Obama Says Welcome for Lockerbie Bomber is “Highly Objectionable.”
EmailFrom John Cochran and Sunlen Miller
Shortly before departing for the weekend in Camp David, President Obama called the hero’s welcome in Libya for Abdel Baset al-Megrahy, the freed Lockerbie bomber, “highly objectionable.”
The President responded to a question yelled by a reporter, “I think it was highly objectionable,” the President said shortly and then boarded Marine One.
Earlier in the day White House press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the images out of Libya yesterday were “outrageous and disgusting” and “incredibly offensive to Americans,” and that they are watching to see how the Libyan government will respond.
“We communicated with the Libyan government, and we continue to watch what they do in the days going forward about this individual and — and understand that the video that you saw yesterday is tremendously offensive to the survivors that, as I said, lost a loved one in 1988.”
Al-Megrahy was released Thursday by the Scottish government. In 2001 the former Libyan Intelligence officer was convicted to 270 counts of murder for his part in the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 bombing which killed 259 people and 11 on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland. He had been sentenced to a life sentence.
On Thursday, U.S. Embassy officials in Libya delivered two messages to the Libyan government as early as today, Gibbs said. One, the individual should be treated as a mass murderer and that Libya should put the individual in house arrest.
Going forward, Gibbs said, the US government will watch the actions of Al-Megrahy and the Libyan government.
-John Cochran and Sunlen Miller
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“Disappointing” says I…
Posted by: Freefall | August 21, 2009, 5:07 pm 5:07 pm
That would be an understatement, in my view.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | August 21, 2009, 5:09 pm 5:09 pm
There is no partisan differences on this one – that Baset should have died in prison.
Posted by: jhw539 | August 21, 2009, 5:16 pm 5:16 pm
-On Thursday, U.S. Embassy officials in Libya delivered two messages to the Libyan government as early as today, Gibbs said. One, the individual should be treated as a mass murderer and that Libya should put the individual in house arrest.-
I’m sure they are just shaking with fear!
Posted by: Scawy | August 21, 2009, 5:21 pm 5:21 pm
“There is no partisan differences on this one – that Baset should have died in prison.”
How about he dies now? Slowly and painfully, I might add. I’m betting that Obama apologizes to Libya though.
Posted by: Tripoli Tomahawk | August 21, 2009, 5:26 pm 5:26 pm
“Today I want to wish Muslims across America and around the world a blessed month as you welcome the beginning of Ramadan, may God’s peace may be upon you.”
“…At this time of renewal, I want to reiterate my commitment to a new beginning between America and Muslims around the world,” Obama repeated in his message.
Oh, and the hero’s welcome in Libya for Abdel Baset al-Megrahy, the freed Lockerbie bomber?
“I think it was highly objectionable.”
Sounds kinda weak. “I think” it was?
Posted by: Sweet Pea | August 21, 2009, 5:30 pm 5:30 pm
Libya is a traitor to the World.
We should not deal with them now or in the near future–unless they change their government, and we get an apology!
It is outrageous that this country would celebrate the release of such a terible person.
I would close our embassy now!!!
Posted by: Joe Moore | August 21, 2009, 5:38 pm 5:38 pm
“How about he dies now? Slowly and painfully, I might add. I’m betting that Obama apologizes to Libya though.”
Posted by: Tripoli Tomahawk
? Have you read any of the White House’s comments on this? Hardly apologizing one whit, they’ve demanded he be placed under house arrest as a mass murderer.
Posted by: jhw539 | August 21, 2009, 5:48 pm 5:48 pm
How about a FOI request regarding communications between the Dept of Justice, & Dept of State, & White House with Briatain and Scotland and let’s see if this Administration’s outrage id feigned or real. How strong did they object to Britain and Scotland. Were there communications with Libya?
Posted by: pauldia | August 21, 2009, 7:02 pm 7:02 pm
I understand that President Obama has few too no options in the matter, but sometimes, just sometimes you have to get down in the mud with the rest of them and get mean and dirty…”highly objectionable” will illicit nothing but a chuckle from the other side…
Posted by: Parallex View | August 21, 2009, 7:15 pm 7:15 pm
There is an outstanding US indictment of this man, and a warrant for his arrest. The routine practice in such cases, where the indicted man is released by a nation with whom we have extradition treaties, is that we ask the detaining country to release him to us.
Does anyone know whether this was done in this case?
Posted by: Fascist Hyena | August 21, 2009, 7:17 pm 7:17 pm
AFTER THE FACT protests are cool Mr. O’Babble, but what did you do to actually prevent the Scots from releasing the terrorist ? Any communications before the fact ?
Posted by: Ron | August 21, 2009, 7:42 pm 7:42 pm
? Have you read any of the White House’s comments on this? Hardly apologizing one whit, they’ve demanded he be placed under house arrest as a mass murderer.
Comments! That’ll show ‘em we mean business!
Posted by: Strong Letter | August 21, 2009, 7:48 pm 7:48 pm
“Highly Objectionable.” tough words from wee weed…. that really scare terroist…. hahahahahahahehehehahahha what a joke this guy is….
Posted by: reprovemedia | August 21, 2009, 8:27 pm 8:27 pm
Obama’s deft diplomatic handling of our relationship with our closest ally yields its first dividend.
But hey–they loved him in Cairo!
Posted by: Fascist Hyena | August 21, 2009, 8:41 pm 8:41 pm
There is no partisan differences on this one – that Baset should have died in prison.
Posted by: jhw539 | Aug 21, 2009 5:16:32 PM
***
I agree. I find this whole thing shocking, sickening, disturbing, and, yes “disappointing” and “highly objectionable” although I would have worded it differently.I admit I’m not really sure what our options are beyond what Gibbs said the WH demanded (if they “demanded” it.)
Posted by: Alyson | August 21, 2009, 10:57 pm 10:57 pm
How about that government heath care now. Seems they are not free from taking millions for injured soldiers to keep for their own greedy selves. Now, how exactly are they different from insurance companies now???
VA Official Says $24M of Questionable Bonuses Given to Employees
VA’s inspector general says abuses ranging from nepotism to an inappropriate relationship between two VA employees led to $24M of bonuses.
In scathing reports this week, the VA’s inspector general said thousands of technology office employees at the VA received the bonuses over a two-year period, some under questionable circumstances. It also detailed abuses ranging from nepotism to an inappropriate relationship between two VA employees.
The inspector general accused one recently retired VA official of acting “as if she was given a blank checkbook” as awards and bonuses were distributed to employees of the Office of Information and Technology in 2007 and 2008. In some cases the justification for the bonuses was inadequate or questionable, the IG said.
The official, Jennifer S. Duncan, also engaged in nepotism and got $60,000 in bonuses herself, the IG said. In addition, managers improperly authorized college tuition payments for VA employees, some of whom were Duncan’s family members and friends. That cost taxpayers nearly $140,000.
Separately, a technology office employee became involved in an “inappropriate personal relationship” with a high-level VA official. The technology office employee flew 22 times from Florida to Washington, where the VA official lived. That travel cost $37,000.
Posted by: KMDay | August 21, 2009, 11:35 pm 11:35 pm
There are partisan differences only if we learn that Obama, Hillary and Holder did not do their utmost to have the US warrant served upon this man the moment he was released, whereupon he might have been extradited to this country for trial. (Attempting to intercede with Qadaffi is utterly futile.
We don’t know what efforts were made, and until we do I will withhold judgment. Unless, of course, the administration won’t tell us what was done.
Posted by: Fascist Hyena | August 21, 2009, 11:37 pm 11:37 pm
Why is this slime still alive? Why isn’t Obama demaning that he be handed over to the US for arrest, trial and execution? The jihadis in Afgahnistan must be laughing themselves silly over this.
Posted by: Death to Baset! | August 22, 2009, 1:45 am 1:45 am
we live in such a free society that one has to go all the way to the bbc website in england to get this news….The US army officer convicted for his part in the notorious My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War has offered his first public apology, a US report says.
“There is not a day that goes by that I do not feel remorse for what happened,” Lt William Calley was quoted as saying by the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.
He was addressing a small group at a community club in Columbus, Georgia.
Calley, 66, was convicted on 22 counts of murder for the 1968 massacre of 500 men, women and children in Vietnam. ( he is alive because this scum is still alive)
Posted by: nasty.nation | August 22, 2009, 2:51 am 2:51 am
Am I the only one who thinks our new administrations efforts to keep this man in prison were pathetic? Even the rhetoric after the fact; “its a mistake” “highly objectionable” What the hell is that? If we now have our closest allies now thumbing their noses at us, imagine what we can expect from our enemies. Obama is turning out to be everything that is stereotypical of a extreme liberal. And I’m no staunch conservative either.
Posted by: peter | August 22, 2009, 7:09 am 7:09 am
The UK may have negotiated a trade with Libya, a terrorist for oil and gas contracts.
Stay tuned…
Posted by: Moses | August 22, 2009, 9:12 am 9:12 am
Another weak response I am embarrassed that he is our president!!
Posted by: Dr342 | August 22, 2009, 12:01 pm 12:01 pm
It’s a disgrace that Mr Megrahi the Lockerbie bomber has been set free.
Mr MacAskill the Scottish justice minister claimed that he had made his decision based purely upon compassionate grounds. This minister, who is so far out of his depth that even sonar wouldn’t reach him, had previously only hit the headlines for spending a night in police cells in 2000 for being drunk and disorderly, the result of a misunderstanding he later claimed. He was released without charge.
Well compassion works in two ways, Mr Megrahi was undoubtedly shown compassion, but the decision shows a complete lack of compassion for the friends and relatives of the victims of Lockerbie
To see Mr Megrahi released must be heartbreaking, a reopening of old wounds. To see him feted in Tripoli, a very predictable outcome, would only compound those emotions.
Now that Seif al-Islam, Colonel Gadaffi’s son has claimed that the release was related to Anglo Libyan trade agreements, this statement regardless of its truth, will be an unfortunate poisonous footnote to this sorry tale.
Scotland and the Scottish people should not be judged by this unfortunate event. Our bonds with the United States are strong our Scottish soldiers are fighting with their American brothers in arms in Helmand Province.
Let’s not further forget that it’s inconceivable that Mr Megrahi a Libyan intelligence agent would have carried out this atrocity on his own initiative. Something of this magnitude must have been authorised from the upper echelons. In this regard it’s repulsive to see the rehabilitation of Gadaffi, courted as he is by a procession of British ministers and US senators.
Ben Jessop
Edinburgh
Posted by: Jessop | August 22, 2009, 1:12 pm 1:12 pm
Gee, STRONG language from our fearless
leader. He gave those Scots a real
piece of “boy-howdy”. Their tails
are dragging from eternal shame. This
guy can really slay a dragon when he
wants to. Waiting to hear from Mich-
elle for the one-two punch that will
deflate their bagpipes forever.
Posted by: Trajan | August 22, 2009, 7:39 pm 7:39 pm
Since the name of Lt William Calley has been invoked, is it too late to ask whether anyone (apart from the Vietnamese and others who barely count) was shocked, sickened, disturbed, and, yes, felt it was “disappointing” and “highly objectionable” that Lt. Calley (whose head-count comfortably exceeded that of the alleged perp in the Lockerbie case) served only three years of house-arrest before being pardoned by his President. The prosecutor in that case, one Aubrey Daniel, wrote at the time: “THE GREATEST TRAGEDY OF ALL WILL BE IF POLITICAL EXPEDIENCE DICTATES THE COMPROMISE OF SUCH A FUNDAMENTAL MORAL PRINCIPLE AS THE INHERENT UNLAWFULNESS OF THE MURDER OF INNOCENT PERSONS.”
So your mileage varies. Political expedience does have a habit of coming back to bite you.
Furthermore, I’d like to ask why it is that the American victims’ families have such a different take on the entire PA103 trial and its outcome from those victims’ families in the UK. Surely it could not possibly be that they have not been informed of some of the anomalies in the evidence presented?
Posted by: W | August 23, 2009, 5:49 pm 5:49 pm
Take that Gaddafi!
Obama sure knows how to intimidate tyrants and have them shaking in their boots.
What do you want to bet Obama will greet Gaddafi next month with that huge dopey grin?
Posted by: jack | August 23, 2009, 8:49 pm 8:49 pm
I admire people like you who take the time to do all this research and then to share the results with others. Due to time constraints I will have to come back and read all the articles you have linked to.
Thanks for the share.
Posted by: MediaDesign | August 24, 2009, 1:43 am 1:43 am
Am I being censored?
Posted by: Johnny L | August 24, 2009, 9:00 am 9:00 am
Shame on you Mr. President.
Posted by: Johnny L | August 24, 2009, 9:21 am 9:21 am
“Highly Objectionable” Obama said as he chose his words carefully,so as not to offend anyone.Those are his exact words,maybe he doesn’t understand the meaning of such big words and this genius label the Democrats have placed on him are all a bunch of baloney.Remember this is the same genius who called the police ‘Stupid” in the professor Gates arrest case before any of the details had come out.I would not be surprised if he called the terrorist personally and apologized for his being apprehended in the first place.I can just hear him now,This most embarrassing,disturbing,inflammatory,unfortunate incident could have been avoided if you chose not to murder all those men,women and children over Lockerbie.Rather harsh words indeed from the President.
Highly Objectionable my ass.
Posted by: Johnny L | August 24, 2009, 2:59 pm 2:59 pm
I think we all know that there is a doubt that this man actually did the crime bearing in mind the events around that time and the lack of direct evidence and the fact that it was the iranians who were the possible revengers of the pan am disaster.
In view of the fact that the chap has prostate cancer which is terribly painful I am not very impressed with the lack of compassion felt by those
countries,who are,day by day showing themselves up as some of the most spiteful nations on earth.
Posted by: michael savell | August 24, 2009, 6:35 pm 6:35 pm
I applaude you Englewood, NJ…
Posted by: Parallex View | August 24, 2009, 7:09 pm 7:09 pm
A pathetic response from a weak man. He’s best lounging on the beach with a marlboro and a book. He is not a leader.
Posted by: mjishernameo | August 24, 2009, 7:43 pm 7:43 pm
Now we know how the rest of the world feels about us:
Just last year, a party attended by 500 people was held in Miami in honor of Luis Posada Carriles, one of the two masterminds (Orlando Bosch, another Miami resident, being the other) of the first commercial airline bombing in the Western hemisphere, the 1976 bombing of Cubana flight 455 which killed all 73 people on board. Luis Posada Carriles, the man still being protected by the United States government from being extradited to Venezuela to stand trial for that bombing.
Posted by: Flash Override | August 27, 2009, 1:02 pm 1:02 pm