Jackson Jambalaya

lede made me giggle

Sunday Times: "[T]he United States wanted Megrahi to remain imprisoned." The Sunday Times article made clear that the administration supported keeping Megrahi imprisoned, but that in the event he was released, they preferred to release him in Scotland rather than send him to Libya. From the Sunday Times (accessed via Factiva):

In the letter, sent on August 12 last year to Alex Salmond, the first minister, and justice officials, [deputy head of the London US embassy Richard] LeBaron wrote that the United States wanted Megrahi to remain imprisoned in view of the nature of the crime.

The note added: "Nevertheless, if Scottish authorities come to the conclusion that Megrahi must be released from Scottish custody, the US position is that conditional release on compassionate grounds would be a far preferable alternative to prisoner transfer, which we strongly oppose." LeBaron added that freeing the bomber and making him live in Scotland "would mitigate a number of the strong concerns we have expressed with regard to Megrahi's release".

The US administration lobbied the Scottish government more strongly against sending Megrahi home under a prisoner transfer agreement signed by the British and Libyan governments -- in a deal now known to have been linked to a £550m oil contract for BP.

It claimed this would flout a decade-old agreement reached by the UK and US governments that anyone convicted of the bombing would serve their sentence in a Scottish prison.

Todd: "The last thing [the Obama administration] wanted was him going to Libya." On the July 26 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, senior White House correspondent Chuck Todd said, "I think there isn't a contradiction about what was reported and what [the White House is] claiming." From Morning Joe:

TODD: In the letter itself, it seems as if the position that [National Security Council chief of staff Denis McDonough] is taking with your email there and what was said in the letter, which was, look, we don't -- the last thing they wanted was him going to Libya, and that was the point of the letter. And then the people I've talked to about it -- that that was the point they were trying to drive home to the Scots, which was don't send him back to Libya. You're going to do a compassionate release, keep him in Scotland, keep him under some sort of house arrest there, but don't send him back to Libya. And I think the actual letter itself and even the parts that were reported by the Sunday Times of London doesn't contradict that.

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/07/26/did-the-obama-administration-push-for-lockerbie-bombers-release/?print=1

Yesterday, The State Department released its correspondence with the Scottish Ministry of Justice, which states in no uncertain terms that the administration "is not prepared to support Megrahi's release on compassionate release or bail," and that "it would be most appropriate for Megrahi to remain imprisoned for the entirety of his sentence."

Responding to the release of the letter in a post headlined "Two Cheers For The Administration On Megrahi," PowerLine's John Hinderaker states that this story is a "non-controversy in which the State Department and the Obama administration acted honorably and appropriately."

"White House Scumbags"?

Please stop asking people to consider you a journalist. Please stop getting your panties in a wad when a public document you pull from the clerk's office and copy on your scanner gets put on antoher website or gets put on some news channel. When you use terms like "white house scumbags" you completely take yourself out of any journalistic realm whatsoever (not to mention to the inaccuracies of the story).

I never claimed I was a journalist. The Australian is one of the largest papers in that country. I wasn't exactly quoting some blogger making up stuff. Now, the guy above posted the text of the times story, which is behind a pay wall and now more correspondence has been released. I was commented on news provided by a legitimate news source. I"m actually intending to make corrections to this post but haven't had a chance yet.

In case you didn't notice, since you obviously don't get humor, I don't get my panties in a wad, I make those posts tongue in cheek and having some fun with them.

You, Kingfish, are a hack. Pure and simple. Your hatred of liberals (and Obama in particular) blinds you to reason. Your oh-so-eager willingness to believe anything negative about Obama is telling. Are you now going to write an article about how G.W. Bush is a scumbag because he facilitated this release, many years in the making? I doubt it, because you are a hack. I hope this episode makes you think a little bit more about your attitudes and willingness to believe everything you read on Drudge, but again, I doubt it. And your excuse that you're just having some fun is bullshit, the refuge of cowards.

Yawn.