Posted on 12/22/2005 6:41:54 PM PST by blam
US vows to track down hijacker freed early
By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor
(Filed: 23/12/2005)
The United States has vowed to track down and bring to trial a Lebanese hijacker who has been secretly released after serving 19 years in a German prison for seizing an airliner in 1985 and killing a US navy diver.
The Bush administration said it had asked Germany not to release Mohammed Ali Hamadi, who was jailed for life for his role in the hijacking of TWA's Flight 847 from Athens to Rome and the shooting of one of the passengers, Robert Stethem.
Despite American appeals, the German authorities freed Hamadi, a member of the Hizbollah movement, and allowed him to return to Lebanon.
The US State Department was careful to say yesterday that Washington had "respect" for German law.
It also said the release would not affect relations that are already strained over the war in Iraq and the controversy over the US policy of "extraordinary" rendition of terror suspects through European airspace.
But Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, said: "I think what I can assure anybody who's listening, including Mr Hamadi, is that we will track him down.
"We will find him and we will bring him to justice in the United States for what he's done."
A US official said Washington believes Hamadi was released from temporary custody in Lebanon and had since disappeared.
Mr McCormack said the US would "make every effort, working with the Lebanese authorities or whomever else, to see that he faces trial for the murder of Mr Stethem".
But the Lebanese government, immersed in the crisis over the murder of the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, appeared bewildered by the US demand.
"The United States could have initially asked Germany to hand him over. Why are they asking us?" said the Lebanese prime minister, Fouad Siniora.
The US request came at a time when Mr Siniora is struggling to convince Shia ministers, including one from Hizbollah, to end their boycott of the Beirut government.
America has no extradition treaty with Lebanon. US officials said the terms of its extradition agreement with Germany did not allow it to obtain custody of someone who had already served a sentence.
If he doesn't leave certain areas we will never capture him. There are a lot of countries such as Iran, Syria, part of Lebanon where he can roam around at will with no fear at all of the U.S.
Actually, Attorney General Gonzales did so.
Germany is simply not serious about the war in Islamic terror. Presumably someone in the German government weighed the inevitable damage to German-U.S. relations and decided that whatever they were getting for it was worth the cost. We are told that wasn't freedom for the German hostage. What, then?
As to the damage in relations, so what? Germany is in no danger of American retaliation and laughs at our displeasure. We have always forgiven this sort of slap in the face and we will forgive this one as well.
If he was "only" shot it'd be less of an outrage in some ways, in fact he was beaten to death over a period of a few days despite the efforts of a Swedish stewardess to help him.
exactly..
Germany, like Saudi Arabia, loves playing the double game!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.