HIV medics released to Bulgaria I don't know about you, but I sorely needed some good news today. This will do.→[More:][mefi thread]

I've followed the case fairly closely for a long time and it's really struck me as a cruel and tragic scapegoating. These women (and one man) were raped and tortured into confessing to serial murder. The trials were travesties. The cage in which they were held was perhaps typical of regional jurisprudence but offensive to Western eyes.

Meanwhile, the parents of the infected children deserve empathy but no sympathy. They needed to be angry at someone and the foreigners who came to help seemed convenient. They were aided by a seemingly craven system of justice throwing scientific evidence in the trashbin and sneering at those who criticized them, because one must think of the children. The parents were given an easy target, and somehow I never heard of one who broke ranks and said the doctors and nurses were kind and helpful and the prosecution misguided.

Finally, there's Gaddafi. It's a measure of his sensitivity and skill in PR that he'll probably come out of this smelling like a rose. He always managed to disclaim his ability to do what was just done, in the name of the parents, and yet hint that if Certain. Things. Happened it might all go away. A diplomatic shakedown, six people the pawns. Plus ca change and all that.