Is there any nether region, no matter how foul, that the EU will not French-kiss ?

I'm putting my money on "no."

A shopping spree for Ghaddafi at Goofy Hats R' Us.

Nothing like a little paranoia against people trying to help out...

Dang, cost 'em eight and half years in Libyan prison...

And free makeovers for his women.

Behold the strength of soft power!

Thanks, Charles.

FrontPage Magazine summarizes the disgraceful affair today;

Libyan Hell For Bulgarian Sisters Of Mercy

...it will be just as tragic for future European kidnap victims that are now sure to follow, as other tyrants have definitely noticed how the shamefully inadequate European politicians approached Gaddafi on two legs but constantly crawled away on four to get him his money.

OT: Cindy Sheehan crashes Kos' Gate.....
'It's Up to Us' by Cindy Sheehan

It is also with a heavy heart that I announce my candidacy against Nancy Pelosi in California’s 8th.
....

I am committed to challenging a two party system that has kept us in a state of constant warfare for the last 60 years and has become more and more beholden to special interests and has forgotten the faces of the people whom it represents.

I am committed to using our strength as a country to wage peace and to elevate the status of every citizen in our country by converting the enduring war economy to a prosperous one with lasting peace.

Since she's banned this was posted by a sock puppet.

After arriving in Bulgaria, the Palestinian doctor demanded to returned to Libya.

You bet, Terp. By the way, I hate to say "I told you so," but I was right about their imminent release...

Wasn't one of the Lockerbie bombers supposed to be part of the trade?

Not saying how much they paid, but the bidding starts at a million bucks per "infected child", totalling over $400 million, to be "paid out" through a "charity" controlled by Khaddafi's son.

Terrorism works.

Should you not want 10,000 islamic terrorist per year from unknown places inside your U.S. A. go to

[Link: www.numbersusa.com...]

and send a fax to the House/Senate negotiating committee regard them agreeing to a giant loophole for such terrorist in the 2007 9/11 bill

they are ready to to this before the day is out.

We are now governed by traitors to the Constitution, it must end.

When in reality there should be a massive payment the other direction to those who lost 8 1/2 years because of Mu’ammar Gadhafi's shenanigans.

State sponsored kidnapping pays.

I'm off! Gotta go find me a Frenchman to kidnap.

re:

Where is a President Reagan now?

/Sure wasn't in that lineup last night!

...yes, we are farmed by the Arabs like the Good Earth...

I STILL say we'd have gotten their release faster and without paying any money, if we'd just chucked a couple of Tomahawk missles through his tents' the way RR did.
Just sayin......

When you reinforce a behavior, that behavior will continue.

Or. In less PC terms.
Terrorism pays and the west is a weak lap dog for Islam and every other crack pot dictator.

The Barbary Pirates are at it again -- holding Western hostages for ransome. And the Euros are doing what they do best -- surrendering. America used to know how to deal with pirates. But that was before we became slaves of the Prophet Liberallah.

Reagan did not do a proper job handling Libya.

re:

re:

Cindy Sheehan: The Ego Trip begins.

The medics, who were sentenced to life in prison for contaminating children with the AIDS virus after lengthy, barbaric torture forced them to sign "confessions..."but now maintain their innocence

Fixed

A freed Bulgarian starts to detail his torture:

link

I'm glad this is over.

Also, Bulgaria gave the Palestinian doctor citizenship so he could be released alongside the Bulgarians.
Do you think an Islamic state would do something like that to save an infidel?

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How much would Quaddafi charge to kidnap Sheehan? Might be worth asking...

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But when they get nukes in that part of the world, there is no way they would use them to blackmail the west. Right?
I mean, we have seen no evidence they will do this.
No past trends.
No past behaviors.

For centuries and centuries the muslim pirates raided the European coast of the Mediterranean kidnapping people and then asking for ransom...

Nothing has changed.

European prisoners, ransom...

One thing has changed: Europe is no longer defending herself...

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Just out of curiosity, why is Lybia hard up for cash. Lets be blunt 400 million is chump change.

Oh yeah and the EU is a bunch of losers in any case.

Ok, WAY OT:

I truly feel sorry for Lindsay Lohan. Her life is spiraling downward as if she were circling a drain. She was so sweet and pretty when she was younger, and now she's such a waste.

If chidlren are brought up with a foundation of right and wrong, they have nothing to support them when they make their own decisions.

She's not a child, and she must accept the consequences of her bad choices, but it does make me sad for her.

re: #9 Charles: By the way, I hate to say "I told you so," but I was right about their imminent release...

And I'm very happy (in this case) to be wrong.

Kaddafi did hold out for more jizya and policitical concessions... and the Lockerbie bomber exchange remains up in the air.

Ok, it's over. Now can we send a cruise missile up Qaddafi's ass. I'm sick of the new tolerance of Libya since they 'voluntarily gave up their nuclear weapons program'.
Libya is just as bad is Syria and Iran and they need to be dealt with.

re: #22 Bearster

Reagan did not do a proper job handling Libya.

As much as I admire RWR, his Mideast policies could have been better. The Beirut pullout was a major mistake, as was dealing with Iran for the Lebanon hostages. The Libya response was a slap in the face, but only set Khaddafi back momentarily.

We never really recognized that the early terror groups in the Mideast were part of the proxy wars with the Soviet.

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Yes, the figure being bandied about is €294 million which is just about a million bucks a head; there have also been rumblings about an 'appeal' by the murdering fuck who blew up the Lockerbie planebecause his conviction was 'unsafe'.
Apparently, someone thought that evidence of the piece of shit having to do with the bomb should have been suppressed.
All this is paid for by EU taxpayers - me in other words.
I've refused to work on any Libyan jobs or work with any Libyan engineer; since I'm a senior engineer and there aren't that many of us about, it may make a slight diference, but whether or not, I will never contribute to the enrichment of that shower of bastards, I have some self respect after all.

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#45 robert in england

good for you Robert

re: #15 Peacekeeper

I'm off! Gotta go find me a Frenchman to kidnap.

Hehe. Good luck, Peacekeeper. Hope you can stand the smell!

So how long before the Barbary Coast barbarians start making a regular business of this (again), and it's up to us to pull Europe's chestnuts out of the fire (again)? Didn't we see this movie already? like, 200 years or so ago?

#24 realwest, hey more details are always good:-)

OT
On Hot Air this morning:
Part 2 of Erick’s interview with Dr. Tawfik Hamid
There's also a link to part 1.

Once again . . . do gooders need to STAY HOME. Do not go to work or volunteer in barbaric Muslim lands.

I am glad that these poor nurses and the doctor were released, but what a horrific ordeal for them. The women were raped, among other tortures. I'm beyond disgusted that Libya walks away with its buckets full of money and goodies and now world leaders are stepping all over themselves to see who can be the first to "normalize ties" with Libya. WTH? I don't even know what world I'm living in anymore. Once those nurses were safely on Bulgarian soil, Libya should have been decimated from the air -- to hell with civilians. The ONLY thing that Muslims understand is FORCE. History has proven this again and again. If a country knew that it would be destroyed for kidnapping, torturing, raping innocent visitors and guest workers, and extorting millions of dollars for their release, it would behave. Period. Instead, wow, what a deal! A lot of barbaric countries are looking to Libya with new admiration and respect and an intent to emulate.

#42 jcm

The thing is President Reagan would have built on his starting point and would have adjusted. He wouldn't have thrown Graham out of his group of advisers and taken on a bunch of islamists instead.

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Charles is hot this morning.

My hope: All corrupt-for-live tin-pot dictators of Africa will dry up and blow away. It is time for Africa to be free.

Mr. "Little Eichmanns" learns his fate today. I for one have my fingers crossed. Oh, and I'd like to go on record as saying that should I meet him on the street, he is going to get a size 12 Doc Marten square in the temple.

Linky:

I'm glad their ordeal is over. What a nightmare.

I just hope that when the stories of what the medics have went through comes out that it will be a wake up call to every westerner in these troubled areas and they all leave. That would be such a lovely payback, but I doubt it will happy.

wow, i'd say that the real story here is that LGF and Kos feel the same way about something.

The return of the Barbary Pirates. Bulgaria is a member of NATO, isn't there something NATO could do?

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Libya.

Ally.

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Meanwhile, the South Korean hostage deadline has passed, and no word from the Taliban captors of their condition. The Jawas have updates.

What a wonderful world we are leaving our kids.

And all because so many baby boomers are self absorbed.
Gonna be funny if in the future the economy tanks because our kids have to ramp up spending to fight the war then that we should have fought now, and all those dollars so many are depending on for their comfy retirement get sucked right our of their hands.

Meanwhile, the La Belle disco and Lockerbie bombing victims' families still await promised Libyan compensation payments;

Senators to Bar Libya Ambassador Nominee

Four U.S. senators say they intend to block the confirmation of President Bush's choice for U.S. ambassador to Libya.

The nomination of Gene Cretz is a step in restoring normal diplomatic relations after decades of tensions over Libya's alleged involvement in terrorism. The Bush administration has sought to reward Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi since he surprised the world by agreeing to dismantle his country's weapons of mass destruction programs.

But the four Democrats _ Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York _ say they will invoke a Senate procedure to delay the nomination until Libya pays compensation for terrorist attacks in the 1980s.

They think Kaddafi will be impressed by Dems holding Bush's ambassador hostage?

The figure was apparently $460M - $1M to go to each AIDS patient.

Whaddya bet this is either 1) heavily "taxed" by the Libyan government before receipt, or 2) "distributed" via some government conduit, which will deduct "administrative expenses"...

The usual ME compensation payment for suicide bombers, inter alia, seems to be more like $10-25K, and my guess is that's what the families will wind up with.

So yes, history goes on in the same groove for centuries, but the people on "our" side involved in this stuff either ignore history or are ignorant of it.

re: #58 equable

Mr. "Little Eichmanns" learns his fate today. I for one have my fingers crossed. Oh, and I'd like to go on record as saying that should I meet him on the street, he is going to get a size 12 Doc Marten square in the temple.
Linky:

Live blogging on his Dismissapalooza at Pirate Ballerina.

Imams blame our Western vaccines on infertility (that never shows up in their numbers) and HIV (although, HIV is virtually non-existant in islamic states) and now blamed a few Bulgarian nurses for spreading AIDS to babies.
When will we learn and leave them all to die of polio, measles, mumps, diptheria and whatever else you have to use an alcohol swab on their skin to administer?
These nurses were raped, beaten and threatened with imminent death.
When will we (for their own protection) stop letting such women enter any islamic country?

Pay the jizya and all will be well with you, kfirs, until the next time.

allgag the merciful

OT: Now here's an idea for insomniacs:

Internet Jihadists
An idea whose time has come: the how-to guide for tracking terrorists on-line

Finding terrorists on-line is becoming a popular pursuit on the Internet. Scores of people are up late at night searching on-line for terrorists while their families sleep.

Tracking the Internet Jihad, “A guide to safely tracking and investigating al Qa’ida and other Islamic Terrorist groups on the Internet” by “Archangel” is a simple guide to get you going.

[Link: www.canadafreepress.com...]

re:

Leftists are depraved, but sometimes my fellow conservatives can be pretty nasty human beings as well. One of the reasons I come to LGF is that people here generally seem far less cruel-hearted, vindictive and cynical than is the case with many "conservatives".

A quick scan of comments on a popular conservative news site in connection with the Lindsay Lohan DUI arrest included the following sentiments:

1. Non-sequiter about her body-guards being "black scum". (Many US "conservatives" are flat-out racists, there's no escaping it).

2. Prospect of her getting sexually assaulted or raped in prison "looks promising"

3. Several posters simply wish death upon Lindsay Lohan.

4. Epithets, names, and general nastiness too numerous to count.

Many of these people no doubt would claim to be Christian. That claim looks pretty worthless these days. Obviously I'm not approving of what that poor, sick girl is doing to herself and others, but the lack of any hint of compassion and the sheer malevolence of many "conservatives" is extremely disheartening to me.

Thank God LGFers do not seem to follow this pattern. Maybe because we're more middle of the road instead of hard right, I dunno.

Typical Barbary Coast ransom fees circa 1790
captains: $6,000 each
first mates: $4,000. each
seamen: $3,000 each

Can we update this?
Humanitarian Aid supervisors
Medical:
Doctors
Nurses

Ghaddafi was just playing the old game. Hold hostages and negotiate whatever you can. Foolish Europeans did this for 300 years and got nothing but inflationary ransom demands.

The EU should renege on that deal.

/and then I woke up

As we post here our Congress and Senate
sells to the highest bidders the honor of our Country.

Libya imports Bulgarian Med Techs, yet that there is such a surplus that Muslim Doctors are having a Fire Sale.

re: #39 goddessoftheclassroom

Ok, WAY OT:

I truly feel sorry for Lindsay Lohan. Her life is spiraling downward as if she were circling a drain. She was so sweet and pretty when she was younger, and now she's such a waste.

If chidlren are brought up with a foundation of right and wrong, they have nothing to support them when they make their own decisions.

She's not a child, and she must accept the consequences of her bad choices, but it does make me sad for her.

Well, her father was (is?) a raging alcoholic. So, you can see how she grew up.

re: #62 Kenneth Bulgaria is a member of NATO, isn't there something NATO could do?

That was (heatedly) discussed at length in an earlier thread.

Meanwhile, US forces in Iraq thwarted a kidnapping over there and captured those responsible.

re: #77 Pro-Bush Canuck

Leftists are depraved, but sometimes my fellow conservatives can be pretty nasty human beings as well. One of the reasons I come to LGF is that people here generally seem far less cruel-hearted, vindictive and cynical than is the case with many "conservatives".

A quick scan of comments on a popular conservative news site in connection with the Lindsay Lohan DUI arrest included the following sentiments:

1. Non-sequiter about her body-guards being "black scum". (Many US "conservatives" are flat-out racists, there's no escaping it).

2. Prospect of her getting sexually assaulted or raped in prison "looks promising"

3. Several posters simply wish death upon Lindsay Lohan.

4. Epithets, names, and general nastiness too numerous to count.

Many of these people no doubt would claim to be Christian. That claim looks pretty worthless these days. Obviously I'm not approving of what that poor, sick girl is doing to herself and others, but the lack of any hint of compassion and the sheer malevolence of many "conservatives" is extremely disheartening to me.

Thank God LGFers do not seem to follow this pattern. Maybe because we're more middle of the road instead of hard right, I dunno.

I too have see things that make me shake my head.

re:

OT

Didn't see this posted before, thought you lizards might enjoy reading something a little positive.

Al-Qaeda faces rebellion from the ranks

Sickened by the group’s barbarity, Iraqi insurgents are giving information to coalition forces

Fed up with being part of a group that cuts off a person’s face with piano wire to teach others a lesson, dozens of low-level members of al-Qaeda in Iraq are daring to become informants for the US military in a hostile Baghdad neighbourhood.

[Link: www.timesonline.co.uk...]

Well, its a little hard to single out the EU to pay ransom to keep innocent doctors and nurses alive. I'm not trying to slam Israel, but they'll release real live terrorists to get the bodies of murdered soldiers back, whcih I think is worse.

Speaking of pirates: Somali pirates demand $1.7m for Danish freighter

Three other vessels, one from Taiwan and two from South Korea, are also currently held by pirates off the coast of war-torn Somalia.

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This has probably already been linked. But in case somebody's missed it.

This, finally, in the NYT:

Doubts Raised on Magazine’s ‘Baghdad Diarist’.

Just who is the “Baghdad Diarist”?

It is a question that many people are asking The New Republic, the Washington political magazine that has been running articles attributed to an American soldier in Baghdad.

The author, who used the pen name Scott Thomas, has written three articles for the magazine since February, describing gruesome incidents in Iraq. Last week, The Weekly Standard questioned the veracity of the New Republic articles and invited readers with knowledge about the military or Baghdad to comment.

Since then, several readers and a spokesman for the base where the soldier is supposedly based have written in, raising more questions.

re: #34 hous bin pharteen

But when they get nukes in that part of the world, there is no way they would use them to blackmail the west. Right?
I mean, we have seen no evidence they will do this.
No past trends.
No past behaviors.

Nope, none, nothing to see here, nothing at all. How islamophobic of you to bring it up.

(And remember, kids, Jihad is an Inner Struggle! And there are no bad people out there (except Bush of course)! And my name is Twinkletoes Gumdrop Splort, King of the Moon-Mushroom People!)

re: #89 easy

Speaking of pirates:

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I hate to sound like Chen Zen or Cognito, but late in Reagan's term, possibly when he was already suffering early effects of Alzheimers and his assistants were running the show, the US traded weapons to Iran in exchange for Hezb'Allah freeing hostages.

It should have stopped as soon as Hezb'Allah kidnapped new Americans so their masters in Tehran could demand more weapons, but it didn't.

Paying ransom always encourages more kidnapping. I hope the EU bans travel of all its citizens, including oil field workers, to Libya, so they don't have more potential hostages to seize.

Libya's oil field will probably collapse without Westerners to run it. Unless, of course, they invite in the Chinese. Which they probably will. But I don't think Chinese technology is as good as ours.

#64 Ben Hur

Libya.

Ally.

Ally of who?

re: #66 wargammer2005

re: #42 jcm

Regan (the Graet) did NOT deal for hostages.

please get the facts correct.

when he found out what was going on, he fired all the people involved.

the pull-out from Lebanon was caused by the democrats. they demanded that we leave.

I was speaking of the Administration as a whole; what is also not understood out of the Iran - Contra deal was two factors.
1) The President has wide virtually unilateral executive power when it comes to handling American Citizens held illegally in foreign nations.
2) The Congress had banned the use of appropriated funds for the Contras, proceedes from the Arms sales were not appropriated funds.

Yes make deals with kidnappers is not the best method for the problem. However in the situation it was a legal use of the executive branches powers, even though not directly authorized by the President. The funneling of funds to the Contras was in keeping with RWR policing of confronting the Soviets at every front, and whiling violating congress intent in banning funds to Contras exploited a loophole in the law.

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re: #92 meMarc

This has probably already been linked. But in case somebody's missed it.

This, finally, in the NYT:

re: #97 Kenneth

#64 Ben Hur

Libya.

Ally.

Ally of who?

Ally of Stan.

re: #91 Ward Cleaver

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re: #95 wargammer2005

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re: #105 wanumba

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Korea: Something Is About To Happen

Starvation deaths in North Korea have returned to 1990s levels. That means over a thousand people a week dying from lack of food. Over a million people died during the 1990s food shortages. This time around, the shortages are caused by government refusal to allow in food that must have its distribution monitored (making it difficult for the government to divert the food to the army or private sale)...

...Meanwhile, North Korea is full of rumors that leader Kim Jong Il is very sick, and has just had surgery. Kim Jong Il has not been seen much for months, but that is not unusual. But rumors about his health have been circulating, on and off, for over a year.

...No one in the North Korean government can decide what to do. The North Koreans are trying everything, and not settling on any one strategy. The hard liners still have a police state operating, while the reformers have South Korean firms coming in and opening factories, and there are now free markets, with uncontrolled prices, throughout the country. Corruption is way up, and discipline is falling. Something is about to happen, but no one is quite sure what.

So we probably paid a lot of money to Libya. 8 innocent people won't die as a result. Its not all black and white. Sure it would have been great to tell Libya to go f*ck themselves. But then some innocent people would die.

re: #99 realwest

re: #77 Pro-Bush Canuck " Maybe because we're more middle of the road instead of hard right, I dunno."
I'd prefer to think that Charles has cultivated a following of people who actually THINK before they talk and, usually, think analytically. I don't know anything about her, but if what she did put others in potential danger (i.e., driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs) I would want to have her change her ways immediately and if the judicial system says jail, I'm all for it. I'm NOT however, in favor of her being raped, beaten up or anything like that while she's in jail.

Lindsay is in many ways a victim of the cult of celebrity. Before I get reamed for making her another "victim." Let me say she made her bed, lie in it. Second and others like her on are on the same path as Anna Nicole Smith, if they don't figure it out now, I don't have a lot of sympathy for them.

We as a society have allowed the "cult of celebrity" develop, news about celebrities sells. Celebrities bad behavior has limited consequences, they can afford the legal help, can check into clinics to avoid penalties. Their jobs aren't affected by the bad behavior. Societally we seem more entertained by celebrity misbehavior than appalled.

FPM says the payout is $400m.

Islam has always had a strong steak of Nihilism. They will keep pushing until stopped.
I am glad that those people are released, but this will just encourage more of the same from Libya and others.
Any agreement made under this type of duress as I understand it, is not binding under international law.
I highly recommend the bombing of Tripoli post haste.

re:

re: #107 Kenneth

Korea: Something Is About To Happen

Starvation deaths in North Korea have returned to 1990s levels. That means over a thousand people a week dying from lack of food. Over a million people died during the 1990s food shortages. This time around, the shortages are caused by government refusal to allow in food that must have its distribution monitored (making it difficult for the government to divert the food to the army or private sale)...

...Meanwhile, North Korea is full of rumors that leader Kim Jong Il is very sick, and has just had surgery. Kim Jong Il has not been seen much for months, but that is not unusual. But rumors about his health have been circulating, on and off, for over a year.

...No one in the North Korean government can decide what to do. The North Koreans are trying everything, and not settling on any one strategy. The hard liners still have a police state operating, while the reformers have South Korean firms coming in and opening factories, and there are now free markets, with uncontrolled prices, throughout the country. Corruption is way up, and discipline is falling. Something is about to happen, but no one is quite sure what.

If it explodes it will be very, very messy.
If it implodes it be just a mess.

The only thing worse than a Stalinist regime, is the aftermath of a Stalinist regime.

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B-2 Fitted for Huge Bunker Buster

The U.S. Air Force is developing yet another capability for its 20 B-2 stealth bombers. A new bomb rack is being designed and built so the B-2 can drop the new, 15 ton Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP).

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re: #108 sesshoumaru: So we probably paid a lot of money to Libya. 8 innocent people won't die as a result. Its not all black and white. Sure it would have been great to tell Libya to go f*ck themselves. But then some innocent people would die.

As if "pay or die" were the only alternative.

How about a hostage rescue operation? How about treating Libya's casus bellum seriously? How about refusing to negotiate and demanding their surrender under threat of NATO military action? How about finally settling the Lockerbie bombing accounts?

"So"? So, now someone else