And I Thought Qaddafi Was Our New Best Friend

Not A Friend Always, by the looks of it, blaming Bulgarian nurses for a Libyan pediatric AIDS epidemic and sentencing them to death:

TO THE NON-ARAB WORLD, the cause of the outbreak seems obvious. Luc Montagnier, co-discoverer of the HIV virus, has twice investigated the outbreak and twice concluded that the infection began up to four years before the arrival of the Bulgarians, probably after the 1997 hospitalization of a child from sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Montagnier and several of his colleagues, including experts from the World Health Organization, have repeatedly insisted that the infection was spread through the reuse of disposable syringes.

Everyone seems to have his own explanation why the Libyans are pressing forward with the death sentences. Some say Libya wants the Bulgarian government to forgive its massive debt. Libya has asked Sofia for compensation, $10 million for each infected child, which coincidentally is what Libya paid to each of the families of the 270 mostly American victims of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. A Libyan, Abdelbaset ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, was convicted of the terrorist bombing. Following the outcome of that trial Libya's foreign ministry spokesman Hassouna Chaouch dismissed the verdict as "a serious affront and a clear condemnation of the Scottish judiciary." Chaouch declared that "Libya reiterates to the whole world that Abdel Basset al-Megrahi is the Jesus Christ of the modern time." Al-Megrahi was sentenced to 20 years and is serving his sentence in Scotland.