Abdel Baset al-Megrahi is the notorious Libyan who was convicted in 2001 of taking part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988. The explosion occurred over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people, two-thirds of them American. Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison.
Nevertheless, Scottish authorities released him on compassionate grounds last Thursday – after determining that he was suffering terminal prostate cancer and had less than three months to live.
But this merely incited outrage in America. In fact, members of the preternaturally diplomatic Obama administration damned Megrahi’s release as a mockery of justice; no doubt, in part, because of reports that it was linked to oil and gas deals with Libya:
I have made it a practice not to comment on the actions of other prosecutors. Your decision to release Megrahi causes me to abandon that practice in this case. I do so because I am familiar with the facts, and the law… And I do so because I am outraged at your decision, blithely defended on the grounds of ‘compassion.’
Your action [gives] comfort to terrorists around the world [and] makes a mockery of the grief of the families who lost their own on December 21, 1988… Where, I ask, is the justice?
(FBI Director Robert Muller in a letter to Scotland’s Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill)
Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi then added insult to the Americans’ outrage by defying President Obama’s very public plea not to give Megrahi a hero’s welcome upon his return home.
In fact, he was greeted at the airport by thousands – most notable amongst them Gaddafi’s heir apparent – hailing Megrahi like a conquering hero. Some of them even waved the Scottish flag as if to suggest that their defiance reflected a new Scottish-Libyan alliance.
But here’s why I say a plague on both their houses:
On the one hand, it is utterly incomprehensible and unsustainable for Scottish authorities to maintain that a man they convicted of killing 270 people was deserving of compassionate release regardless of the inherent insult not only to the memory of his victims but also to the lingering grief of their families.
Indeed, notwithstanding his alleged illness, Megrahi’s release is such an affront to common sense that I’m inclined to believe that the Scots released Megrahi for the same reason many believe the Americans invaded Iraq: oil.
(It only fueled speculation about a quid pro quo when Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi praised British PM Gordon Brown, himself a Scotsman, as a “courageous friend” for facilitating this release.)
While on the other hand, it reflects the oxymoronic mixture of hubris and naiveté that afflicts all American presidents (and far too many American citizens) that Obama felt he could dictate how the Libyans should welcome Megrahi home. Especially since he knows full well that most Libyans believe Megrahi was scapegoated for a terrorist attack that was probably orchestrated by the Iranians….
But, barring incontrovertible evidence that he was wrongly convicted, I would have been quite happy to see Megrahi rot in jail. After all, if not him for this crime, then who for what crime…?
I am sensible enough to appreciate, however, that incurring the moral wrath of the Americans for releasing him was a small price to pay for sweetheart oil deals with Libya. And I hope reports about those deals are true….
I just wish Scottish authorities did not insult our intelligence by citing compassion as their justification for releasing this mass murderer; especially since they have refused to show similar compassion for many other convicts who are (or were) relatively more worthy.
Meanwhile, despite the Americans’ indignant rhetoric and feelings of betrayal, this episode will have no impact on the “special relationship” between the US and the UK. (There will be lots of hysterical reporting though about mostly feckless attempts to boycott British goods.) Nor will it put the thawing relationship between the US and Libya back on ice: Obama’s all about courting insufferable rogues like Gaddafi, remember…?
Also, don’t be surprised if Megrahi lives well beyond the three months he purportedly has to live … all praise be to Allah!
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