Mommar Gadhafi back with the "Good Tyrant" crowd

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I am saying that (IMHO) he is not The Great Satan, the Ultra-Boogey-Man, Public Enemy #1, etc. that he was painted to be. There are many who are far worse who would deserve the title much more..... Libya's Crazy Man is not even in the Top 10.

[...]

Neither does HAMAS make the Top 10. But thanks for playing and please come again !

Hamas?

Do we have a terrorist sympathizer in our midst?

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

I am saying that (IMHO) he is not The Great Satan, the Ultra-Boogey-Man, Public Enemy #1, etc. that he was painted to be. There are many who are far worse who would deserve the title much more..... Libya's Crazy Man is not even in the Top 10.

[...]

Neither does HAMAS make the Top 10. But thanks for playing and please come again !

Hamas?

Do we have a terrorist sympathizer in our midst?

Huh ?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I am saying that (IMHO) he is not The Great Satan, the Ultra-Boogey-Man, Public Enemy #1, etc. that he was painted to be. There are many who are far worse who would deserve the title much more..... Libya's Crazy Man is not even in the Top 10.

[...]

Neither does HAMAS make the Top 10. But thanks for playing and please come again !

Hamas?

Do we have a terrorist sympathizer in our midst?

Huh ?

Relax, I was being facetious.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

He may not be the most enlightened dictator of the modern age, but I don't think he even comes close to being a Great Satan. There are plenty of other world leaders who are/were much worse in terms of causing human suffering (not to name names *cough cough*)

No doubt there are equally bad or worse tyrants out there. To say that he's just not the most enlightened is a bit easy, though. I bet the scores of Libyan refugees would see that a bit more seriously. To me, the 1986 bombing of the "LaBelle" hit pretty close to home. He's had his hands in that one...

I never said he was a great guy, or someone to admire. (The "just" you inserted into your synopsis rather changes the nuance of my statement.)

I am saying that (IMHO) he is not The Great Satan, the Ultra-Boogey-Man, Public Enemy #1, etc. that he was painted to be. There are many who are far worse who would deserve the title much more..... Libya's Crazy Man is not even in the Top 10.

People, myself included, tend to get a bit touchy when a maniac sends his operatives to blow up places and people in my town, in my country. He can blow up anything he freaken likes in Libya. He can turn that whole place into one major litter box for all I care. But when his fcuking bombs explode in Berlin, that makes him The Great Satan and Enemy #1 to me.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

I am saying that (IMHO) he is not The Great Satan, the Ultra-Boogey-Man, Public Enemy #1, etc. that he was painted to be. There are many who are far worse who would deserve the title much more..... Libya's Crazy Man is not even in the Top 10.

[...]

Neither does HAMAS make the Top 10. But thanks for playing and please come again !

Hamas?

Do we have a terrorist sympathizer in our midst?

Huh ?

Yeah. Hamas is the poster child.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

He may not be the most enlightened dictator of the modern age, but I don't think he even comes close to being a Great Satan. There are plenty of other world leaders who are/were much worse in terms of causing human suffering (not to name names *cough cough*)

No doubt there are equally bad or worse tyrants out there. To say that he's just not the most enlightened is a bit easy, though. I bet the scores of Libyan refugees would see that a bit more seriously. To me, the 1986 bombing of the "LaBelle" hit pretty close to home. He's had his hands in that one...

I never said he was a great guy, or someone to admire. (The "just" you inserted into your synopsis rather changes the nuance of my statement.)

I am saying that (IMHO) he is not The Great Satan, the Ultra-Boogey-Man, Public Enemy #1, etc. that he was painted to be. There are many who are far worse who would deserve the title much more..... Libya's Crazy Man is not even in the Top 10.

People, myself included, tend to get a bit touchy when a maniac sends his operatives to blow up places and people in my town, in my country. He can blow up anything he freaken likes in Libya. He can turn that whole place into one major litter box for all I care. But when his fcuking bombs explode in Berlin, that makes him The Great Satan and Enemy #1 to me.

OK. When you calm down, read what I wrote again.

Libya's Crazy Man is not even in the Top 10 when it comes to "people who caused the most human suffering in the modern age." I doubt he's even in the Top 25.

There are others who deserve the title of "Great Satan" much more than this guy.

As far as the LaBelle disco bombing.... 3 people died -- 2 Americans and 1 Turkish -- and nearly 300 were wounded. The full details are still rather murky, and the German judge in the trial said that prosecutors failed to prove that Gaddafi himself ordered the attack. He may have (I certainly am not privy to the full court records or any evidence that may have been withheld.) However, that charge was not sustained in a German court of law.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

He may not be the most enlightened dictator of the modern age, but I don't think he even comes close to being a Great Satan. There are plenty of other world leaders who are/were much worse in terms of causing human suffering (not to name names *cough cough*)

No doubt there are equally bad or worse tyrants out there. To say that he's just not the most enlightened is a bit easy, though. I bet the scores of Libyan refugees would see that a bit more seriously. To me, the 1986 bombing of the "LaBelle" hit pretty close to home. He's had his hands in that one...

I never said he was a great guy, or someone to admire. (The "just" you inserted into your synopsis rather changes the nuance of my statement.)

I am saying that (IMHO) he is not The Great Satan, the Ultra-Boogey-Man, Public Enemy #1, etc. that he was painted to be. There are many who are far worse who would deserve the title much more..... Libya's Crazy Man is not even in the Top 10.

People, myself included, tend to get a bit touchy when a maniac sends his operatives to blow up places and people in my town, in my country. He can blow up anything he freaken likes in Libya. He can turn that whole place into one major litter box for all I care. But when his fcuking bombs explode in Berlin, that makes him The Great Satan and Enemy #1 to me.

OK. When you calm down, read what I wrote again.

Libya's Crazy Man is not even in the Top 10 when it comes to "people who caused the most human suffering in the modern age." I doubt he's even in the Top 25.

There are others who deserve the title of "Great Satan" much more than this guy.

As far as the LaBelle disco bombing.... 3 people died -- 2 Americans and 1 Turkish -- and nearly 300 were wounded. The full details are still rather murky, and the German judge in the trial said that prosecutors failed to prove that Gaddafi himself ordered the attack. He may have (I certainly am not privy to the full court records or any evidence that may have been withheld.) However, that charge was not sustained in a German court of law.

Your assessment and mine are quite obviously different on this particular maniac. The prosecution may have been unable to link the maniac in Tripoli to the attack to the satisfaction of a court of law. The German courts did, however, convict a Libyan, a Palestinian and a Lebanese born German, who all happened to be employed by the Libyan Embassy in East Germany at the time, for this act. Now you may believe that their employment at that particular diplomatic post is nothing but a coincidence. I sure don't.

That said, no court ever proved that Gadhafi ordered the downing of PanAm 103 either. Doesn't mean he didn't. After all, the guy wouldn't offer up some 3 billion dollars in compensation for the families of the victims if he had nothing to do with it.

Edited May 15, 2006 by ET-US2004

[silvanski 1]

I thought all dictatorial regimes were bad... unless they co-operate with the USA...

duh hypocrites

[SteveLaura 0]

That said, no court ever proved that Gadhafi ordered the downing of PanAm 103 either. Doesn't mean he didn't. After all, the guy wouldn't offer up some 3 billion dollars in compensation for the families of the victims if he had nothing to do with it.

Some observers believe that Libya's acceptance of responsibility [for the actions of its officials] amounted to a business deal aimed at having the sanctions overturned, rather than an admission of guilt. On February 24, 2004, Libyan Prime Minister Shukri Ghanem stated in a BBC Radio 4 interview that his country had paid the compensation as the "price for peace" and to secure the lifting of sanctions. Asked if Libya did not accept guilt, he said, "I agree with that."

Source

[dawnnhatem 0]

The German courts did, however, convict a Libyan, a Palestinian and a Lebanese born German, who all happened to be employed by the Libyan Embassy in East Germany at the time, for this act. Now you may believe that their employment at that particular diplomatic post is nothing but a coincidence. I sure don't.

That said, no court ever proved that Gadhafi ordered the downing of PanAm 103 either. Doesn't mean he didn't. After all, the guy wouldn't offer up some 3 billion dollars in compensation for the families of the victims if he had nothing to do with it.

I'm not prepared to argue about how bad or good anyone is, but while my husband worked in libya last year, I learned that since the libyan government controls almost all activity in libya, you can work almost anywhere and be technically a libyan government employee. And since he was a jordanian, he actually reported in some ways to the jordanian embassy (like his work contract and payroll details where through them) Its a pretty nutty system they have there, so I wouldn't make too much about that "coincidence"

As far as the 3 bil go...He dreamed of dong buisness with the world again without sanctions. That money was never about compensating victims for their losses, it was just a timely opportunity for him to bargain. Im afraid of you guys, so thats all I can add here.

Dawn

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Your assessment and mine are quite obviously different on this particular maniac. The prosecution may have been unable to link the maniac in Tripoli to the attack to the satisfaction of a court of law. The German courts did, however, convict a Libyan, a Palestinian and a Lebanese born German, who all happened to be employed by the Libyan Embassy in East Germany at the time, for this act. Now you may believe that their employment at that particular diplomatic post is nothing but a coincidence. I sure don't.

That said, no court ever proved that Gadhafi ordered the downing of PanAm 103 either. Doesn't mean he didn't. After all, the guy wouldn't offer up some 3 billion dollars in compensation for the families of the victims if he had nothing to do with it.

My assessment was that the guy was not the worst of the world’s tyrants. You certainly have the right to your opinion, but at least you could admit that calling Moammar "The Great Satan" is elevating his notoriety beyond many others who have caused hundreds of thousands, even perhaps millions of deaths.

And, actually, four people were convicted in the LaBelle disco bombing: two Palestinians (the one you mentioned as a “Lebanese-born German” was in fact Palestinian, although born in Lebanon,) the Libyan diplomat, and the German wife of one of the Palestinians. She also happened to be the only one convicted of murder; the others were convicted of aiding in murder.

German public television (ZDF) broadcast a documentary in 1998 examining the facts of the case, and presented evidence that some of the main suspects actually worked for American and Israeli intelligence.

So as I said, details of what actually happened in that case are still a bit murky.

As for Gaddafi and the PanAm compensation deal, I was going to answer with something along the lines of what SteveLaura posted, but he beat me to it (Stupid work... distracting me from the fun debates )

Dawn.... good to see you around again ! Don't be skeeered of us.... we won't bite

[slim 1,533]

Isn't it funny how the dictators who run to hold our hands always end up later having their country invaded and all of their oil stolen?

And isn't it really funny that the reason for doing this is under murky circumstances?

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

You guys crack me up. So, all of a sudden, we're back to square one where Libya had nothing to with the bombing of PanAm flight 103 and the compensation is nothing but a business deal. Excellent!

So, when and where is the next Moammar Gadhafi fan club meeting?

[slim 1,533]

Perhaps tonight at 8:00 on all the major networks.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Perhaps tonight at 8:00 on all the major networks.

Too bad I can't watch.

There was a Bush warning put out there for around that hour tonite during the evening news.