Politics

March 30, 2005 2:23 PM

Anything goes. A Libyan court began hearing an appeal by five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who face the death penalty for allegedly infecting 380 children with the AIDS virus, in spite of testimony from Luc Montaignier, the French doctor who first isolated the HIV virus, and Swiss and Italian colleagues, that the epidemic was due to a lack of hygiene. Tripoli has said that in exchange for the freedom of the nurses, it wants compensation equal to that paid by Libya to relatives of the victims of the Lockerbie plane bombing carried out by its secret service in 1988. (Yahoo/AFP news)
posted by semmi (18 comments total)

in spite of testimony... that the epidemic was due to a lack of hygiene.

On reflection: Of course, one could argue that a lack of hygiene is the nurses responsibility.
posted by semmi at 2:33 PM on March 30, 2005

380 infections!?! Someone is certainly guilty of a heinous crime. There's not much information in this article, but I find it hard to see how a "lack of hygiene" could cause so many infections. This seems like a contaminated blood supply. I'd like to see more details, though.

Here we go. This looks like a more thorough account. This author concludes that the Libyan Ministry of Health is scapgoating the Bulgarians for its unhygienic practices (lack of sterile conditions, reused syringes, etc.). What a horrible situation.
posted by mr_roboto at 3:22 PM on March 30, 2005

yeah semmi, it's not really clear from the article what the story is. if the nurses were negligent and the negligence was criminal then what the colonel is saying might actually not be so off the wall. iirc 47 of the children have died.

if hospital workers in the US infected 380 children with HIV, you can bet that american trial lawyers would be going after far more money than even a nut case like colonel kadhafi would have the nerve to ask for.
posted by three blind mice at 3:22 PM on March 30, 2005

I thought the war in Iraq turned Libya into a democratic society? WTF?
posted by Mean Mr. Bucket at 3:30 PM on March 30, 2005

Mean Mr. Bucket, here is the passage in the essay you've linked to that mentions Libya:

Furthermore, formerly "terrorist friendly" nations like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Libya are now fervently pursuing terrorists inside of their own borders. And speaking of Pakistan and Libya, a nuclear arms ring based out of Pakistan is now out of business and one of its best customers, Libya, has now given up its WMD programs and is attempting to rejoin the family of nations.

Nowhere is it claimed that Libya is a "democratic society". Libya is in no way democratic, and no one would make such a claim. Please try to keep your comments relevant.
posted by mr_roboto at 3:38 PM on March 30, 2005

But George. Bush said Libya's now our friend!
posted by orthogonality at 3:41 PM on March 30, 2005

Criminally & professionally negligent? Probably. Guilty of deliberating murdering 380 children? I've a hard time understanding a motive—it just doesn't make sense. I wonder if an Islamic government like Libya's considers nuanced issues like manslaughter vs. murder before commencing with the head-chopping.

US promises to work to free nurses in Libyan HIV case
The U.S. government says it will do all it can to persuade Libya to free five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death for allegedly infecting 400 children with HIV at a Benghazi hospital. According to international observers, the charges against the medics were contrived and extracted by torture. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Bulgarian foreign minister Solomon Pasi that the Bush administration would "do everything possible, everything within our power, to obtain the release of these prisoners who have been in Libyan prisons for much too long and without justification," said department spokesman Adam Ereli.


Rest assured: we will be blamed if they are not freed, and we will be blamed if they are. Same as it ever was.

Muslim clerics' warning of U.S. plot hinders measles vaccinations
KANO, Nigeria -- Accusations by Islamic preachers that vaccines are part of an American anti-Islamic plot are threatening efforts to combat a measles epidemic that has killed hundreds of Nigerian children, health workers say.

Government officials play down the anti-vaccine sentiment, but all the measles deaths have been in Nigeria's north, where authorities had to suspend polio immunizations last year after hard-line clerics fanned similar fears of that vaccine.



I thought the war in Iraq turned Libya into a democratic society? WTF?

WTF indeed.
posted by dhoyt at 3:42 PM on March 30, 2005

Irrelevant, submoronic one-note troll about Bush/US in 5...4...3...

I thought the war in Iraq turned Libya into a democratic society? WTF?

But George. Bush said Libya's now our friend!


You've outdone yourselves.


And what mr_roboto said.
posted by dhoyt at 4:14 PM on March 30, 2005

...an Islamic government like Libya's...

I don't know if it's proper to describe Libya's government as "an Islamic government". It's pretty much a standard military dictatorship. I think the legal system is derived in great part from the Italian system. It's certainly not an Islamic state in the sense of Iran or Taliban-era Afghanistan or even Saudi Arabia.
posted by mr_roboto at 4:24 PM on March 30, 2005

Not in that same vein necessarily, but Libya's constitution declares it an Islamic Socialist State. It doesn't often take the softline on matters like this one either.
posted by dhoyt at 4:45 PM on March 30, 2005

Tripoli has said that in exchange for the freedom of the nurses, it wants compensation equal to that paid by Libya to relatives of the victims of the Lockerbie plane bombing carried out by its secret service in 1988. (Yahoo/AFP news)

They're trying to draw a parallel for some kind of sick moral equivilence, but there is NO similarity here. Intentionally murdering civilians via your secret service doesn't compare in any way whatsoever to children killed by a simple medical mistake, one that even occurred in Western countries before we knew we had to take precautions.

What I'd like to see, emotionally, would be a military strike to rescue these hostages like we would do with any other kind of terrorist, but realistically, I know that's probably not a good idea. We shouldn't give these ruthless scum a single cent, though.
posted by Mitrovarr at 5:37 PM on March 30, 2005

BU$HITLER = AIDS!!!!!!!!!!!111!!!!!!!!!11!!!
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 8:46 PM on March 30, 2005

If we are mentioning Lockerbie, then some Bush may be in order. The evidence for Lybias culpability has not been proved to everyone's satisfaction.

OT - They admitted intentionally infecting the children. OK, the admission was gained via torture, but that goes to show how important torture is in interrogation. The only way to guarantee that ones paranoid view of the world is valid is to torture people until they admit it is so.
posted by asok at 3:34 AM on March 31, 2005

Steve: Nice to see that where no real liberal trolling exists, you'll step in to fill the void...

Y'know, if we had gone after Libya instead of Iraq, I bet we could have gotten a lot more international support and had a much more triumphant romp in the sand. Too late now, I guess.
posted by klangklangston at 6:58 AM on March 31, 2005

Nice to see that where no real liberal trolling exists, you'll step in to fill the void...

Uh, what?
posted by dhoyt at 7:00 AM on March 31, 2005

Dhoyt: Just because you mentioned them above doesn't make them trolling. They may heve been too snarky for your delicate, vapor-ridden constitution, but they were also related to the topic and worth noting in regard to the international perceptions of Libya.
posted by klangklangston at 11:11 AM on March 31, 2005

So what ortho & Mr. Bucket were actually offering was scintillating commentary "in regard to the international perceptions of Libya", and not at all making tired, faux-provocative one-liners—"trolls", they're called—to deviate from the topic of Libya?

Very funny.
posted by dhoyt at 12:53 PM on March 31, 2005

What asok brought to the table needs to be considered
the Scottish judges were kept on a very short leash by american overseers, even some victim familys smelled rats.
posted by hortense at 5:50 PM on March 31, 2005