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rfmcdonaldThe long saga of the Bulgarian nurses (and one Palestinian doctor) imprisoned in Libya on charges of having intentionally infected more than four hundred child patients at a Benghazi hospital with HIV might hopefully be ended, with talk of a joint Bulgarian-Libyan fund for the children and a legitimate retrial of the nurses, hopefully this time without being tortured. All of this talk is entirely besides the point since authorities likeProfessor Luc Montagnier, the man who first isolated the HIV-1 virus, have testified that it was almost certainly negligence on the part of hospital authorities that was responsible for the transmission of the virus to the children, as it was in Soviet Kalmykia in the late 1980s. Totalitarian states can't admit incompetence, for as Libyan defense lawyer Osman Bizanti has stated "the trial would be dedicated to the attorney who represented the state of Libya, and who has the task of denying any public responsibility for the crimes."
Who wants to bet that, as it is in Qadaffi's interests to cement friendly Libyan ties with Europe and the United States, after having shamelessly manipulated public opinion in Libya against the nurses (including, most critically, the families of the infected children), the Libyan court will find some excuse to eject all six people (or perhaps just the Bulgarians) from the country without a firing squad?
Who wants to bet that, as it is in Qadaffi's interests to cement friendly Libyan ties with Europe and the United States, after having shamelessly manipulated public opinion in Libya against the nurses (including, most critically, the families of the infected children), the Libyan court will find some excuse to eject all six people (or perhaps just the Bulgarians) from the country without a firing squad?
