Lockerbie Bomber's Release Pouring Salt in Old Wounds

I've been covering politics for what, four years now at least. I had long held onto the belief that nothing surprised me. This week's story of the Scottish government's decision to release Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds I must admit had me a little taken back. For those who don't know, al-Megrahi, an ex-Libyan intelligence agent, was convicted in 1999 for being one of the conspirators in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 back in 1988. The plane exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie taking 270 lives including several on the ground. al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison but was released on the grounds of him having terminal prostate cancer. Upon his arrival in Libya, he was given a hero's welcome. US President Barack Obama and the UK government condemned, all be it mildly, the Scottish government for al-Megrahi's release. Most of the bombing victims were Americans. The release of the perpetrator of one of the most deadly terror attacks prior to 9/11 is to the victims' families like pouring salt into old woulds.

At first it puzzled me as to why the Scottish government would do such a thing. However, reading some of the comments posted on the BBC article provided some insight into the decision. One particular comment from a Marianne from Lichester UK caught my eye. She writes "All morons wanting this man to apologise..for what? He is innocent, the US knows it. They were afraid to go after Iran, knowing full well they did it, since they needed the oil, and remember Iraq was a friend at the time. The USA navy blew down an Iranian jetliiner [sic] with almost as many passengers by accident, and this was their payback, they basically had said so much, but no direct evidence was ever found even to this man!! Leave him be, he will be meeting his maker soon enough either way." This woman is obviously the typical "US committed 9/11 conspirator nutjob.

Scotty from Sydney, Australia provides some more "insight". "A tough, but ultimately right, decision.It takes a special type of character to rise above the political morass and cliche that is moral high ground. This shows Scottish character at its best - light where there is darkness, hope where there is none. A momentous act of national courage. Sure, this mass murder will never be forgotten or forgiven, but we did the right thing for humanity.
P.S. Nobody from the US even has the right to comment - your foreign policy is the cause of all of this."


I think I'm beginning to see a trend here. Before I make a final conclusion, I want to hear what a Mr. Dazzlingpuddock has to say. "I have never been prouder to be a Scot than I am today!! Vengeance has no place in a civilised society!! Well done Kenny for not bowing to pressure from the US!! The US will complain which means MacAskill has done the decent and just thing!! What good is keeping a dying man in prison going to do apart from cost taxpayers money!! The fact that Megrahi was probably innocent will now never be aired and the US and UK intelligence services are now breathing a huge sigh of relief!"

So I think I can draw some conclusions from these three comments. First of all, al-Megrahi's fans seem to have either atrocious spelling skills or a fetish for the exclamation point. While most people in the comments have expressed outrage at the decision to release this man, the ones who support him tell us why this decision to release him was made. Many people blame the United States for the bombing. American foreign policy is far from spotless and most certainly many deaths have resulted. What puzzles me is how can people express outrage at say the Mai Lai massacrer but not Lockerbie. Both involved the mass murder of innocent civilians. Yet because the bomber in this case is Muslim and the US has supposedly oppressed Muslims, that makes the latter ok in the eyes of many? This belief sets a bad precedent morally as any group can claim oppression to excuse itself from murdering civilians, something expressly condemned by the Geneva Conventions that outline the rules of war. The Americans were rightly blasted for Mai Lai during the Vietnam War. However, that same standard absolutely must be applied to other nations without exception. An attack such as Lockerbie does constitute an act of war and the Gadhafi was lucky his nation didn't become another Iraq in the process. One could argue that the US was indeed arming Libya's enemies but this still doesn't excuse the country of committing an unprovoked attack. The country had also been closely allied with the Soviet Union during the 1980s and had been assisting Palestinian terror groups. Libya is not exactly known for respecting the lives of civilians, even their own.

The second part of the story is whether Megrahi was guilty to begin with. Many, including former Israeli prime minister Sharon, have argued that it was actually a Palestinian terror group working for the Iranian government that committed the bombing and that Megrahi was wrongfully convicted. Without knowing the details of the trial, I cannot really comment on how sturdy the case was. It can be assumed he was convicted beyond reasonable doubt. If there was such doubt that did exist, international organizations such as the UN should have been advocating further investigation into the case. It is far easier to get someone off a serious crime than it is to convict them due to the higher burden of proof. The conspiracy theorists will of course argue that the trial was tampered with by the US. It is a distinct possibility but then again if the international community knew this, there should have been more scrutiny. However, there was little to none. This leaves us to conclude that Megrahi was involved in the bombing. Therefore, the Scottish government has released a convicted mass murder eight years into his sentence so he can go back to Libya and become a national hero before he dies. As the Toronto Sun put it, how would the victims families of Paul Bernardo feel is he were released on compassionate grounds? What about other notable mass murders such as Herman Goering or Rudolf Hess, tried at Nuremburg. Would people today come to their aid today? Some have even begun to theorize that Libya has brokered a deal with the Scottish parliament for Megrahi's release. I'm not a big fan of conspiracy theories but it certainly seems that things do not add up in this case. No other criminal of that calibre would receive that sort of treatment. Either that or it is political correctness run amok. Regardless, the Scottish Parliament has made a colossal mistake releasing this man and rightly deserves to be internationally shamed.

Source: BBC News, BBC News Reader Comments

Edited Aug 23: Fixed some spelling issues and added sources.