Lockerbie bomber release stirs diplomatic dispute

This is the most disgusting news I have seen in a long time.

So maybe the guy did it, maybe he didn't. What is clear is that Libya has lots and lots of something everyone in the west really needs: "black gold", "Texas tea"..... OIL. Cay you say OIL? Returning a "maybe terrorist" to get lots of OIL is a fair trade, evidently.

Ithink it is wonderfull how this shows the compassion of the British people. Them Americans want a poor dying man to suffer his last days inside, beyond belief!! I thought America was achristian nation? I were wrong, no compassion there.

think it is wonderfull how this shows the compassion of the British people. Them Americans want a poor dying man to suffer his last days inside, beyond belief!! I thought America was achristian nation? I were wrong, no compassion there.

How ridiculous of your statement. 189 Americans died in this plane crash. Why don't you ask the family of the victim of this crash and you used the word "compassion". Let him rot in hell.

sfjp330; A civuilised nation shows compassion not revenge. Seems the Americans have a lot to learn from our ethics. The conviction also w3as deemed unsafe by many including a documentay and an investigation by Private Eye magazine.

NeilWarnock - it's not revenge, it's justice. A civilised country has a judicial system where the punishment meets the crime. And the country spared his life, albeit he was sentenced to spend a bulk of it in prison, until now. So in retrospect, compassion was shown towards this man who was convicted of the deaths of 189 people when his sentence wasn't extended past a mere 27 years.

Actually what I suggested above half in jest - the guy for oil - may be true. CNN reports that Tony Blair mentioned the guy many times during trade negotiations. The British government says it is not so. I wonder who could be telling the truth.

Can you say OIL? Try it. It is not so difficult. OIL.

urufuls: I don't see as justice at all and you used the word "compassion?". In reality, this was nothing more than politics between Great Britian and Libya. They are looking for favorable trade policies for oil and other issues. Having this release provides Great Britian with positive image in Libya. Bad economy makes Great Britian desperate. Look at facts, very few are released on this type of crime and majority die in prison. If it happened in U.S., there will be no possiblity of parole.

America trying to impose itself on other democracies. Pull your head in USA.

sfjp330 - the justice is that Al-Megrahi was sentenced and put in jail. The compassion is that he wasn't put to death, which wouldn't happen in GB anyways because of the Murder Act of 1965.

I agree that there is no justice nor compassion in the release of this man, although I would like to do some research into the details leading up to his arrest and conviction.

if, as seems likely, the guy was convicted on thin evidence, and was put away because both the US and UK govt put pressure on the Scottish courts politically, then this release was long overdue...libya only admitted fault when pressured by the economic sanctions

NeilWarnock: A civuilised nation shows compassion not revenge.

Any chance you'll be saving some compassion for the families who lost loved ones? Seems like you hate them for being angry....yet love the convicted terrorist. Why do Europeans think this way? :)

SuperLib;The law states that if a prisoner has less than 3 months to live, then they can be released on compassionate grounds. The compassion for the deceased is irrelevant. Laws aremade to be kept and then Scots made the correct moral and legal decision.

American law does not apply to any parts of the UK. The dead were not killed by British, why are only American deaths so important to Americans?

When Libia took admitted that they were responcible they didn't say that our little bomber friend was innocent. They could have easily pointed out someone else but they didn't, they kept their mouthes shut and let their agent rot, and rot he should have.

@sfjp330

It was the decision of the Scottish Government to release him, not the British Government who had nothing to do with the decision (and who even got criticised by the Scots for refusing to enter into discussion over the matter).

Why do Americans think they have to right to interfere in other nations laws. The laws states terminally ill people with a short period to live can be released on compassionate grounds. It has nothing to do with loud mouth Hilary Clinton or any other American.

Justice has been served.The poor dear only has a short time to live. I hope the beastly American media leave him and his family alone and allow him to die with dignity.

sfjp330; A civuilised nation shows compassion not revenge. Seems the Americans have a lot to learn from our ethics." If you're a Brit, you have got to be kidding me with such a statement. Yous guys caused most of the world problems.

whether this guy did it or not, his own government help put him in jail. I would hve been happy if they would hve just launched a re-investigation.

@ ChrisBiggins

The Americans may not have a right to interfere, but they certainly have the right to voice their opinions about it. Which is all they have done in this instance.

Voicing threats is surely interfering. Opinions go ahead, threats back off.

Americans always interfere fair and square!

it's not revenge, it's justice. A civilised country has a judicial system where the punishment meets the crime. [...] So in retrospect, compassion was shown towards this man who was convicted of the deaths of 189 people

270 people were killed. You only count 189 people - the Americans. As usual. Where is your justice when the US shoots a civilian airliner out of the sky killing 290. Oh I forgot, they are not people, but mere "oriental human beings".

Bah.

Loads of inocent people were killed a long time ago, only one person became the scapegoat face of the attrocity, and the evidence that convicted him was shaky.....

I don't have a problem showing compassion that the terrorists don't even understand or posess.

To many people get hung up with revenge - knowing how to move on from any hopeless situation is far more intelligent if you ask me.

That said, Ghadafi is an ass for making this high-profile. It's not fa from a hero's welcome. He should have been whisked away to snuff it in private.

They guy is dying why make the British tax payer pay for his medical care when he can go home and receive none?

I am pretty sure he would have been more comfortable (medically speaking) in the UK than in Libya.

The thing that surprises me most is that the US gets on it's high horse about being a Christian country yet very rarely displays any Christian values when it comes to things like compassion. Double standards I say.

The thing that upset me the most was what a bore that minister was extending his 15 minutes of fame.

Just remember, if any of youz or your countrymen ever get caught by one of the US' "stupid" laws, don't expect your country to interfere. (Some of those "stupid" laws do extend beyond borders.) ;-)

Neil/Chris: Why do Americans think they have to right to interfere in other nations laws.

Please come to the next thread about gun control or health care in the US and stand firm on your position. :)

Those who are merciful to the cruel will be cruel to the merciful.

The "convicted" Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, says that he will prove his innocence in the 1988 bombing of the Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland that killed 270 people.

Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence agent, said that he has sufficient evidence that would exonerate him from any involvement in the bombing.

"If there is justice in (Britain) I would be acquitted or the verdict would be quashed because it was unsafe. There was a miscarriage of justice," said Megrahi.

I, for one, am prepared to hear that evidence. "Convicted" doesn't necessarily mean he did it. Nor does "believed to have done it." Take L.H. Oswald for example.... Surely we can apply science and let the evidence tell us what really happened over Lockerbie, and by whom it was done.

And, let's look at how the BBC reported the Lockerbie investigation, and its possible authors way back in 2000: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/777974.stm These folks are hardly given to fantastic conspiracy theories, are they? The Beeb? The MotherCorp herself?

Pan Am's own internal investigation is believed to have concluded that the Lockerbie bomb was targeted specifically to kill a small band of US Defence Intelligence Agency operatives (including Major Charles McKee) who had uncovered a drugs ring run by a CIA unit in Lebanon. According to Time Magazine, Charles McKee's mother suspects that it was a government action that indirectly led to her only son's death.

Beulah McKee is quoted as saying: "For three years, I've had a feeling that if Chuck hadn't been on that plane, it wouldn't have been bombed... I've never been satisfied at all by what the people in Washington told me."

In Beirut, McKee was a military attache assigned to the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

In his book, Lockerbie: The Tragedy of Flight 103, Scottish radio reporter David Johnston described how CIA agents helicoptered into Lockerbie shortly after the crash. They were looking for McKee's suitcase.

"Having found part of their quarry," Johnston wrote, "the CIA had no intention of following the exacting rules of evidence employed by the Scottish police. They took the suitcase and its contents into the chopper and flew with it to an unknown destination."

The drugs-ring is said to have been set up by Israeli Mossad agents.

Reportedly, the drugs ring involved 'CIA-asset' Monzer al-Kassar, a Syrian with links to the brother of Syria's President Assad.

Reportedly Monzer al-Kassar was involved with Lt-Colonel Oliver North, of Iran-Contra fame.

Victor Marchetti, former executive assistant to the CIA's deputy director, and co-author of The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence, said of the plot against PanAm 103: "The Mossad knew about it and didn't give proper warning."

Anyone who thinks that some (now prostate-cancered) geezer blew this plane up on a whim, of for Mo G. in Tripoli, needs to do more homework.

tigris - you are correct the article does state 270 people. My post was in reply to another poster where they mention 189 Americans. I misread and misinterpreted this.

What I don't think I misinterpret is you having a slight if not full out bias against the Americans? I did not mention anything in my post about Americans, just a number. What is the meaning to bring out racist comments such as "mere oriental human beings"? I believe you are pulling out meanings that do not exist in this discussion.

Back on topic, again, I would like to investigate the topics leading up to the conviction of this man.

urufuls

I wrote ...mere "oriental human beings" not "mere oriental human beings". Visually easy to overlook but big difference. I suggest that you google "oriental human beings" to learn where this phrase comes from. Don't forget to include the quotation marks. The origin of this phrase also explains my "slight if not full out bias" when Americans count non-American victims of terrorism and war - if they count them at all.

My posts are on topic. The underlining suggestion is that there wouldn't be such a big dispute or fuzz if all victims were non-Americans. History shows that there is no such thing as "justice for all" in the American psyche.

tigris - while I will not get into a battle regarding punctuation with you, I will say that what you suggest, (that there wouldn't be such a big dispute if all victims were non-Americans), does have some basis. But only because of this is a sweeping generalisation that only Americans get upset and demand justice when their fellow Americans are the victims of terrorism. Why would ****only Americans be upset? This is something that the American media hypes up, much to the chagrin of the rest of the world. Were the surviving families of other nationalities just merely non-plussed by this terrorist act? Your first comment to me suggests that I favour one nation over another in this context, which I do not.

Moderator: Back on topic please.