How is this different from paying a ransom?

Thankfully, Libya's highest court has today commuted the death sentences of the five Bulgarian nurses and the Pakistani doctor who had been sentenced to death for allegedly knowingly and purposefully infecting 450 Libyan children with AIDS. Read the story here. They didn't do it, but they took the fall. Medical experts presented evidence at their last trial that the AIDS epidemic had started much earlier and spread because of unsanitary conditions at the hospital at which the medics worked. Then there was some wrinkle in Sharia law that required that, in the event of someone causing harm to another, a settlement must be paid. The medical personnel were sentenced to death because no settlement was reached.

Now, apparently, a settlement has been reached. International, American, and Bulgarian (and apparently other Eastern European) organizations have paid the equivalent of one million dollars to the families for each infected child (fifty have already died of the disease), and the court has acknowledged that. The head of the "victim's organization" presented papers today to the court attesting to their receipt of the settlement. The death sentences have been commuted to life in prison. It's expected that diplomatic maneuvering will gain the freedom of all the defendants.

Some in Libya are still saying the AIDS infection was the result of Western powers trying to undermine the power of Islam and of Libya in general. The defendants have been incarcerated since 1999. Several had submitted confessions, which they charge were obtained through rape and torture. These were volunteer care givers! Their charges against the police were tried and thrown out, and then they were in turn charged with slander and libel by their torturers. Thank God that case was dismissed today as well.

This episode is yet another example of the danger of dealing with the third world in general, and the Muslim third world in particular. I'm sorry to say it so baldly, but these people are freaks! Endemic (and government enforced) ignorance and powerlessness is a heady mixture. People get hurt. But what's worse is this is a blatant case of kidnapping with a very hefty ransom paid. Only this is on a government scale. Once these innocent victims are freed, the Libyan government should be isolated and left to their own self-imposed middle ages. They have proven themselves incapable of functioning in a civilized society.

And just for kicks, I thought I should add that yesterday they received a letter from none other than the administration of our own George W. Bush, expressing the desire of the United States to normalize relations with the fine country of Libya. I know they want Ghaddafi (Duck) to behave, but please. How about if we just ignore them? Bulgaria sent them a whole hospital full of care-givers, and in gratitude, the Libyans arrested and held them in hellish conditions in prison for the last nine years, at least several years of which they were on death row. As soon as those poor nurses and the doctor set their feet on the tarmac of some other country, Libya should be dropped from the list of civilized nations. The lives of the innocent accused should count for something. They'll never get their lives back. Libya should be isolated and ostracized. And Dubya should revoke his friendly overture. Don't deal with kidnappers, George. Don't! Show some spine and some values. Tell them to shove their oil.