You Suck, Scotland

Hey Scotland, you suck.

Scotland freed the terminally ill Lockerbie bomber on compassionate grounds Thursday, letting the Libyan go home to die despite American pleas to show no mercy for the man responsible for the 1988 attack that killed 270 people.

The White House declared it "deeply" regretted the Scottish decision as Abdel Baset al-Megrahi left prison and flew to Libya on an Airbus dispatched to Glasgow Airport.

{...}Al-Megrahi, who had served only eight years of his life sentence, was recently given only months to live after being diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer.

Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said although al-Megrahi had not shown compassion to his victims — many of whom were American college students flying home to New York for Christmas — MacAskill was motivated by Scottish values to show mercy.

"Some hurts can never heal, some scars can never fade," MacAskill said. "Those who have been bereaved cannot be expected to forget, let alone forgive ... However, Mr. al-Megrahi now faces a sentence imposed by a higher power."

Al-Megrahi, now 57, was convicted in 2001 of taking part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on Dec. 21, 1988. He was sentenced to life in prison. The airliner exploded over Scotland and all 259 people aboard and 11 on the ground died when it crashed into the town of Lockerbie.

The former Libyan intelligence officer was sentenced to serve a minimum of 27 years in a Scottish prison for Britain's deadliest terrorist attack. But a 2007 review of his case found grounds for an appeal of his conviction, and many in Britain believe he is innocent.{...}

Yeah, yeah, yeah.  It was all about showing Scotland's true commitment to "compassion." Compassion was shown to a man who had been found guilty by a court of law of murdering 270 people.  Or could this decision be more about sticking it to the US ---just because they can?

{...}Alex Salmond, the Scottish Nationalist leader, spies a great opportunity. To be able to defy the demands of the world’s only superpower — what better exhibition could there be of Scotland’s independent standing as a nation? The letter that Mr Salmond has received on this topic, from some high-ranking American senators, including Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, serves his purpose perfectly. So do the strongly disapproving statements from the former presidential candidate John McCain and Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State, who said that releasing al-Megrahi would be “absolutely wrong”. In everything he says and does Mr Salmond is relishing the fact that this is a decision for Scotland.{...}

While it would seem as if the Scottish Nationalists are relishing the opportunity to prove their independence by thumbing their noses at the US, the US itself, under the leadership of the Obama administration, hasn't done too much to honor those who died on Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988. 

{...}The uncharacteristically undiplomatic language deployed by Mrs Clinton also smacked of saying the right thing at full volume in the knowledge that the decision had already been taken. The Secretary of State could not conceivably have said anything else. Of the 270 people killed on PanAm Flight 103 twenty years ago, 189 were American. There is no questioning the guilt of al-Megrahi in America. But surely a serious attempt at diplomatic persuasion would have gone through private channels? If any such process were in train, these proclamations would surely scupper it. The Americans are saying the right thing but is this the best way of actually getting it?{...}

NO BLOOD FOR OIL! 

Ghaddafi played this one well.  He's gotten exactly what he wanted, and he's used the Lockerbie bombing as his bargaining chip. Sure, he had to give up a two billion dollars to the families, but that's about all he's given up, and the release of those monies was wholly dependent upon things only the US government could do/lobby for, like the end of UN sanctions. In that respect, he was very much directing US foreign policy to suit his wants.  Sure, he had to hand over Al-Megrahi for trial and sentencing, but the man only spent eight years in prison.  Yes, he has terminal prostate cancer, but he gets to go home and spend his final days and weeks with his loved ones, rather than rotting in a prison infirmary, where he belonged. Of course, Ghaddafi also had to end his dubious and secret nuclear program, but that was an incredibly small price to pay to let the western oil companies come in and make him even richer than he already is.  Nevermind that he's gotten away with retaliating for the bombing of one of his houses by the US, which was the supposed motivation for the Lockerbie bombing.   He's come out of this whole deal smelling like a rose.

I was a senior in high school when Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed and crash landed in Lockerbie, Scotland, killing eleven people who lived in that small town.  Religion classes were part of the program at my high school, and we prayed, and offered up intentions, at the beginning of every such class.  A few days after the bombing, a classmate asked for prayers for a girl who had graduated from our high school a few years earlier and who had gone to the east coast for college was on a study-abroad trip, and had been scheduled to fly home on flight 103.  Instead of using her ticket, she had arranged for her place on the flight to be taken by a friend so the friend could get home in time for her family's Christmas celebrations, which were taking place earlier than the holiday because of some scheduling conflict. Her friend, of course, died in the bombing, and the poor girl was wracked with survivor's guilt. Because of her act of kindness, a friend had died.  Good intentions, sometimes, truly do pave the road to hell. I didn't know this girl, and I can't for the life of me remember her name, but the story stuck with me, and every time I've heard about the Lockerbie bombing over the years, I've wondered about her, and if she ever got over the guilt of living when, had she followed her plans, she would have died. I can only imagine how she's feeling today.

Kenny MacAskill and Alex Salmond should rot in hell for what they've done today. The Obama Administration, and Hillary Clinton in particular, should realize that they've done precisely what they accused the most recent Bush administration of doing: handing over lives for the sake of keeping the oil flowing.  What a flaming pack of hypocrites.  Justice hasn't been served.  Not one one little bit.

And Ghaddafi is laughing all the way to the bank.