Keith, For a sincere belief that this will fall upon deaf ears (so to speak) I will attempt to explain why I said what I have said. I for one believe that life offers choices you can choose to make a difference and move on or make choice to stay mired in the morass of your own making. Neither of which is always right. Secondly, once a choice is made you are confronted with either doing something useful are not. Little is gained by rattling a saber at an already angry enemy. If Scotland had not let this man go home it well may have made its self a target and held a man to which the Islamist would have venerated as a martyr, and we have made enough of them. Nothing would be gained in seening this man die in prision which would have made peace for the families who have lost relatives. So it is my belief that Scotland made a better choice then you have proposed.
On Aug 23, 11:09 am, Keith In Tampa <[email protected]> wrote: > Yes, Studio, > > Apparently you are once again correct. The comment from Qaddafi thanking > his "Good Friend" Prime Minister Brown, raises a number of questions, that > still remain unanswered. > > Diogenes, > > Again, you just totally baffle me with your thought processes..... > > If this homicidal murderer had been released on a stretcher, shackled, and > placed under house arrest to die with his family, then maybe it wouldn't > have been such a hard pill to swallow. Instead, the man climbs aboard a 737 > in hospital garb, barely able to make it up the steps of the plane, and > WALA: He arrives in Tripoli in a business suit to a Hero's welcome, > confetti flying, and miraculously, he is able to scale down the stairs, > gallivant across the tarmac, and swap sugar with Qaddafi himself. > > The following was shared by Dick Thompson, but I thought it was an > interesting analogy: > > =================== > > When Italy let the Achille Lauro terrorists go free - terrorists who had > only killed a handful of people, Ronald Reagan dispatched the U.S. Navy to > intercept the airplane flying them home, over international waters, forced > the plane down, and brought them to justice. > > At 5:30 P.M. on Thursday, October 10, President Reagan was aboard Air Force > One, returning to Washington, D.C. from a speaking engagement in the Chicago > area, when word reached him that the terrorists were getting away. He > authorized the carrier USS Saratoga, patrolling the Adriatic Sea, to put > seven F-14 Tomcats into the air. Their orders: divert the Egyptian aircraft > to a NATO base at Sigonella, Sicily. The appearance of the Tomcats unnerved > the EgyptAir pilot, who compliantly altered course for Sicily. He had no way > of knowing that the American "top guns" had orders to refrain from shooting > down the 737 without direct instructions from the president. > > Initially the Italians were not disposed to cooperate, scrambling their own > warplanes to prevent a landing at Sigonella, but after a call from Reagan, > Italy's Prime Minister Bettino Craxi gave permission to land. The American > plan was to load the Palestinians onto a U.S. military aircraft and > transport them to the States. But when American troops encircled the 737 > they found themselves surrounded in turn by Italian soldiers. Italy had > decided that since the Achille Lauro was an Italian vessel, the hijackers > should be tried in Italian courts. The terrorists faced charges of > premeditated murder, kidnapping and hijacking. When Reagan called Craxi this > time, the Italian leader wouldn't budge -- Abul Abbas and his cronies would > remain in Italian hands. After Arafat threatened *uncontrollable reactions" > if the Italians turned Abbas over to the Americans, Italy refused a U.S. > request to extradite the terrorist leader. Abbas was soon freed. In 1986 the > four hijackers were convicted and sentenced to long prison terms, > > The American public emphatically approved of the bold mid-flight > interception of the Achille Lauro terrorists. Egypt's President Hosni > Mubarak decorated the 737 pilot and demanded an apology from the United > States. Reagan vowed he would never apologize. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
