Lockerbie bomber released
Posted by: Bruce Woodhouse on 21 August 2009
Something tells me I know how the forum will split on this issue but I have been kicking it around for some time.
Ultimately I feel that by releasing Megrahi (sp?) for the last months of his life the authorities have shown compassion and humanity. This is in dramatic counterpoint to that shown by him and his consorts and as such has even greater power. The message is simple, we are not mean and bitter, we still abhorr the crime, we mourn the victims but we have retained the ability to show compassion to even a mass-murderer. I think that is a noble message.
No custodial sentence can ever be 'proportionate' to such a crime, attempting to measure wether he has been punished 'enough' is facile.
His release is not a pardon, just a gesture that might resonate with those who would commit acts of violence against us (accepting the US was the real target of the act). In the USA he would probably have been given the death penalty, if not his early release now would clearly not have been contemplated.
I think the Scottish decision is the braver, and perhaps one that makes further terrorist attacks a fraction less likely rather than more. That has to be good.
A good friend of mine died at Lockerbie.
Bruce
Ultimately I feel that by releasing Megrahi (sp?) for the last months of his life the authorities have shown compassion and humanity. This is in dramatic counterpoint to that shown by him and his consorts and as such has even greater power. The message is simple, we are not mean and bitter, we still abhorr the crime, we mourn the victims but we have retained the ability to show compassion to even a mass-murderer. I think that is a noble message.
No custodial sentence can ever be 'proportionate' to such a crime, attempting to measure wether he has been punished 'enough' is facile.
His release is not a pardon, just a gesture that might resonate with those who would commit acts of violence against us (accepting the US was the real target of the act). In the USA he would probably have been given the death penalty, if not his early release now would clearly not have been contemplated.
I think the Scottish decision is the braver, and perhaps one that makes further terrorist attacks a fraction less likely rather than more. That has to be good.
A good friend of mine died at Lockerbie.
Bruce
This article from the FT has been on my fridge for a few years. It got absolutely no coverage here in the US.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mbenus/3868047934/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mbenus/3868047934/
quote:The balance of probability is that he is not guilty.
