Germany Frees Terrorist; Hostage Set Free; Coincidence?

Ten days ago Germany set a Lebanese Hizbollah highjacker who murdered U.S. Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem in Beirut. Stethem was beaten, tortured-the real kind-then shot and throw out onto the tarmac. He was on TWA flight number 847 from Athens, Greece to Rome, Italy.

This was in 1985, and the USA has been trying to pursuade Germany to release him to US custody ever since. Germany has not complied, and now they have let him free before his parole hearing. He would have been back in Beruit earlier, but the assassination of journalist Gebran Tueni. I wonder, were they involved in this also?

Lebanon now claims the USA has no right to ask for him to be extradicted.

"Originally they [the U.S. government] could have requested that Germany hand him over. Why are they asking us?" Prime Minister Fouad Siniora told reporters Wednesday.

Oh really? Then why did they say this further in the article?

As for sending Hammadi directly to U.S. from Germany, Assaf said that Germany and any European country would reject a U.S. request for Hammadi's extradition on the grounds that he could have faced capital punishment in the U.S., which is against the European Law on the Convention of Human Rights.

Does it sound to you as if the USA was not trying to bring him to US justice? They have been trying to get him ever since the vicious and unprovoked murder. It this editor's opinion, these two statements contradict one another. You, the reader, decide.

As far as the others involved in the highjacking, along with Mohammad Ali Hammadi.

...the U.S. government offered a reward of up to $5 million for information on the whereabouts of the TWA 847 hijackers, where it named the suspects that "are thought to be in Lebanon or Syria" and "need to be brought to justice,": Imad Fayez Mugniyeh, Hassan Izz-al-Din and Ali Atwaa. [continue to read the whole article.]

Mr. President Bush, Hammadi is living with his brother Abdel-Hadi who is a senior special security official within Hizbullah in Lebanon. Go get them!