The Arena

Insights from the Express-News Editorial Board.

Gadhafi’s fatal vision


In 1979,  Army officer and physician Jeffrey MacDonald stood trial for the brutal slayings of his pregnant wife and two daughters. The case was sensationalized in the Joe McGinniss book “Fatal Vision” and a movie based upon it.

MacDonald maintained that the murders were committed by a drugged out group of Manson Family-like hippies who were never found.  He claimed that as he tried to fight off the intruders, he heard his wife cry out, “Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, why are they doing this to me?”

Prosecutors had plenty of physical evidence incriminating MacDonald in the case.  But a key point in the trial came when prosecutor James Blackburn told the jury:

You know the words, “Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, why are they doing this to me?” Think how close that is to, “Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, why are you doing this to me?”

MacDonald is still serving his sentence in a federal prison.

Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi says those rebelling against him are “loyal to bin Laden” and that militants are putting “hallucinogenic pills in their coffee with milk, like Nescafe.”  In an interview with ABC’s Christiane Amanpour, he says, “They love me. All my people with me, they love me, all,” he said. “They would die to protect me, my people.”

Admittedly, Gadhafi’s English is difficult to understand.  But think how close “They would die to protect me” is to “They will die to protect me.”  Even ABC interprets him as saying the latter.

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Jonathan Gurwitz

Jonathan Gurwitz

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