After Blasting U.S. Trials For Terror Suspects, Romney Now Wants One For The ‘Lockerbie Bomber’

By Zaid Jilani/Think Progress




Speaking before a backdrop of luxurious yachts, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney called on the United States to apprehend the “Lockerbie Bomber” in Libya and bring him back to the United States for trial. Talking to Fox News host Neil Cavuto to explain his position, Romney said that the “United States would be my first choice” for the location of a trial for the bomber:

CAVUTO: If Muammar Qaddafi goes down do you think the new government should hand him over to who?

ROMNEY: The United States of America would be my first choice. We would try him here and see that justice is done. This is a person responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people. This is an individual who was convicted in Scotland but set free on a humanitarian basis and two years later still alive and receives a hero’s welcome. That is unacceptable indeed if he does not face justice.

Watch it:

Yet during the last Republican presidential primary, Romney decried trying terror suspects in American courts, saying that we should actually “double” the size of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and keep suspects there instead. Watch it:

Romney also praised the Obama adminstration’s decision to not try alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a civilian trial in New York City. It now appears that Romney may once again believe in the American system of justice and its ability to bring terrorists to justice while preserving American ideals of civil liberties.