For 25 years, liberals have thrown something in my face: My beloved Reagan’s raid on Libya in 1986 killed Qaddafi’s daughter. Have you experienced the same charge, the same taunt? Wise people were always doubtful of Qaddafi’s claim — his claim that our bombs had killed his daughter (his adopted daughter). In any event, Qaddafi himself was utterly responsible for the raid brought on him and Libya.
Well, well, well: “The adopted daughter of Muammar Gadafy, whom he claimed died as an infant in the 1986 US bombing of his Tripoli compound, appears to be alive and worked as a doctor in the Libyan capital, documents discovered by The Irish Times indicate.” Read it with relish, baby.
P.S. The Lockerbie bomber, who was supposedly released on mercy grounds, having only three months to live? I half expect him to compete in the decathlon at next year’s Olympics. For what team, I’m not sure.
This has nothing to do with the post, but thanks for getting that @#$%! Take On Me song in my head.
At least I have the comfort of knowing that anyone who reads this comment is hereby also cursed.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNow I know how Matt Holliday felt.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSpeaking of "Take On Me" (how do you italicize in the comments? Normal HTML doesn't work for me):
External Link
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI see where the NATO forces are getting ready to divvy up the oil resources in Libya, this according to Al Jezeera, I believe. Fear not, Obama will not be accused of war for oil or some such. Britain and France pushed for the intervention so they get first dibs, which is fine for Obama, as he keeps his focus on Brazil and helping them drill offshore.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"For 25 years, liberals have thrown something in my face: My beloved Reagan’s raid on Libya in 1986 killed Qaddafi’s daughter. Have you experienced the same charge, the same taunt?"
No. I've never had anyone - of any political persuasion - throw "into my face" the "charge" or "taunt" that "Reagan's raid on Libya in 1986 killed Qaddafi's daughter." And it's not as if I've lived in some "Reagan is Wonderful" Land. I lived in San Francisco, Berkeley, etc. at various times after 1986 and know plenty of folks who think that Reagan was perfectly awful. (For myself, I generally like Reagan, even though I disagreed with some of his policies and was troubled by the diminishment in his abilities during his second term - I do, however, specifically remember favoring the Libya raid).
I might have heard the charge mentioned in a TV discussion or in a written article - I don't want to go overboard. But on a personal level - "in my face"? No, never.
In fact, until this post, I had quite forgotten that Qaddafi's daughter was (at least allegedly) killed during the 1986 raid.
Mr. Nordlinger: Who on Earth are you hanging out with? How many persons have actually "taunted" you with this charge or thrown it "in your face"? Who did this? How did they do it? How did the issue even arise?
You often come across as bizarrely oversensitive. If I ran into you, I'd fear that anything I said that sounded vaguely "liberal" or that could be construed as a criticism of someone who you think of as "conservative" would either send you crumpling to the floor in anguish or cause you to start breaking crockery in anger. This "charge" or "taunt" about Qaddafi's daughter sounds like an example of that pheneomenon.
But who knows: Maybe you spend a lot of time around old people who are weirdly focused on the 1986 Libya raid - I dunno.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFor what its worth, I have had libs point out that Reagan killed Qaddafi's daughter with his raid on several occasions, and that undoubtedly embittered him to the West or whatever. What I haven't heard is any speculation that just maybe an American made bomb or two killed an Innocent person in Obama's Kinetic Military Action.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseQuote: "Qaddafi himself was utterly responsible for the raid brought on him and Libya."
Bah.
When I want to read rationalizations about how the other party deserves something because they are utterly responsible, I can go over to places such as Daily Kos or Huff Post and read about white privilege. Or, I can stay with current events, and read about a private school being harassed in Wisconsin because the governor is visiting there.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDitto that Colonel Travis. Can't get it out of my head now.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDitto that, Colonel Travis.... Maybe it'll be gone in a day.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseVery interesting! I was pleased to read this for several reasons:
1) I was, at age 13, compared to a Nazi (how original!) for saying I wasn't sorry we'd bombed Libya, despite the death of Qaddafi's infant daughter in the raid.
2) I was, actually, sorry she died. Although I thought were justified in our action, her death was in itself a terrible consequence. So if she's alive and well, I'm glad of it.
3) Just a few months ago, I listened to an NPR segment on another Qaddafi daughter. We were told her fervent, outspoken hostility to the west, and especially to the U.S., stemmed in part from the death of her baby sister in a U.S. bombing raid in 1986. (And who could blame her for this?) So if the Irish Times is right, I guess the elder Ms. Qaddafi just hates our guts anyway?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHere is the Take on Me video - Literal Version. Watch where loud laughter won't disturb.
External Link
On the Q/Kh/Gad(d)af(f)i-daughter-fake-death thing, I'm wholly with you, Jay. It's up there with the recent autopsy of Allende (he DID kill himself, after all. The Left has been tellingly silent.)
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNext we'll find Mossadeq was a Soviet stooge (duh), and Vietnam was in fact being threatened by sociopathic Communists.
Sadly, there is no reasoning with those whose beliefs are adolescent gut-feelings bucked up by two centuries of academic sophistry.
I hear the Gitmo team had a world class decathlete but he just pulled his hamstring, Megrahi can stand in for him.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI don't get it. I don't recall Reagan ever claiming that Qaddafi was lying about the death of his daughter. I presume therefore that he must have considered the risk of such collateral damage a possibility when he ordered the bombing. So whether you think that was the right thing to do or not, how does the fact that she was not, in fact, killed, vindicate Reagan's decision?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNo, I'd say you DON'T get it.
The "taunt" concerning Ghadafy's daughter was supposed to REPUDIATE the raid. The raid doesn't need to be justified further, but the most persistent criticism of it turns out to be entirely bogus.
I suspect, though, you won't see it that way.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDavidJ is exactly right,
But are you meaning to say that the attack was unjustifiable, whether or not they were killed, merely because of your presumptuous knowledge of Reagan's thoughts?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf there's any justice in the world, the Lockerbie bomber will be found with an anonymous (but well placed) bullet through his head. Then the US can say, "Hey, Tripoli is a war zone -- lots of fighting, bullets flying everywhere... accidents will happen."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSorry Jay, you let me down on this one. Did you fall off your horse or something?
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse1 - I've been around for longer than you have, and probably surrounded by more lefties that you the whole time, but I've never heard mentioned the supposed killing of Q's daughter as a criticism of RR.
2 - Of course RR's action in bombing Q was RR's responsibility, not Q's. Or what other things that RR did are really Q's responsibility? Lower taxes? Good leadership?
C'mon, Jay. Don't waste your considerable talent writing this sort of petulant silliness.