May 27, 2012

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Abdelbaset Al Megrahi

Open Thread: Should Libya Extradite Lockerbie Bomber to U.S.?

By NB Staff | August 29, 2011 | 11:03

Fred Lucas of NewsBusters sister site CNSNews.com is reporting today that Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney wants to see convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi extradited from Libya to the United States to face prosecution:

On Libya, Dean Aims At Romney, Shoots Self In Foot

By Mark Finkelstein | August 23, 2011 | 07:59

It's enough to make you scream . . . On Morning Joe today, Howard Dean rapped Mitt Romney for calling on the Libyan rebels to turn Gaddafi over to the US for trial. According to Dean, Romney's suggestion made "no sense" and exposed his lack of foreign policy experience.

There was just one little problem with Howie's hypothesis. Romney never called for the rebels to turn Gaddafi over to the US. As was clear from both Romney's words in the clip Morning Joe aired of his Fox News interview with Neil Cavuto, and in the graphics at the bottom of the FNC screen, Romney wants the rebels to turn the Lockerbie bomber, Megrahi, over to the US for trial, not Gaddafi. Hat tip readers Gil S. and BondPlainBond. View video after the jump.

Chuck T Plays D For White House On Megrahi Release Letter

By Mark Finkelstein | July 26, 2010 | 08:31

So there was Robert Gibbs on the White House lawn, defending to Mika Brzezinski the letter from the Obama administration saying it favored a compassionate release of the Lockerbie bomber over a prisoner transfer. Oh, wait. That wasn't the White House press secretary—it was Chuck Todd. Sorry about that. But when you view the video I think you might forgive my error. Todd certainly came across like a paid administration flack . . .

In the course of his conversation with Mika on today's Morning Joe, Todd labelled "outlandish" the depiction by the Sunday Times of London of the US position as "double-talk." As Mika continued to press the case, suggesting the US could simply have expressed its implacable opposition to any form of release, Todd complained that it was "easy to back-seat drive" the Obama admin's handling of the matter. Perhaps most laughably, Todd defended the Obama admin's "delicate" diplomacy by claiming "any administration" would have done the same and raising the what-if of another country trying to tell our government what to do. You mean, like Pres. Obama's moves to close Gitmo and take other measures weakening US national security because other countries have complained about them?

Scarborough: Obama Admin Must Have Signed Off On Lockerbie Terrorist Release

By Mark Finkelstein | August 31, 2009 | 09:12

If Joe Scarborough is right, this could be a game-changing blow to Barack Obama . . .

On today's Morning Joe, Scarborough left no doubt that he believes the Obama administration acquiesced to the release by the British government of Abdelbaset Al Megrahi, the convicted Lockerbie murderer and terrorist.

Scarborough was reacting to reports suggesting that, contrary to initial claims, the release was done at the behest of Gordon Brown's British government, and was not an independent move by Scotland.