Reuters reports that "FBI director Robert Mueller released an angry letter he sent to Scottish minister Kenny MacAskill, who ordered the release, calling it inexplicable and detrimental to justice. 'Indeed your action makes a mockery of the rule of law. Your action gives comfort to terrorists around the world,' Mueller wrote in the letter posted on the FBI's website." To read Mueller's full letter visit http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6076025/Lockerbie-bomber-Letter-from-FBI-director-Robert-Mueller.html
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Saturday, August 22, 2009
FBI Director Robert Mueller Blasts Scottish For Releasing Lockerbie Bomber
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What a short memory Robert Mueller has. I remember President Clinton greeting Irish terrorists at the White House, men who organised the killing of hudreds of innocent British men,women and children. What justice did they get?
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to making a mockery of justice the US is streets ahead of anybody else I won't mention Guantanamo or the fact that no US pilots were ever brought to account for the British soldiers they killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. What justice did their families get? The US should sort it's own house out first before it critises other countries.
Mr Mueller's ignorance is breathtaking.
An angry Scottish citizen
The U.S. military does not target British troops in Iraq or Afghanistan, that is nonsense.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, most of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing were American, so America should be loudly criticizing the Scottish government for displaying the "compassion" of fools. A terrorist gets a hero's welcome in Libya, greeted and embraced by Gaddafi, to die in peace in his home. He showed no remorse. There is no excuse for having released him, for showing him compassion. This is nothing like the Irish you speak of that eventually layed down their arms.
Guantanamo is not a mockery of the law, it is where enemy combatants are being held, where they are being treated humanely, and where they have rights that have been established by the U.S. Supreme Court even though these Constitutional rights do not apply to them.
I never said the US targeted British troops.
ReplyDeleteThe US military made a fatal mistake and nobody was brought to account for it. Justice?
Your statement on Guantanamo is ridiculous.
Under which law are they being held?
Why have they not been charged?
Contrary to what you say everyone that has been released stated they were routinely tortured or is that your interpretation of humane?
Your new President knows how much a mockery Guantanamo is as he's vowed to close it down.Sort your own justice system out before you critisise others.
I am not sure which incident you refer to, but what kind of "account" are you looking for when it comes to "a mistake" anyway?
ReplyDeleteThe Supreme Court has given the Gitmo detainees rights. Read the Boumediene decision, or at least look up news reports about it, and be sure to read some of Justice Antonin Scalia's scathing dissent to see where I stand.
Furthermore, the Washington Post reported that "a Pentagon review of conditions at the Guantanamo Bay military prison has concluded that the treatment of detainees meets the requirements of the Geneva Conventions but that prisoners in the highest-security camps should be allowed more religious and social interaction, according to a government official who has read the 85-page document. The report, which President Obama ordered, was prepared by Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, the vice chief of naval operations, and has been delivered to the White House. Obama requested the review as part of an executive order on the planned closure of the prison at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, on the southeastern tip of Cuba... Walsh concluded that force-feeding, which involves strapping detainees to special chairs and inserting a tube through one nostril and into their stomachs, is in compliance with the Geneva Conventions' mandate that the lives of prisoners be preserved, according to the government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the report publicly."
Further, you probably ignored the Associated Press report from January of this year that said the "the Pentagon says the number of Guantanamo Bay detainees who rejoined terrorist missions after being released is on the rise. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Tuesday that 61 detainees are believed as of last month to have returned to the fight against the United States since being released."
Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes explained in 2006 that "they are treated very humanely, and those are the orders of the president [Bush]." She said the detainees have “not signed on to any international convention, they don't respect the rules of war, they don't wear a uniform or represent any particular state or country, so it's really an unprecedented situation, and we have tried to deal with them in a fair and humane way. Governments around the world are going to increasingly have to deal with this issue themselves, as we face terrorists who want to attack the civilized world, and it's a very difficult situation to know what to do with people like these."
I have no problems with saying my new President is wrong for saying he would close down Gitmo.
Are you proud as a Scottish citizen to see your flag flown in celebration by Libyans as the Lockerbie bomber gets a hero's welcome home?
ReplyDeleteI suggest you read the entirety of the FBI Director's letter:
Dear Mr Secretary
Over the years I have been a prosecutor, and recently as the Director of the FBI, I have made it a practice not to comment on the actions of other prosecutors, since only the prosecutor handling the case has all the facts and the law before him in reaching the appropriate decision.
Your decision to release Megrahi causes me to abandon that practice in this case. I do so because I am familiar with the facts, and the law, having been the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the investigation and indictment of Megrahi in 1991. And I do so because I am outraged at your decision, blithely defended on the grounds of ''compassion''.
Your action in releasing Megrahi is as inexplicable as it is detrimental to the cause of justice. Indeed your action makes a mockery of the rule of law. Your action gives comfort to terrorists around the world who now believe that regardless of the quality of the investigation, the conviction by jury after the defendant is given all due process, and sentence appropriate to the crime, the terrorist will be freed by one man's exercise of ''compassion''. Your action rewards a terrorist even though he never admitted to his role in this act of mass murder and even though neither he nor the government of Libya ever disclosed the names and roles of others who were responsible.
Your action makes a mockery of the emotions, passions and pathos of all those affected by the Lockerbie tragedy: the medical personnel who first faced the horror of 270 bodies strewn in the fields around Lockerbie, and in the town of Lockerbie itself; the hundreds of volunteers who walked the fields of Lockerbie to retrieve any piece of debris related to the break-up of the plane; the hundreds of FBI agents and Scottish police who undertook an unprecedented global investigation to identify those responsible; the prosecutors who worked for years - in some cases a full career - to see justice done.
But most importantly, your action makes a mockery of the grief of the families who lost their own on December 21, 1988. You could not have spent much time with the families, certainly not as much time as others involved in the investigation and prosecution. You could not have visited the small wooden warehouse where the personal items of those who perished were gathered for identification - the single sneaker belonging to a teenager; the Syracuse sweatshirt never again to be worn by a college student returning home for the holidays; the toys in a suitcase of a businessman looking forward to spending Christmas with his wife and children.
You apparently made this decision without regard to the views of your partners in the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the Lockerbie tragedy. Although the FBI and Scottish police, and prosecutors in both countries, worked exceptionally closely to hold those responsible accountable, you never once sought our opinion, preferring to keep your own counsel and hiding behind opaque references to ''the need for compassion''.
You have given the family members of those who died continued grief and frustration. You have given those who sought to assure that the persons responsible would be held accountable the back of your hand. You have given Megrahi a ''jubilant welcome'' in Tripoli, according to the reporting. Where, I ask, is the justice?
Sincerely yours,
Robert S. Mueller, III
Director