What if it was their children?

It strikes me as odd that the US and the EU are supposedly all about being alongside justice and fighting what is “evil”, but when that injustice or that evil is done to someone other than themselves they let it slide, or even worse defend it.

Back in December, 6 Bulgarian nurses in Libya were found guilty for the second time for deliberately infecting 426 Libyan children with HIV.  And since the very first conviction the US and the EU have been calling for the release of those 6 nurses. The latest being today when President Bush states in a press conference in the Bulgarian capital, “We strongly support the release of the Bulgarian nurses in Libya- it’s a high priority of our country” and “They [nurses] should be released and they should be allowed to return to their families.”

But didn’t these nurses commit a crime? Isn’t infecting over 400 children with a fatal disease considered a crime and shouldn’t it be punishable? But why is it that the US and the EU are strongly calling for the release of 6 individuals who committed a crime?

This leaves me with a question: what if the tables were turned? What if the nurses where Libyan and the children Bulgarian, what would the US and the EU say then? Would they call for the release of the Libyan nurses, or would they call for their punishment? What if it was their children?