July 4, 2010

The Lockerbie bomber is not dead yet.

He was released in August 2009, out of "compassion." The doctor whose opinion was relied on says:
"There was always a chance he could live for 10 years, 20 years ... But it's very unusual. It was clear that three months was what they were aiming for. Three months was the critical point. On the balance of probabilities, I felt I could sort of justify [that].... It is embarrassing that he's gone on for so long... There was a 50 per cent chance that he would die in three months, but there was also a 50 per cent chance that he would live longer."

66 comments:

Revenant said...

I haven't been following this case. Was it ever made clear what the Brits got in exchange for releasing this guy? There had to have been a quid pro quo.

Jason (the commenter) said...

"unexpectedly"

damikesc said...

Oil rights, mainly.

It was a rather blatant quid pro quo and a mark of ever-lasting shame on the once-great British government.

bagoh20 said...

I wouldn't recommend something with a 50% chance of failure that would show my country to be pussies and fools while rewarding a mass murderer and his peers, but that's just me.

I'm hearing his explanation of why, but I still have to ask: why?

HKatz said...

Released out of "compassion" - if by compassion one means a lucrative oil deal between BP (yes, that charming oil company again) and Libya.

Jack Straw admitted as much:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/6140801/Jack-Straw-admits-Lockerbie-bombers-release-was-linked-to-oil.html

Rialby said...

The West is dead. I would say "dying" but that would be too kind.

WV: joyab - the emotion a feminist feels as she slips on head covering for the first time - "oh, it feels so good to be free of Christanist Patriarchy! You want to do what to my what?.... help..."

dbp said...

The Scotts let a murderer go free in order to win some filthy oil contracts.

There may be a nice way of putting this, but it would also be dishonest.

Mark said...

Well, there's always the Predator option.

Opus One Media said...

Isn't it Locherby?

Unknown said...

Lockerbie.

In a better time, the SAS would have done for him.

Well, there's always the Rangers.

Mark said...

Well, there's always the Predator option.

True, but, if you want to put the fear of God, not Allah, into someone, there's nothing like the personal touch.

bagoh20 said...

They should claim a constructive breach of agreement (if there is such a thing), then assassinate him as remedy.

They are working on very small, (insect size) predator type, drones that could follow you around all day without you knowing and then inject you with a tiny poison missile. Well, at least I imagine they are. I hope were first.

bagoh20 said...

'

Rialby said...

BagH20?

Assassinate him? Really?

We're lucky they don't give him an honorary doctorate at the University of Edinburgh.

The UK cannot turn back. It's over. The demographics will defeat them as quickly as their leftism will.

The Drill SGT said...

True, but, if you want to put the fear of God, not Allah, into someone, there's nothing like the personal touch.

I thought the story that the Moshad slipped a Hamas boss a rigged cell phone with 2 ounces of C4 in it, then the Moshad Director called him up to wish him a pleasant trip and they triggered it.

classy :)

a lot cheaper than a Hellfire and you know your target is on the line.

I have no idea what the morbidity curves look like for prostrate cancer, but if you are estimately 50% PK at 3 months, 12 months has got to be 3-4 SD to the right.

Rialby said...

If the Mossad was 1/10th as powerful as everyone likes to believe they were then AhmadJdad would be dust by now.

My Jewish friends from college used to craft wild fables about preternatural things the Mossad was capable of. Clearly it was wishful thinking.

Big Mike said...

Did the medical examiner pay taxes on the large bribe he apparently got to certify that Al Megrahi had only three months to live?

The Drill SGT said...

Rialby said...
If the Mossad was 1/10th as powerful as everyone likes to believe they were then AhmadJdad would be dust by now.


I did a couple of googles.

Wiki says it was Shin Bet, not the Moshad. The Target was a Wset Bank Hamas leader and bomb engineer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahya_Ayyash

lucid said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
lucid said...

Certainly they knew he wasn't going to die anytime soon. Anyone who has ever seen a cancer patient who is terminal in 3 months knows that this guy was no where near the end--he may not even be seriously ill.

I wonder what would happen if a government just said, "we are going to trade a terrorist who killed hundreds of people in a terrifying way for oil contracts because that is what we think is in the nation's interest."

I suppose they would get voted out.

Leland said...

And people in the US want to have a healthcare system like that in the UK.

Chip Ahoy said...

balderdash, tommyrot, hogwash, fiddle-faddle, taradiddle, blatherskite, bilgewater, flapdoodle, bletherskate, fiddlesticks.

folderol, rigmarole, applesauce, sordid nonsense.

Wait! I'm hearing the Star Spangled Banner from the stadium with fireworks in the background from another direction.

Ah, that was nice. Everybody knew the words to the first verse. But this guy, THIS guy amazed everybody, tea partiers all.

Ann Althouse said...

Sorry about the misspelling of Lockerbie. Corrected now.

Beta Rube said...

Thanks for the link Chip. Great spontaneous moment. Wish I were there when it happened.

As for the bomber, hanging by the neck until dead has a 100% chance of working, but it is apparently more civil to let mass murderers go free.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

So who leaned on the doctor?

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

And what if we find out he didn't have cancer at all?

Fred4Pres said...

The passengers on that plane got a lot less time.

Titus said...

Obviously Obama's fault.

Is Althouse the Phyliss Schafley of the blogosphere?

I think so.

When is she going to send her fag kid down the river in order to satisfy her wingnut followling?

I say soon.

And by the way Mary, I would never meet you and your teabagging husband.

Sorry, never going to happen.

Clyde said...

He's like an evil Muslim terrorist version of the Mars Rovers that just kept going and going and going...

Methadras said...

Then a 25 cent solution should bring the 3 month prediction to an end no?

john said...

Ann, I think you need to remove that child from the premises.

Synova said...

I think someone needs to find a video of... wow, is it late, my brain just quit... a video of the... I'm not dead yet.

Okay, this is so not what I was looking for but it's probably better, in a very disturbing, way past my bedtime sort of way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLgQMtquS6Y&NR=1

This one has a *song*.

Greg Hlatky said...

But the diagnosis was peer reviewed!

dbp said...

Compassionate release should always be done Escape From New York style: On release you get an implanted explosive (or poison) that goes-off in exactly 3 months.

Opus One Media said...

@edutcher...sorry, you are right, thanks for the correction of my correction...

AllenS said...

A second opinion was needed.

Hagar said...

Bad as it is; take a deep breath everyone.

This guy may or may not have been the guilty party; either way, he was only the item Ghadafi gave up in order to get off Washington's shit list. All evidence in this case - for or against - should be viewed with the deepest suspicion.

Beta Rube said...

Monogamy is making Titus cranky.

I prefer the old kinder, gentler Titus.

Largo said...

@bagoh20

Is that the Gom Jabbar?

DaddyO said...

Dear Mrs. Althouse:

Please do not have the upset over what my husband Titus has posted. He has the bad mood this weekend because he is thinks twice about moving with me to my family home in India.

Titus is upset because he is thinking that living in India will making him to be fabulous-deprived. He is used to being the most fabulous one in the room.

He will be okay in India where there is plenty of fabulous, most especially when the eunuchs show up at a party.

Titus is most unhappy about his age these days. This is why the snarky comment about the young Althouse son. Titus wishes he was the Althouse son's age, and not his own getting-a-flabby-belly age. Ah well, there is not a thing he can do about that!

And the calling you Mary, he is all the time calling people Mary. This is the thing he does that I do not understand. You should just be ignoring that.

Sincerely,

Mr. V. S. Gupta

Psota said...

I think there is a 100% chance that the doctor was a doof.

KCFleming said...

"Professor Sikora, the dean of medicine at Buckingham University and medical director of CancerPartnersUK in London"

No wonder cancer outcomes in the UK Nat'l Health Service are among the worst in the developed world.

The most charitable explanation is that they don't even know what cancer actually is.

Far easier to accept that they are simply medical morons than that they would actually sell their souls this way.

KCFleming said...

I think there is a 100% chance that Titus is just the lipstick on a 600 lb pig.

Opus One Media said...

Hi POGO....

I can see plainly why you don't think much of the health care system in Great Britian as evidenced by your last couple of posts here. Lord, 18th is horrible.

1 France
2 Italy
3 San Marino
4 Andorra
5 Malta
6 Singapore
7 Spain
8 Oman
9 Austria
10 Japan
11 Norway
12 Portugal
13 Monaco
14 Greece
15 Iceland
16 Luxembourg
17 Netherlands
18 United Kingdom
19 Ireland
20 Switzerland
21 Belgium
22 Colombia
23 Sweden
24 Cyprus
25 Germany
26 Saudi Arabia
27 United Arab Emirates
28 Israel
29 Morocco
30 Canada
31 Finland
32 Australia
33 Chile
34 Denmark
35 Dominica
36 Costa Rica
37 United States of America

Ironclad said...

The first thing that should be done is to remove the medicine license from the doctor(s) that made the prognosis/ diagnosis. Harsh, yes, but done to discourage any more medical personnel from being "leaned" on without going public about pressure. Medical personnel are supposed to be our incorruptible ones - that lesson needs to be made clear.

As far as the politicians go - they just got voted out. But they should be named and shamed anyway to (hopefully) end their pathetic careers. 30 pieces of silver for uncompleted justice is reprehensible.

dbp said...

I think any normal person's BS detector would go-off when looking at a list that puts Dominica ahead of the USA and Greece ahead of Denmark. Portugal ahead of Switzerland? That doesn't pass the laugh test.

Chase said...

I think Titus finally hit the wall on that comment.

bagoh20 said...

Q: Where would modern medicine be without the first 36?

A: About where it is.

Q: Where would it be without # 37?

A: The 19th century.

Why would such a ranking be so ridiculous? Who could be behind such B.S.?

When presented with ridiculous information, one should at least ask, unless of course you hear what you want to, which is why such information is created: for the consumption of fools. Enjoy.

Jason said...

Wow. Colombia's ahead of Canada. By a wide margin. How about that!

I've come up with my own stupidity ranking.

1. HD House
2. A sack of hammers
3. A soup sandwich, in ...
4. A chicken wire bowl

I think my list is better than House's.

Adam said...

As much as I enjoy seeing the lists that people pull out of their asses, I also occasionally enjoy looking at relevant data.

OTOH, perhaps Libya is the place to go for treatment of prostate cancer.

Big Mike said...

@bag, make that very early 20th. Penicillin was discovered in Britain and the need for doctors to wash hands in Austria.

Other than that, you're pretty much right.

But I might also add that whether the UK system is superior to the US system is a non sequitur with respect to Al Megrahi's release. I don't think he was released because of a misdiagnosis of his condition.

JAL said...

Mark -- I see we are on the same page.

If drones made noise, I would say .. mmmm .... is that a drone I hear?

Unexpectedly!

JAL said...

Oh HD. Go smoke some more crack. (Sorry Emcee)


Do you know HOW that list was generated?

To start with let me point out that Princess Diana -- who was in a car wreck in downtown Paris -- DIED OUTSIDE A PARIS HOSPITAL AFTER SPENDING 90 MINUTES IN AN AMBULANCE.

In the US she would have been in the OR in under 20 minutes.

Oh yeah -- and there is Canada. Liam Neeson's wife, Natasha Richardson, just couldn't get a helicopter to stop by and medivac her from a ritzy ski resort.

We have at least two of those medicvac helos in the mountains of hill billy NC.

Before anyone takes that report seriously read this.

And I have mentioned numerous times, the UN (who as our BFF -- /s) apparently neglected to note that in the UK health care is rationed. If you live in the wrong zip code (post code) selected care is frequently not available to you or your kids. (Per a British RN NIH employee / friend, and verified by a simple google search.)

JAL said...

Adam -- thanks. Nice info.

As for Prostate Cancer -- depeds on his numbers. Some men last for years.

Asfor Bagoh2)-- I think anybody dissing the US healthcare system should take a glance at the man's blog. (B-h2o been hang gliding recently? ;-) )

Fred4Pres said...

Titus, why are you getting mad about Althouse and Meade? There is nothing in this post about Obama anyway, this is about British/Scottish government stupidity and craveness (the real reason they let this terrorist murderer go is because they wanted oil contracts in Libya).

Opus One Media said...

yeah...you guys are right. World Health Organization is a commie pinko libard front hell bent on destroying Dan Quayle's legacy and sending shivers down Sarah the Magnificent's spine...

ya'betcha.

Michael Haz said...

I am convinced that the character "HDHouse" is actually Trooper York just having some fun by jerking our chains.

No real human could be as addlepated as HDHouse.

Good job, Trooper. You really had us going for a while with that one!

WV: shitsack

Steve M. Galbraith said...

Titus, why are you getting mad about Althouse and Meade?

You haven't figured out this guy's act yet?

I admit, the first 8 or 10 posts had me there. But he drops the mask every now and then.

He dropped it big time here.

Opus One Media said...

JAL said...
"Do you know HOW that list was generated?

To start with let me point out that Princess Diana -- who was in a car wreck in downtown Paris -- DIED OUTSIDE A PARIS HOSPITAL AFTER SPENDING 90 MINUTES IN AN AMBULANCE."

oh JAL you are one funny kid.

Just a suggestion...this is a serious board and nice little anecdotes like a 90 minute ambulance ride....well, you just gotta bring better stuff than that..you just gotta.

Opus One Media said...

Michael Haz said...
"I am convinced that the character "HDHouse" is actually Trooper York ..."

sorry Michael. ...I bring strong stuff, Trooper still brings namby-pamby stuff so as not to destroy his base of support...gosh, he told you wackos the truth you wouldn't like him much...

and a special shout out to:

JAL .. since the difference he notes in the UK is that health care is "rationed" (well he used that word...so I'm just quoting him...don't laugh at me k?) which thank you JAL proved my point. Even with a government run health care system it still beats us to death with a stick...thank you JAL...

ps..do you write for Sarah in your spare time? hahahahhahahhahahah!

Synova said...

Beats us to death just as long as you don't get cancer.

But hey, whatev.

Synova said...

"Just a suggestion...this is a serious board and nice little anecdotes like a 90 minute ambulance ride....well, you just gotta bring better stuff than that..you just gotta."

Seriously, HD.

Didn't Victoria tell us about the France/ambulance thing, how they have to drive extra slow?

I don't know how they decide to med-evac out here, but I've been stopped on the road while the helicopter landed and took off.

I'll entertain the notion that there are some things that are better taken care of in Europe, but if I've got to have cancer or a major trauma, I'd absolutely rather it was here in the US.

Notice, of course, that both of those things are obscenely expensive. I might not mind being alive but in debt, considering the alternative. Other people who would be alive anyhow, might not be so pleased to be stuck with my bill.

dick said...

Interesting that while our medical care is supposedly so bad but the govt officials in Canada most responsible for their medical system came to the US for cancer treatments because either it was not available in Canada or the wait was to long for their survival.

Opus One Media said...

dick said...
.." because either it was not available in Canada or the wait was to long for their survival.


how's that anecdotal and urban myth evidence holdin' up ther Dick?

..... I once caught a fish....thiiiissssss big..

AC245 said...

HDHouse said...
how's that anecdotal and urban myth evidence holdin' up ther Dick?

..... I once caught a fish....thiiiissssss big..


Hey, HDHouse, regale us again with tales of your "9 patents in medical technology" (which don't seem to exist outside your imagination).

holdfast said...

Can we put the terror-symp Dr. in jail instead, then?

Given that most of the dead were Americans, this should have been a bigger diplomatic deal.

holdfast said...

Let's pretend that HDH's list is not a piece of crap - how is it that Canada, with a completely socialized system where the government not only provides universal "insurance" but actually owns and operates the hospitals, is number 30 on the list, behind Columbia, Cyprus and Saudi Arabia? And Oz, also with a socialized system (but a private alternative) is 33rd?

WTF does this list even measure - you don't provide a link or even a title.

The only "strong stuff" you bring is you BO - climb out of your parents' basement and take a shower. And stop jerkin' it to pics of Helen Thomas.