December 20, 2005

German Quid Pro Quo

Germany has "secretly" released the Hezbollah murderer of an American Navy diver.

Apparently ignoring Washington's extradition request for Mohammed Ali Hamadi, German authorities have secretly released the Lebanese Hezbollah member who was serving a life sentence in the country for the hijacking of a TWA jet and for the murder of a US navy diver.

German prosecutors confirmed the release of Mohammed Ali Hamadi, now in his late 30s, to the Associated Press and said he was flown back to Lebanon last week.

Hamadi was convicted in 1989 by a German court of killing US Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem during the 1985 hijacking of a TWA flight diverted to Beirut. He was sentenced to life without parole. His sentence is one Germany reserves for the most serious and cruel crimes. It is difficult but not impossible to release someone who receives such a sentence after 15 years.

Nice going krauts.

Two observations occur to me. One, this secret release is not so secret, is it? Nice to see that leaks are not something unique to the American government.

Second, this guy was supposedly sentenced to the worst sentence you can get in a place without the death penalty: life without the possibility of parole. Except NOW HE'S FREE!

That's kind of an argument for the death penalty, don't you think? At least in cases of international terrorism, where the continued earthly existence of the criminal becomes a blackmail opportunity for terrorists.

Germany, an entire nation with no balls.

Posted by: annika at 09:07 AM | Comments (18) | Add Comment
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1 So, they released a guilty terrorist that probably isn't even trying to pretend to be a reformed inmate? The Eurotrash are just playing out their anti-American tit-for-tat..... http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/terror/20051206-0915-rice.html BTW, doesn't Merkel look like the Kathleen Blanco of Germany?

Posted by: reagan80 at December 20, 2005 10:02 AM (pa7yv)

2 Wanna bet on how long it takes the Mossad to take him out? He was safer in a German jail.

Posted by: shelly at December 20, 2005 10:05 AM (6mUkl)

3 God, I hope you are right, Shelly. Of course, if that does occur, Speilberg will have to come out with a movie about how it was really Israel's fault that Hamadi turned into a hijacker and a murderer.

Posted by: Blu at December 20, 2005 10:55 AM (5YINj)

4 A murderer in Germany normally serves less than eight years. Husbands don't use lawyers to get a divorce, they use a knife. They get a eight year vacation in a country club setting and never have to pay alimony.

Posted by: Jake at December 20, 2005 12:22 PM (r/5D/)

5 Jake, I would like to think that what you are saying is an exaggeration, But I am sure it is not. And to think those eurorodents call us barbaric because we execute the guilty. What can be more barbaric than turning loose murderers?

Posted by: Kyle N at December 20, 2005 02:19 PM (L1JUZ)

6 WOO HOO !!!! LOOK! guys I made my own blog.(finaly) please tell me what ya think. http://impudent.blognation.us/blog

Posted by: Kyle N at December 20, 2005 03:26 PM (L1JUZ)

7 I'm sure that the Germans had this all figured out. You see, the Esteemed Anti-Zionist Freedom Fighter was convicted of hijacking a *TWA* plane. Since TWA no longer exists, Germany figures that he can't do any harm in the future. If the disco bombers are being held in Germany, then Germany should release them too. Disco is dead.

Posted by: Ontario Emperor at December 20, 2005 04:34 PM (FPdMX)

8 Pretty vile. Of course, this week *we* released Dr Germ and others of the same ilk in Iraq. I wonder if there is some kind of contest going on this week between governments as to who can do the dumbest thing?

Posted by: David Foster at December 20, 2005 08:02 PM (7TmYw)

9 "Victoria Toensing, a former Justice Department official in the Reagan administration who oversaw efforts to extradite Hammadi in 1987, said German authorities threw obstacles in the way of U.S. prosecutors at that time and only reluctantly cooperated. "They were not open at all," she recalled. "We knew he would be released early, way back then." Source: Washingtonpost.com I guess to the German government, Islamic terrorism is just not that serious a crime. Hate to be cynical about it, but well... the evidence is sort of hitting us full in the face now, isn't it? And normally, I'm against the death penalty (I think I'm a rare conservative with that point of view), but it's stories like this that give me pause regarding that stance. The world is better off with a rotten killer like that dead. Not honoring the ultimate punishment -- whether a death penalty or a real, unrevocable life-sentence -- ends up being the equivalent of condoning the crime. And what does that say about the German government? Did the German goverment, in spite of their denial release this person in order to gain the release of civillian hostages? Well, if so, they should at least come out and say it. I'd still be disgusted in them -- what's that saying: "Once you pay the Danegeld, you never get rid of the Dane"? -- but at least it'd be an attempt at doing good. A misguided one sure to backfire -- it would suddenly make way too many other people targets -- but it would be far and away better than them releasing him for no good reason at all. At that point, it'd just be a completely senseless act.

Posted by: ElMondoHummus (formerly E.M.H.) at December 20, 2005 10:37 PM (2z4/C)

10 It's good that Germany gave GWB and U.S. arrogance the finger. It helps to remind Americans that they usually won't get what they want. Under Bush, we're headed toward third-world status pretty quickly. In fact, Germany is a much bigger economy than we are, and their actions will continue to get more support from the international community than ours. The U.S. is far from being the greatest country on Earth. You're going to have to live with that: it's time to swallow a little pride! Regarding the guy who snuffed the U.S. Navy Seal and is now laughing with friends back in Lebanon, he'll be commended at home and live a long, happy life, just like Osama is living now (remember Osama?). Speaking of Osama, his case is a classic example how powerless the U.S. military really is. Here's a guy who, way back in 2001, destroyed the financial, trade and power center of this country, using nothing but boxcutter knives, and the entire U.S. military and all of our secret agencies and "trained experts" using $200 billion have still not found him even as we now go into 2006. Excuses excuses. The fact is that we are incompetent and unsophisticated. Again, compared to Germany, our education system is laughable; and, proportionally, we churn out more illiterate people from high school every year than all of the other 10 largest economies combined. Boy, do I feel safe!

Posted by: anti greed at December 21, 2005 10:25 AM (y5qXi)

11 On the user level government is grotesquely incompetent, but out there in the nooks and crannys of national defense, there lurk pockets of industry. I should think that we're following this fellow to find his friends. One can never have too many sources.

Posted by: Casca at December 21, 2005 11:01 AM (y9m6I)

12 Casca! Back from vacation, i see. i missed you!

Posted by: annika at December 21, 2005 02:20 PM (zAOEU)

13 "Germany is a much bigger economy than we are" U.S. GDP $11.7 T Germany GDP $2.3 T http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html

Posted by: David Foster at December 21, 2005 02:37 PM (7TmYw)

14 Thanks David. What a ridiculous statement. The German economy is in shambles----just like the French economy. Our economy, on the other hand, is soaring. Both Germany and France demonstrate what happens when government decides it can be all things to all people. It is also a great example of how high taxation and socialism destroy economic productivity and creativity. Our education system, by the way, is run by the Left. We are lucky it is not in worse shape.

Posted by: Blu at December 21, 2005 05:31 PM (hQHZ1)

15 i stopped reading after that sentence. It's like starting a comment out with: "the earth is flat." Why bother?

Posted by: annika at December 21, 2005 07:23 PM (OMI8b)

16 Wait, wait... his comment wasn't satire?

Posted by: ElMondoHummus at December 21, 2005 08:39 PM (2z4/C)

17 I love it when people call Germans - Krauts. They hate that. Here is a video depicting the stupidity of France's Cousins.

Posted by: tony at December 22, 2005 03:35 AM (lEHiv)

18 How ironic that Germany and France should be "friends" and "allies". I grew up with my father saying "Put a gun in the hands of a German and he turns towards France."

Posted by: shelly at December 22, 2005 11:10 AM (6mUkl)

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