The Obama administration has been a major disappointment on many fronts.
But on this one, disgrace may be a more apt description.
Despite highly disingenuous affectations of surprise, the administration knew full well that Scottish authorities were considering releasing the infamous Lockerbie bomber and mass murderer Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi last year. Yet, in a communique to Scotland last August, released publicly only now, the U.S. State Department argued most meekly against the outrageous release.
"The United States is not prepared to support Megrahi's release," the letter said.
Not prepared to support? In diplomatic circles, that's beyond weak; it's nearly a green light.
The letter includes other milquetoast verbiage such as "extremely inappropriate" to describe the hero's welcome Megrahi might receive in Libya for having killed 270 Westerners. And, indeed, that's exactly what happened.
Ask the bombing victims' long-suffering survivors if that qualifies as "extremely inappropriate" or a world-class insult and outrage.
Scottish authorities released him last Aug. 20 ostensibly because he was less than 90 days from dying. As of this writing, however, he was still believed to be breathing the air of a free man. After being convicted of 270 counts of murder.
Many believe Megrahi was traded for Libyan oil access being actively sought at the time by -- you guessed it -- BP. The Senate Foreign Relations committee is investigating that possibility at a hearing on Thursday.
What did the Obama administration do to prevent this second Scottish catastrophe? It sent a mildly worded dispatch. No call from the president or chief aides. No public denouncements to shame Scotland into holding onto this mass murderer.
Instead, as Princeton University professor Robert P. George noted Tuesday, President Obama at the time of the release was neck-deep in the row over the Cambridge arrest of a black Harvard professor and the subsequent "beer summit" between the parties at the White House. Both President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden attended.
But the impending release of the predator behind the Dec. 21, 1988, bombing that killed 190 Americans -- many coming home for Christmas -- didn't warrant a phone call from the White House? Or a more strongly worded objection -- or, gasp!, an in-person sitdown -- from the State Department?
That's a disgrace.
Did anyone expect Obama to do anything or say anything? He and his administration haven't gotten much of anything right. If he can't blame it on Bush, he ignores it.
Yeah, he probably should have invaded Greece over this.
From CNN"Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and four U.S. senators from New York and New Jersey have called for Britain to revisit the case, even though there is little chance that al Megrahi will be returned to custody from his native Libya. Cameron was scheduled to meet with the senators during his visit to Washington.
Obama said most Americans were "surprised, disappointed and angry" about the decision to let al Megrahi go. "We should have all the facts," he added. "They should be laid out there." The decision "ran contrary to how we should be treating terrorists."
Grouse- Obama's quote was "all of us were surprised, disappointed and angry" How could he be surprised when his administration had been talking with Scotland about releasing the mass murderer and issuing positon statements?
obama doesn't control Scotland. Great Brittan does. obama had no say in the release.
What obama has a say in is the destruction of the American economy and on this subject he's very loud and clear. He wishes to see a total collapse.
Our first chance to slow down this horrible diversity experiment will be in November. Save America, remove obama's support.
Keep up the good conservative republican talking points editors LOL. I guess you next editorial will be about the made up snub of the boy scouts. *YAWNS*.
Does this surprise anyone? He's a Muslim Terrorist! I MEAN AFTER ALL THESE ARE OBAMA'S "CZARS"-- Read who they are and realize what they want to do.
Richard Holbrooke Afghanistan Czar.Ultra liberal anti gun former Gov. Of New Mexico. Pro Abortion and legal drug use. Dissolve the 2nd Amendment
Ed Montgomery Auto recovery Czar Black radical anti business activist. Affirmative Action and Job Preference for blacks. Univ of Maryland Business School Dean teaches U.S. Business has caused world poverty. ACORN board member. Communist DuBois Club member.
Jeffrey Crowley AIDS Czar Radical Homosexual.. A Gay Rights activist. Believes in Gay Marriage and especially, a Special Status for homosexuals only, including complete free health care for gays.
Alan Bersin Border Czar The former failed superintendent of San Diego. Ultra Liberal friend of Hilary Clinton. Served as Border Czar under Janet Reno - to keep borders open to illegals without interference from U.S.
David J. Hayes California Water Czar Sr. Fellow of radical environmentalist group, "Progress Policy". No training or experience in water management whatsoever.
Ron Bloom Car Czar Auto Union worker. Anti business & anti nuclear. Has worked hard to force U.S. Auto makers out of business. Sits on the Board of Chrysler which is now Auto Union owned. How did this happen?
Dennis Ross Central Region Czar Believes U.S. Policy has caused Mid East wars. Obama apologist to the world. Anti gun and completely pro abortion.
Lynn Rosenthal Domestic Violence Czar Director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence. Vicious anti-male feminist. Supported male castration.Imagine?
Gil Kerlikowske Drug Czar Devoted lobbyist for every restrictive gun law proposal, Former Chief of Police in Liberal Seattle. Believes no American should own a firearm. Supports legalization of all drugs
Paul Volcker Economic Czar Head of Fed. Reserve under Jimmy Carter when U.S. Economy nearly failed. Obama appointed head of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board which engineered the Obama economic disaster to U.S. Economy. Member of anti-business "Progressive Policy" organization
Carol Brower Energy and Environment Czar Political Radical Former head of EPA - known for anti-business activism. Strong anti-gun ownership.
Joshua DuBois Faith Based Czar Political Black activist-Degree in Black Nationalism. Anti gun ownership lobbyist. WHAT THE HECK DOES A FAITH BASED CZAR DO???????????
Cameron Davis Great Lakes Czar.Chicago radical anti-business environmentalist. Blames George Bush for "Poisoning the water that minorities have to drink." No experience or training in water management. Former ACORN Board member (what does that tell us?)
Van Jones Green Jobs Czar (since resigned).. Black activist Member of American Communist Party and San Francisco Communist Party who said Geo. Bush caused the 911 attack and wanted Bush investigated by the World Court for war crimes. Black activist with strong anti-white views.
Daniel Fried Guantanamo Closure Czar Human Rights Activist for Foreign Terrorists. Believes America has caused the war on terrorism. Believes terrorists have rights above and beyond Americans.
Nancy-Ann DeParle. Health Czar Former head of Medicare/Medicaid. Strong Health Care Rationing proponent. She is married to a reporter for The New York Times.
Vivek Kundra Information Czar Born in New Delhi, India. Controls all public information, including labels and news releases. Monitors all private Internet emails. (hello?)
Todd Stern International Climate Czar Anti-business former White House chief of Staff- Strong supportrer of the Kyoto Accord. Pushing hard for Cap and Trade. Blames U.S. Business for Global warming. Anti- U.S. Business prosperity.
Dennis Blair Intelligence Czar Ret. Navy. Stopped U.S. Guided missile program as "provocative". Chair of ultra liberal "Council on Foreign Relations" which blames American organizations for regional wars.
George Mitchell Mideast Peace Czar Fmr. Sen from Maine Left wing radical. Has said Israel should be split up into "2 or 3 " smaller more manageable plots". (God forbid) A true Anti-nuclear anti-gun & pro homosexual "special rights" advocate
Kenneth Feinberg Pay Czar Chief of Staff to TED KENNEDY. Lawyer who got rich off the 911 victims payoffs. (horribly true)
Cass Sunstein Regulatory Czar Liberal activist judge believes free speech needs to be limited for the "common good". Essentially against 1st amendment. Rules against personal freedoms many times -like private gun ownership and right to free speech. This guy has to be run out of Washington!!
John Holdren Science Czar.Fierce ideological environmentalist, Sierra Club, Anti-business activist. Claims U.S. business has caused world poverty. No Science training.
Earl Devaney Stimulus Accountability Czar Spent career trying to take guns away from American citizens. Believes in Open Borders to Mexico. Author of statement blaming U.S. gun stores for drug war in Mexico .
J. Scott Gration Sudan Czar Native of Democratic Republic of Congo. Believes U.S. does little to help Third World countries. Council of foreign relations, asking for higher U.S. taxes to support United Nations
Herb Allison TARP Czar Fannie Mae CEO responsible for the U.S. Recession by using real estate mortgages to back up the U.S. stock market. Caused millions of people to lose their life savings.
John Brennan Terrorism Czar Anti CIA activist. No training in diplomatic or gov. affairs. Believes Open Borders to Mexico and a dialog with terrorists and has suggested Obama disband U.S. military A TOTAL MORON!!!!!
Aneesh Chopra Technology Czar No Technology training. Worked for the Advisory Board Company, a health care think tank for hospitals. Anti doctor activist. Supports Obama Health care Rationing and salaried doctors working exclusively for the Gov. health care plan
Adolfo Carrion Jr.. Urban Affairs Czar Puerto Rican born Anti American activist and leftist group member in Latin America. Millionaire "slum lord" of the Bronx, NY. Owns many lavish homes and condos which he got from "sweetheart" deals with labor unions. Wants higher taxes on middle class to pay for minority housing and health care
Ashton Carter Weapons Czar Leftist. Wants all private weapons in U.S. destroyed. Supports UN ban on firearms ownership in America .. No Other "policy"
Gary Samore WMD Policy Czar Former U.S. Communist. Wants U.S. to destroy all WMD unilaterally as a show of good faith. Has no other "policy".
Yes indeed..change you can believe in.................
‘grouse, ‘From CNN"Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and four U.S. senators from New York and New Jersey have called for Britain to revisit the case, even though there is little chance that al Megrahi will be returned to custody from his native Libya. Cameron was scheduled to meet with the senators during his visit to Washington.’
That’s really great. It’s like closing the barn door after the horses are out. But this is typical of this administration. I would be a shame to comment that they ask Britain to reconsider AFTER the murder had been released. But again you are a Hussein supporter. Blaming everything on Bush is getting old so why not blame this Cheney?
OnlyinAgs2, ‘,Keep up the good conservative republican talking points editors LOL. I guess you next editorial will be about the made up snub of the boy scouts.’
Thanks, I’m glad you brought that up. Why would Hussein want to go talk with a bunch of boy scouts? That wouldn’t be a good photo-op. The reason is the boys would be mostly white and we know how Hussein feels about that. In Hussein own words, “I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites”.
Thanks, Only for bring that up
What else can you expect from a community organizer? Foreign policy did not top his resume (or was it even on there at all?).
America, you elected him, you get what you deserve.
Gaterp. We don't need any laxatives. Obama's got it all covered. We're bending over and taking it daily with his nonsense.
This week it's the Boy Scouts perceived SNUB by the right, next week it's going to be the Sons of Confederates snubb, the week after it's going to be the snubbing of white farmers, the week after that his logo is going to be compared to the moon and end time fearmongering. Didn't the right say the logo from the recent nuclear summit looked like his campaign logo and was a SIGN to muslims only, didn't the right say the FIFA soccer ball looked like his campaign logo? didn't the right get in an uproar because he didn't attend the arlington cemetery laying of the wreath? Didn't the right go BAT CRAZY over what kind of MUSTARD he put on his cheeseburger? Geez what's next.
The same people that are yapping about Obama's snub of the Boy Scouts are the same ones that went crazy when his taped speech was shown in schools.
What's the difference? Why would they object to a speech at schools versus one at the Jamboree? There's just no pleasing them. No matter what he did, people would criticize him. That just does so much to advancing us as a nation, you know?
Millions of people are out of work and people are concerned about the Boy Scout Jamboree? Have people lost their minds?
southernguy08 if anything it should remind you that the conservatives will NEVER approve, agree, give accolades or ANYTHING positive to Obama. What's a fact is with conservatives 99.9% of why is because of race, there no denying that. I have never seen so many bitter, angry, (insert race here) people since Nov 08 and Jan 09.
southernguy08 I take it you talked to only WHITE Scout leaders right, better yet white conservative scout leaders GIVE ME A BREAK. I'm sure somebody from the Boy Scout Council reached out to the White House to see if they could get him to speak in person to these young men, it just so happens they were probably told, he wasn't going to be in DC that weekend. Why don't you call the National Boy Scout Council and ask whoever is in charge did they knew before hand he would not be here. Geez keep it rolling with the nuttiness.
OnlyinAgs,’ What's a fact is with conservatives 99.9% of why is because of race, there no denying that.’
You have been trained very well.
I bet this will be one of the right wing conservative upcoming outrages the naming of the 2010 hurricanes if it get's to the letter O. Some will be mad if they don't name it Obama, and some mad because it's named after Obama NUTTINESS on parade on the right all the time. I still can't get over how they went BAT CRAZY over what kind of MUSTARD he used on his cheeseburger.
LOL trained that's a fact sorry, the foundation was layed out by people who look like you chascush years ago. Doesn't take training to see what's out in the open, I just hope and pray when a young black person comes to the revelation knowledge of race headon it doesn't wound them for life.
Well did you talk to only white scout leaders southernguy08? and were they only conservative scout leaders? The handful you claim you spoke to who were glad he didn't speak was proably a minority. I bet had he been available those few you spoke to would have been sitting right there listening to him speak. Oh God please help some of these nutty conservatives. Obama is DARNED if it do and DARNED if he don't with the likes of you. Oh by the way were you upset about the mustard as well?
When I drive downtown DC especially in the tourist areas, and I see the people walking about from all races and nationalities I think of you local chronicle online ODSers and laugh. These people are living their lives HATE FILLED free.
Why would Obama attempt to interfere with this deal when he philosophically agrees with the "struggle" that motivated this terrorist?
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