Hypocrisy, Manipulation and Misrepresentation of Facts

Citing from an article, book or letter as part of a blogpost, comment, letter or another article is a standard practice. However, it is sometimes the case that such a citation is done as a method of manipulating or misrepresenting information in order to support a different interpretation than was intended by the original author.

A blogpost to which I recently submitted a comment is an example of this. The following is the post If Kadhafi goes, can al-Megrahi be far behind? on the Free Frank Warner blog and all the subsequent comments to it -

February 22, 2011

If Kadhafi goes, can al-Megrahi be far behind?

Wouldn't it be lovely if, in the Libyan revolt against Moammar Kadhafi, Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi were captured and returned to Scotland?

Yes, Scotland. I would enjoy watching the power-drunk government of Scotland take back the murderer of 270 people and try to free him again. It would be satisfaction enough to hear them explain again how they released him in 2009 because he had just 3 months to live.

Frank Warner

***

See also: Kadhafi and the magic umbrella. Or as the kids say: "See ya! Wouldn't wanna be ya!"

Comments

'the power-drunk government of Scotland'

'because he had just 3 months to live'

Those remarks, Mr Warner, clearly show that you just don't have a clue about what you are commenting on. No specific time-scale was ever given in which the death of al-Megrahi would have happened. The three month period was an estimate NOT a definitive statement as to life expectancy.

I challenge you to conduct your own investigation of ALL the actual facts. Here are some suggested links -

http://grendelreport.posterous.com/still-no-explanations-for-the-lockerbie-bombe http://jayhoneycutt.posterous.com/the-lockerbie-deal-vanity-fair-david-rose http://realmofscotland.com/scolandpage.aspx?Cat=13&menu=Lockerbie%20evidence%20that%20was%20ignored http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/publications/ppcr/ppcr-03.htm http://lockerbiecase.blogspot.com/ http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice/legal/lockerbie http://www.polfest.co.uk/s3/committees/justice/or-09/ju09-3302.htm http://lockerbiedivide.blogspot.com/2011/01/saunders-spinsulation.html
http://plane-truth.com/Aoude/geocities/roblack2.html
http://knol.google.com/k/robert-black/the-lockerbie-trial-and-appeal/178khla0op77w/2

"Just remember, especially in politics, that people who make statements as fact without knowing what they are talking about are just opening their mouth and letting their belly rumble."

Posted by: Michael Follon ‌ February 22, 2011 at 03:53 PM

Here's a fact: that is far too many links to read on a topic that is ridiculous anyway.

Posted by: CJW ‌ February 23, 2011 at 12:24 AM

Ha!

So let's try to figure out the REAL REASON the power-drunk government of Scotland released al-Megrahi. Was it his reward for killing 270 people, including 11 Scots?

Here is the Aug. 20, 2009, explanation from The [London] Guardian:

"Why is Abdelbaset al-Megrahi being released now?

"The official answer is that his health has deteriorated to such an extent that he is not expected to live much longer, so he has been granted release on compassionate grounds - the Scottish government having rejected a prisoner transfer to Libya that would have kept him in jail there.

"Megrahi's decision to drop his appeal against conviction - which his supporters had previously indicated his family could pursue even after his death - fuelled speculation of a deal having been struck."

Posted by: Frank Warner ‌ February 23, 2011 at 07:16 PM

It is interesting that you should quote an article from 'The Guardian'. Like so many of the 'UK' newspapers it also produces a 'Scottish Edition'. That edition is not available online and often contains significant differences. The following is an extract from an article in 'The Scotsman', 21 August 2009, (not sympathetic to the SNP) -

"All of those versions of history are possible, but when they do look back, historians should consider something more important, more fundamental, more significant: that at 1pm on Thursday, 20 August 2009, justice secretary Kenny MacAskill did what we hope and expect our elected leaders to do: he made the right decision.

...

This newspaper has been critical of the process that led up to that decision - the leaks, the hints and the spin, the delays and the signs of hesitation - but that should not detract from giving Mr MacAskill the credit he deserves for articulating a fundamental tenet of modern Scottish justice: the showing of mercy and compassion.

It is in that context that the criticism from the United States of the decision to allow Megrahi to return to Libya should be viewed. That a country which executes so many people, some of them undoubtedly innocent, and appears to hold to the principle that revenge equates with justice, should criticise Scotland's legal system is rich.

...

There are still so many unanswered questions that a public inquiry remains necessary and the intransigent UK government, which has refused to release papers, should co-operate fully. The search for truth must go on."

Perhaps in the United States elected governments, both at Federal and State level, are not expected to uphold the law.

Posted by: Michael Follon ‌ February 24, 2011 at 02:24 PM

Jibberish, Michael. The Scottish government just wanted to do something to make them feel powerful, even if it meant spitting on the memory of 11 Scots killed on the ground.

No one was talking about giving Megrahi the death penalty. He had the equivalent of a life sentence for murdering 270 people. In the article you cite, The Scotsman was changing subject to cover for this most childishly irresponsible undoing of justice.

What does the Scottish government do with murderers of 10 people? Give them a medal? You might enjoy rewarding murders, but thank goodness most people don't.

And even The Scotsman, on Aug. 21, 2009, was talking up Megrahi's alleged "three months to live."

The Scotsman published this column by a prostate cancer specialist that day:

Megrahi will need large amounts of morphine to ease pain

Published Date: 21 August 2009

By Chris Parker

WHEN men are in the final stages of prostate cancer nothing happens suddenly.

The average patient who has three months to live may be walking around talking to people. But that same patient might well be bed-ridden for a period of weeks before his death.

On the whole, symptoms can be fairly well controlled for men with prostate cancer in these final few months. This cancer's distinguishing feature, more so than other cancers, is that there is extensive involvement of many or most of the bones.

Typical symptoms include bone pain, tiredness and weakness and loss of appetite. ...

However, when men are first diagnosed they are typically fit and well and face a gradual deterioration.

Megrahi's deterioration is the most gradual in the history of three-month-to-live patients.

Five days after the doctor's article, The Scotsman seemed to be having second thoughts about Megrahi's health:

Medical advice on Libyan bomber in doubt

Published Date: 26 August 2009

by DAVID MADDOX

JUSTICE secretary Kenny MacAskill was last night under pressure to reveal more details of the medical evidence that led to the release of the Lockerbie bomber, after it emerged that only one doctor was willing to say Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi had less than three months to live.

Labour and Conservative politicians have demanded the Scottish Government publish details of the doctor's expertise and qualifications, amid suggestions he or she may not have been a prostate cancer expert.

The parties have also raised questions over whether the doctor was employed by the Libyan government or Megrahi's legal team, which could have influenced the judgement.

The evidence provided by the doctor is crucial as compassionate release under Scots law requires that a prisoner has less than three months to live.

Posted by: Frank Warner ‌ February 25, 2011 at 01:10 AM

When I attempted to submit a reply to this comment a window appeared with the following message -

"We cannot accept this data"

When I submit a comment I normally do so under my own name. Because of this message I decided to comment using the pseudonym 'We The People' - that comment was accepted.

David Maddox is known to be a Labour Party 'hack'. The Labour Party is well aware of the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 and its effect on the publication of personal medical records. It was the UK Labour Party that presented it as a Bill to the UK Parliament.

Posted by: We The People ‌ February 25, 2011 at 02:48 PM

In other words, the power-drunk government of Scotland blindly freed the murderer of 270 people.

Posted by: Frank Warner ‌ February 26, 2011 at 03:51 PM

The following is the full text of the article by Chris Parker that Frank Warner cites in his penultimate comment. The text of the article in bold print is that which Frank Warner omitted -

Megrahi will need large amounts of morphine to ease pain

Published Date: 21 August 2009

By Chris Parker

WHEN men are in the final stages of prostate cancer nothing happens suddenly.

The average patient who has three months to live may be walking around talking to people. But that same patient might well be bed-ridden for a period of weeks before his death.

On the whole, symptoms can be fairly well controlled for men with prostate cancer in these final few months. This cancer's distinguishing feature, more so than other cancers, is that there is extensive involvement of many or most of the bones.

Typical symptoms include bone pain, tiredness and weakness and loss of appetite.

The pain, which needs to be controlled, can cause damage to the bone marrow which produces blood cells. In turn, the side effects mean the patient is likely to be anaemic, vulnerable to infection and often in need of blood transfusions.

Such patients can sometimes be more susceptible to bone fractures and are very often given bone strengthening medication.

The medical emphasis is on keeping them comfortable and controlling the symptoms. Pain-killing medication will be given for the bone pain and also possibly radiotherapy. Blood transfusions may well be needed to deal with the anaemia.

Normal bodily functions are not usually affected.

Sometimes the cancer can spread to the lung or liver via the blood. In that case hormone therapy is required but if that is not working chemotherapy can be used.

The bone pain is usually well-controlled but requires larger amounts of morphine as time goes on. The morphine can cause constipation which in turn requires medication to deal with that. Prostate cancer almost never involves the brain so a man's mental abilities are unlikely to be affected.

Occasionally there can be spinal chord compression which can lead to paralysis and the man may end up in a wheelchair.

However, when men are first diagnosed they are typically fit and well and face a gradual deterioration.

• Dr Chris Parker is a prostate cancer oncologist at the Institute of Cancer Research and works at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London.

In July 1988 an Iranian civilian airliner (IR655) was shot down, while it was still in Iranian airspace, by the USS Vincennes, which was itself in Iranian waters, killing 290 people (including 66 children). The captain, Commander William C. Rogers III submitted a false report of the incident. It is a criminal offence under United States Code: Title 18, § 1001 for an officer of the United States to submit a false report. The then Vice-President of the United States, George H. W. Bush, said -

"I will never apologize for the United States; I do not care what the facts are."

In 1990 President George H. W. Bush awarded Commander William C. Rogers III the Legion of Merit.

Now what was that that Frank Warner wrote about giving a medal to murderers?

Facts are chiels that winna ding. - Facts cannot lie.

An Fhirinn an aghaidh an t-Saoghail! - The Truth against the World!