Awaiting the verdict in the Tripoli 6 case: signs not hopeful

The verdict in the Tripoli 6 case is scheduled to be handed down on December 19. There has been worldwide recognition the science now shows the six defendants arrived in the country after the viral strains were circulating in the hospital and its environs, making the 400+ cases of HIV infection in children in the Benghazi Hospital in Libya most likely the result of poor hospital hygiene.

Not that you'd know it from the Libyan news media:

Bulgarian nurses are guilty, evidence show

2006-12-14

It's a big crime. More than Libyan 400 children were deliberately infected with HIV at Benghazi Hospital, and inside the department which supervised by the Bulgarian nurses and their Palestinian partner.

Skeptics say medical negligence was the cause, but evidence show that the Bulgarian medics are involved in this crime.

A Swiss expert told the accompanying doctors with the children during their treatment visit in Switzerland in 1999 that such a thing can not be caused by negligence.

A medical report carried out by some European experts, who studies this case in 1999, confirmed that the proportion of HIV blood of these children is very high.

It reached one million cell per a cubic millimeter in the blood of some children. This high proportion means they were deliberately injected with HIV.

It's scientifically approved that the presence of one million virus in a cubic millimeter of the blood of a child under 6 months means he was intentionally injected.

If these scientifically approved reports not enough for those skeptics, so what can they say about the medics' admission of guilt.

Nasia Nenova was trying to commit suicide when she was rescued, and a hand-written paper was discovered in her clothes. Nasia wrote in Bulgarian language that she wanted to commit suicide because she felt guilty.

Another nurse, Christina, was caught red-handed. Five bottles were seized inside her residence, and which contained the remnants of material containing HIV.

Libya has dealt with this crime legally and provide a fair trail with the presence of ambassadors and lawyers. (Website of the Libyan Jamahiriya Broadcasting Corporation)

I need hardly say this is not a hopeful sign.

No mention that the confession was extracted under torture. Maybe that's why the US State Department remains both clueless and flippant. We earlier posted on the complete lack of awareness of the State Department spokesperson, Mr. McCormack at the daily press briefing on December 6. You'd think that with a heads up McCormack would have bothered to find out what this was all about. But, no, when the question came up again on December 7 he dismissed it with a flippant reference to his ignorance of the day before:

MR. MCCORMACK: Nicholas.

QUESTION: Sean, there is a new report out today by Oxford scientists that says that the infections with HIV in Libya --

MR. MCCORMACK: (Inaudible) asked about this yesterday.

QUESTION: -- have occurred --

QUESTION: Yeah.

QUESTION: So was that discussed yesterday?

QUESTION: Yeah.

QUESTION: Well, it came out today. Okay, anyway, so that --

MR. MCCORMACK: You must have got an advanced copy of it. I think Gollust might have actually asked the question. (Laughter.) Very surprised by the people that don't read the transcripts, Nicholas. This has just revealed that you don't read the transcripts.

QUESTION: Okay.

MR. MCCORMACK: I'm very disappointed by that. You have to show up here more.

QUESTION: I was off, sorry.

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah. Okay. (State Department Daily Briefing of December 7, 2006)

That's it. He's disappointed the reporter who asked about the exonerating scientific evidence published in Nature didn't hear his cluelessness of the day before.

As I said, not a hopeful sign.

More like this

It is depressing...the only coverage that I've read or heard of this case is here and on NPR. This administration is pathetic.

Abel: Just don't know. I'm keeping track behind the scenes as best I can but it doesn't look better there either, I'm afraid. I must agree with DeLuca: depressing.

There was a little message, about 8 lines in one of the Dutch newspapers at page 4 about the fate of these people and the injustice was mentioned. But it's too little, too late and not quite alarming enough to get one politician here off his/her unaware butts. I've been mailing to several of them, no reaction at all. The NEJM published about it and I really keep hoping tomorrow will be a sunny day, but I am depressed also. If praying would help and burning candles, I would use everything of that to get those people out of the claws of the destructive Libyan system.
Tomorrow it will be Tripoli Six Day.

And thats when they wheel guys like me out. Action plan-First arrest without warrant every Libyan as a terrorist in Palestine and Bulgaria. Detain them for oh say six years, then threaten to kill them after a kangaroo court trial-cite inconsistencies with carriage of liquids on aircraft. Fill it with Polonium or something.

While you are at it you start to bring the international pressure to bear. If Mo Gaddafi doesnt act then you release the dogs of war 15 seconds after the last rope snaps. Not that you want to side too terribly much with Palestine but maybe one F111 strike wasnt enough to get their attention. Smart bomb the presidential palaces and use runway deprivation weapons. Then sink every ship of Libyan flag on the high seas outside of the 12 mile limit, maybe inside of it too.

Seriously folks, if they kill them what else could we do? The terrorists are state run and this one is Libya..again. Remember Lockerbie? These guys are armed and asking for a whacking. More stuff goes in illegally under an embargo than legally and now we are paying the price for it. They routinely start fights with Egypt and Chad and we might just want to give them a front end alighment here. These people were there to help and oops, now we got a goat to sacrifice to say we are not just a fourth rate country that doctors refuse to go to in our Libyan media.

Attacking them also puts them on notice that there are "acts of war" under the UN Charter and this qualifies. Not that Bulgaria could do much and the Palestinians got their butts whacked by the Israelis, but there are fights you sometimes have to take on even though its not yours. Bulgaria is a junior NATO country and . Its nothing more than a diplomacy two step and all that does is prolong the inevitable. They will kill them unless Mo G. stops it and orders them released. Fastest way to stop a travesty is to do just that, stop it.

I would send a Ranger battalilion in and blow them out of there. Lose US troops for Bulgarians, Palestinians? Not willingly but those could be US, Canucks and even the goddamn French and I would still do it. This is back door jihad and we need to start sending messages that are long, loud and clear. If we dont defend the innocents, then the not so innocent are next... that means me!

Bulgaria can ask for and get a NATO resolution to attack if they start to go for them. They might die in the process but they sure are going to die otherwise. Sneaky idea would be to loft a couple of F117's and let them fly over the presidential palace fully loaded. Sometimes gunboat diplomacy works too.

By M. Randolph Kruger (not verified) on 18 Dec 2006 #permalink

MRK I agree with you about those measures concerning my rage over these innocent people. But I DON'T think the politicians who can influence this process are doing at least their stinking best. I have NOT read anywhere some diplomatic efforts are made to free those Six or anyone does care. They simply don't. Or maybe YOU are knowing more about it, Revere, and in that case I would say they are not doing enough when talking to this criminal M G organization.
I can say I feel abandoned by my government and by all people who I have been speaking with about this case and it's part of my feeling depressed.
It's a goddamned crime to be passive in this case and when I could join you in bombing those government buildings in Libya, Randy, I would be the first to jump in the plane to get there.
Also we should capture those judges, and medial 'experts' who did the 'contra-expertise' to get these poor people condemned. Let them get a blood transfusion after being injured in that poor Libyan hospital and try not to become contaminated by reused needles. Of course all risk will be gone now those Tripoli Six are accused and not working there anymore. We will attribute any HIV infection by now to their sex life and accuse them of rape, molest and adultery.
As I am saying this I am realizing I am talking as if this highly symbolic case definitely won't end well. I guess it won't because I don't see any reasonable communication taking place between Libya and some public defender of those Tripoli Six.
If it was, it would be something to be proud of and to be exposed in the newspapers like: See, Libya has markedly improved! Nice country! Friend!

Well extortion is all most wars are about anyway. Trying to get one over on the other guy. The Libyans just stepped into it though. If Bulgaria uses their power under both the UN Charter and the NATO Alliance to press for act of war it will give the EU and the US the excuse to knock those guys off. The Brits would LOVE to swack Libya along with the italians, the US and there you have a goodly portion of NATO. All the Bulgarians have to do is press for a meeting with the Alliance and things are going to Hell fast.

I know Mo G, is going to need a shit load of screen doors if they bring the 6th fleet up to battle status. This will be the same as Grenada. Egypt would support it because its Libya. Chad would jump on board and Algeria and Oh shit, the Palestinians too!

Yep, its going to be a very warm January.

By M. Randolph Kruger (not verified) on 19 Dec 2006 #permalink

Well, I havent heard anything on this particular post since December. They were on a 60 day countdown at the last post. Anyone know anything new?

By M. Randolph Kruger (not verified) on 18 Feb 2007 #permalink

Randy: A lot going on behind the scenes. We have been advised to see how it emerges before making more waves, so I am complying. Outcome very much in doubt at the moment. Firing squad probably off the table, but not much else is, and even that is not a certainty. I am in touch and will keep everyone posted.