:09PM
Goddmn Right!
Only One Mediator Christ Jesus| 5.26.12 @ 2:39PM
Don't worry, vengeance belongs to God & He WILL repay!!
numbatdog| 5.25.12 @ 7:31AM
"Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute!"
- United States slogan against the Barbary Pirates demand for ransom from the US authorities.
There was a time when we treated blackmailers and thugs to the business end of a cannon.
But now we prefer to pay off our enemies in the forlorn hope they leave us alone and bother someone else.
Thus Iran and North Korea and Pakistan, all serial liars and threats to regional peace can get on with the business of making and selling illegal nukes as long as they're pointed elsewhere.
If the good Doctor is relying on the US State Dept to save him, he is in bigger trouble than he realises.
Lesser Weevil| 5.27.12 @ 4:59PM
It was actually a slogan against the French, in the XYZ Affair.
Occam's Tool| 5.27.12 @ 11:40PM
The State Department is largely composed of numbnuts and traitors. I went to High School with one of our numbnuts in Kabul, who had no clue how Culture might affect the quality of drinking water and general sanitation.
W| 5.25.12 @ 7:56AM
Our golfing president is busy campaigning daily to do something about this. He should speak out, use diplomacy, threaten, cut off aid, anything. He took credit for the work of the CIA and SEALS, and now hides while one of the heroes who helped us is imprisoned.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 5.25.12 @ 8:09AM
Excellent point. If you want to make the killing of bin Laden the centerpiece of your foreign policy credentials and campaign, you can't abandon those who helped make it happen.
W| 5.25.12 @ 8:28AM
We should tell Obama that the Pakistan is ruled by Tea Party conservatives and Mormons. That may move him to send in some drones and cut off aid. Talk to you later this afternoon, off to a prelim.
Indy| 5.25.12 @ 8:28AM
Everything is about Obama's re-election. He spikes the football, he does not care about Dr. Afridi, he served his purpose and is now cast aside.
Von Mises Jr| 5.25.12 @ 9:08AM
It is alleged that Obama knew where UBL was for a year and didn't take him out. I think that his hand was forced and he is angry about having to kill UBL. Dr. Afridi is directly responsible for our Indonesian POTUS to have to kill a Muslim Fighter.
Others in government may have wished to keep a "Bokonon" figure to justify the Patriot Act and NDAA, but to Obama, this may have been personal.
Louis Jenkins| 5.25.12 @ 8:33AM
What is our nation, ie Obama, going to do about it? Play another round of golf. Be sure, we've heard about Obama standing with his chest bared to the enemy Osama. We've heard how the troops handed him musket after loaded musket to mow down the filthy creatins as they surrounded his position. Make a stand for the doctor? Not me said Obama. I'm too busy playing golf.
Richard Ryan| 5.25.12 @ 8:59AM
I'm guessing 33 million dollars is a small portion of the monetary aid we give to Pakistan yearly?
ray| 5.25.12 @ 10:28AM
So how is this action by the tribalists any different in principle from the life sentence given by the US to Jonathan Pollard for spying for Isreal?
JmsA| 5.25.12 @ 9:54PM
Was Osama Bin Laden a national secret, other than the fact he lived there in secret to all but the Pakistanis?
dennisl59| 5.25.12 @ 12:40PM
The President of the United States has no HONOR.
Dave Williams| 5.25.12 @ 1:09PM
1) Cut off EVERY SINGLE CENT of ANY aid to that wretched country...and even if there's an earthquake, not even a cent of humanitarian aid.
2) Send in the SEALS, Rangers, special forces or whoever it takes, and get this man to the safety of civilization, i.e., the US.
3) Give India (a country with a fine culture and an amazing civilization) every bit of help it needs in doing whatever it wants to do with filthy Pakistan.
Timmy| 5.26.12 @ 11:04AM
I'm sure there are operators who would be willing and able to go get him.
Alej| 5.25.12 @ 4:13PM
"National Honor."
I learned everything I needed to know about "national honor" when the Democrat-controlled Congress cut off all aid to the Republic of South Viet Nam in 1975, after 58,000 American lives had been sacrificed to keep that nation free.
The terms "honor" and "Democrat" do not belong in the same sentence.
TLP| 5.26.12 @ 9:07AM
You, Sir, are absolutely correct. And, the Ringleader of this sorry Sack of Sh*t, is, as we speak, lying under the Hallowed Ground of Arlington National Cemetary.
If there's a bigger National Disgrace than that?
I don't know what it is.
Jim| 5.25.12 @ 5:32PM
Shouldn't this guy get the multi million $$ reward for the capture of Bin Laden? Without him, we don't get the jerk.
TLP| 5.26.12 @ 9:11AM
Maybe that's why they hung him out to dry?
The son of the Atheist Communist Whore, and the Muslim Marxist whore chasing Drunk, wants to keep that money for HIMSELF.
Dmac | 5.25.12 @ 5:32PM
It would suit me fine if we found out who it was that actually made the doctors name public. That's the person thats at fault, and thats the person who's career in government should be over.
FeFe| 5.25.12 @ 9:02PM
Au contraire, what is Australia going to do about it? While Private Daniel John was going "through four pairs of boots in the last seven months" in Afghanistan, Julia Gillard sent a pair of loafers, her bodyguard with no security clearance, to national security briefings even with American diplomats. And you rewarded this homewrecker for such callous disregard to those who give their last full measure of devotion to your burnt land with the title of Prime Minister. Speaking of, where is your Aboriginal prime minister? You allow your ancestors, who realized liberty for all, to be maligned with stolen generations fiction. But Australia is going to realize the great statist vision of a price for carbon dioxide and apply pressure around the world for other nations to adopt such madness. Along with your socialized healthcare, state electronic medical records database, and national broadband system all tied in bows of multiculti high-speed trains and trams. And when you have a flood, caused by man from madness of "green" water release policies on dams, your media presenter calmly suggests that a national tax not be introduced for raising funds to make those displaced whole but to "tour America" soliciting charity based on their generous giving stats. (I have yet to see Aussies roaming through America's Tornado Alley with hammers and cash.) Good thing Don Pacifico wasn't in need of port blocking during Hurricane Yazi as your navy's fleet was in dry-dock.
The parallel is not exact -- Dr. Shakil Afridi is obviously not boat people -- and what to do in this case might be obvious to Kevin Rudd, your international celebrity liaison, but the sour whiff of world bipartisan one direction government of small talk about freedom which costs freedom, is no less tiresome from an "ally" and Americans are tired of the nonsense.
Alej| 5.25.12 @ 9:51PM
Eruditely articulated, sir.
What did you mean to say ?
WickedDickie--Virginia| 5.25.12 @ 10:22PM
Woe unto the man or country allied with the U.S. The Democrat Party of Death having no principles can hardly be expected to safeguard the National Honour. Vietnam, Israel, Dr. Afridi, Iraqi Christians, Kurds, et al were/will all be ground to sausage meat in Dunderhead's machine. For that matter, the Democrats betray their own country when it suits them. Taxachusetts Kerry is a prime example. We just gotta vote 'em out this November.
TLP| 5.26.12 @ 9:16AM
Name one ALLY that Trusts us, and one ENEMY that Fears us.
This has happened every time there has been a Democrat in the White House, since Kennedy was Assassinated.
Go figure.
And, YES, I question their PATRIOTISM.
Every last one of these MTHRFCKRS.
Jeremy Buxton| 5.27.12 @ 9:48PM
Hal Colebatch has pointed to the utter immorality of the treatment of Dr Afridi. In my Perth church yesterday we prayed for this Muslim who is being punished for a righteous and noble act. Those in high places must do more than pray.
Occam's Tool| 5.27.12 @ 11:43PM
Dave Williams 5/25/12 comment:
Absolutely correct, sir. I despise relativists. This is not the Pollard case---this is a guy that helped us nail the world's number 1 wanted man, which supposedly the worthless, slimy, scumbag Pakis also wanted to get. Give him American citizenship and get him out of there.
Occam's Tool| 5.27.12 @ 11:44PM
Oh, and cut off Pakistan's foreign aid and tell them that they only have 110 nukes and no ICBM to get them to us, and they can release Afridi in 72 hours or Karachi gets a 5 megatonner.
johnd2| 5.28.12 @ 8:51AM
Sitting back here, one can not be sure.. But it seems reasonable that the Pakistan government knew all about our efforts to track down OBL from the getgo. They went after the doctor to punish someone who embarassed the big shots in their government who were playing a double or tripple game against the foreigners for fun and profit. He was probably a scapegoat.
WHAT A MESS.
Tex Expatriate| 5.28.12 @ 1:40PM
With respect to the question what is the U.S. going to do about the sentencing of the good doctor, the answer is nothing. Not as long as Barack Obama is running the White House and his surrogate Hillary Clinton is running the State Department. They're two Saul Alinsky socialists and two anti-semites; Obama is a Muslim by birth; and they both hate America.
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