The international firestorm over Scotland’s decision to free Libya’s Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi shows no sign of abating, nor should anyone have expected it to. Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill will be making a statement to that country’s Parliament. His appearance isn’t expected to be pretty.
The decision to send the only person convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing home to Libya was, one expects, not taken lightly. However, on the international stage, there are charges a trade deal was made to free Megrahi, and there are calls in the US for a boycott of Scottish and British goods and tourism.
No one can predict if such action will be taken, and if so, what its effect will be. Yet for me, and the city in which I live, the entire weight of the Scottish decision and Libya-US relations has taken a decidedly personal turn.
That’s because there’s word that Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi is considering a stay in Englewood, NJ, the city I call home. Qaddafi is due to speak to the UN next month, Englewood is about 10 miles as the crow flies from midtown Manhattan, and the Libyan mission to the UN owns a home in town.
Muammar Qaddafi
As you might imagine, news of Qaddafi’s possible visit has touched off a wave of anger in Englewood’s large Jewish community. Many here consider him a continuing sponsor of terrorism, no matter what the rapprochement between Libya and the US in recent years. Residents cite as proof of Qaddafi’s imminent arrival frantic renovations currently going on at the little used property .
Of course, there’s little that can be done to legally stop Qaddafi from using the property while he’s in the US.
Libyan owned mansion in Englewood, NJ under renovation for Gadhafi's stay
There are issues regarding international diplomacy, and the State Dept. doesn’t as a rule publicize where foreign leaders reside during visits. Qaddafi reportedly wanted to pitch a tent in New York’s Central Park, but that request went nowhere.
Already there are calls from some to “burn the house down”, which is at best stupid and at worst could merit a visit from authorities.
Certainly if Qaddafi does come to my town, I’d expect protests, large and vocal. Englewood is a diverse small city, and as such would tolerate a stay by Qadaffi, but certainly not in silence. And that’s as it should be. As Americans, we have the right of free speech and should show our outrage that a convicted murderer can return home to a hero’s welcome.
To the extent that Muammar Qaddafi condoned and organized that show of support, he should be the subject of protests, in Englewood, NJ and at the UN. If he chooses to stay among us, he’s got to hear us as well.
Cafe in Englewood, NJ
Isn’t that the American way?
Related posts:
The BBC journalist, John Simpson once interviewed Gaddafi [1], who broke wind throughout. His headline was “winds of change blow through Libya”.
Libyan delegates are scheduled to meet at a Glasgow hotel in November, as part of a drive for Islamic finance being set-up by the Islamist-inclined and Muslim Brotherhood-friendly Scottish-Islamic Foundation (note the hyphenation) which, just so happens, received large sums of public money without Holyrood scrutiny and, even more surprisingly, has as its Director a former employee of Alex Salmond and SNP parliamentary candidate, Osama Saeed. As it that’s not weird enough, the boards of directors are mostly SNP activitists or members of the Saeed family.
On occassion, the SIF has invited to Scotland the Libyan head of the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as known American Islamists.
The closeness to such elements no doubt influenced the decision to release al-Megrahi.
[1] I’m thinking of the first series of The West Wing, in which Leo McGarry calls the NYT to object to the spelling of Gaddafi in the crossword: “I ordered a military strike on his country, I know how to spell his name!”.
Yeah, when did Khadaffi become Gadaffi? And when did Mao Tse-Tung morph into Mao Zedong?
And while we’re on the subject, how about Marion Morrison? When did he suddenly become John Wayne?
This pardon thing stinks to high heaven, IMHO. Seems that Scotland–the land of Braveheart–has become a bunch of Weakhearts, all because of oil.
If you want to know what is really going on, don’t follow the money. Follow the oil.
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Why don’t we call on all the ‘outraged’ healthcare obstructionists?
They seemed to do a good job as a roadblock!
And,…..they carry guns now.
The decision to free Al-Magrahi was in accordance with Scottish law. Not one prisoner who has applied for release on grounds that they were suffering from a terminal illness has had their application denied.
It is nothing to do with oil or special deals. The Scottish Justice Minister was legally obliged to consider the application.
And from another website this may be of interest to you:
“The night Pan Am 103 crashed in Lockerbie, every emergency service for miles around turned out, police, firefighters, ambulance service. In the days after, these same services along with hundreds of volunteers searched every inch of the countryside, fields and forests to recover the remains of each passenger,
Every passenger recovered was treated with the utmost respect, they were not just dead bodies but someones loved one and treated as such, the volunteers involved in the recovery didn’t ask or expect any money for this, they did it out of compassion for the dead and for their relatives
The residents of Lockerbie opened their homes and their hearts to the relatives of the dead when they visited Lockerbie, again they didn’t ask for or expect money, their compassion told them to do it.
When the US State department told relatives of the dead that they would not get back the recovered clothes of their loved ones, the ladies of Lockerbie challenged the State dept. and took it upon themselves to wash, iron and wrap in tissue paper each and every item of clothing that had been recovered and gone through forensics. Each article of clothing was then returned to the relatives, these ladies from Lockerbie didn’t ask or expect any money for this, they did it out of compassion for the dead and for their relatives.
If God forbid another American airliner crashed in Scotland, I’d like to think that same compassion would lead us to do the same as we did at Lockerbie.”
As Bob Dylan used to say: ‘Don’t criticise what you don’t understand…’
Political Observer…..that was compassion for the victims not for the perpetrator/s.
The outrageous display of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi welcoming Al-Magrahi home as though welcoming home a national hero, was, in my opinion, in very poor taste. Qaddafi should have known that his actions would furthur fan the flames of hatred toward the west by his countrymen, as though Al-Magrahi were some innocent Libyan citizen persecuted by the west. Time to send the Libyan leader another message. Let’s follow the late President Ronald Reagan’s lead and send another missle through Qaddafi’s bedroom window. He wasn’t seen or heard from for a long period after that. Maybe he’ll rethink coming to New Jersey…