Lockerbie bomber freed

[Dr. Rosenpenis]

The Lockerbie bomber has left Scotland on board a plane bound for Libya after being freed from prison on compassionate grounds. Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, 57, was jailed in 2001 for the atrocity which claimed 270 lives in 1988.
The decision to release Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, was made by the Scottish Government.
The White House said it "deeply regretted" the decision and some of the US victims' families reacted angrily.

FULL ARTICLE (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/south_of_scotland/8197370.stm)

Kudos to the Scottish government. What justice is there in forcing this man to die in a Scottish prison? Kudos to the Scots for not bending to Washington's barbaric medieval "war on terror" foreign policies.

[khad]

It could be that the man's entire case was a frame-up. Witnesses were paid upwards of a million dollars to testify against him, and there is evidence to suggest that Libya wasn't even involved.

[Demogorgon]

I am impressed that MacAskill resisted American pressure, though then again the SNP have never been the most pro-American party to say the least.

He is almost certainly innocent anyway and that will have played a big part in the decision. Very few people in Scotland, including the victim's relatives, believe him to have been involved and there has been huge pressure for him to be released for some time now.

[chegitz guevara]

I've never believed the evidence against him. A t-shirt that was purchased in Malta? Come on. I've always thought the Iran theory more plausible.

[Redmau5]

It could be that the man's entire case was a frame-up. Witnesses were paid upwards of a million dollars to testify against him, and there is evidence to suggest that Libya wasn't even involved.

Have you got some sources? I'd be very interested in reading up on that.

[JohannGE]

While is it tempting to see this as plucky old Scotland standing up and resisting US pressure, I believe the reason has more to do with oiling the wheels of the massive western investments, and the resulting massive profits, to be made in Libya's oilfields.

Foot stomping of US senators and others being a sop to US public opinion.

[Wakizashi the Bolshevik]

I don't know the case, but I'm sure the attack wasn't ordered by Libya.

[pastradamus]

I dont know much about the circumstances of the case but fuck it. The guy is going to die anyway let he see the outside world for the last few seconds of his life. On the Framing ordeal, The Guilford 4, the Birmingham 6 anyone? Scotland Yard was extremely involved in frame ups at the time.

[Guerrilla22]

He has terminal cancer so it won't be as though he'll be living it up with his new found freedom in Libya anyways. He likely won't be alive for much longer.

[ls]

The spokesperson for the families believes he didn't do it, yet there are a lot of mainly American people who seem to want someone "to fry" for this, funnier still, the US/UK governments want that too.

All the facts point to this: he didn't do it and was used as a figurehead to vent national anger at.

[RedAnarchist]

The spokesperson for the families believes he didn't do it, yet there are a lot of mainly American people who seem to want someone "to fry" for this, funnier still, the US/UK governments want that too.

All the facts point to this: he didn't do it and was used as a figurehead to vent national anger at.

A lot of people think that once someone is convicted, that it means for sure that they did it, no matter what, and if that person even considers an appeal, they're horrified, even if the evidence against the convicted person is shaky.

[revolution inaction]

A lot of people think that once someone is convicted, that it means for sure that they did it, no matter what, and if that person even considers an appeal, they're horrified, even if the evidence against the convicted person is shaky.

quite a lot of people think just an accusation = guilt

[Pogue]

birmingham six, guildford 4 indeed.

[rednordman]

A lot of people think that once someone is convicted, that it means for sure that they did it, no matter what, and if that person even considers an appeal, they're horrified, even if the evidence against the convicted person is shaky.This is something that really pisses me off. People preach about justice(innocent until proven guilty), then contradict themselves in the worst way possible.

Infact, i can swear that I have seem court cases in the media, where the accused was proven totally innocent, yet the victims familily where so absolutly gutted that the accused in question had got away with it, despite getting the evidence first hand. I can understand that it must be very hard to know that the search for the real culprite has to start again, but at the same time they have to be reasonable aswell.

Incidently, I didnt realise that some of the witnesses got paid money to testify?

[JohannGE]

This is something that really pisses me off. People preach about justice(innocent until proven guilty), then contradict themselves in the worst way possible.

The contradictions of Guantanamo, torture and "extrodinary rendition" spring to mind.

[RebelDog]

The majority of people in here in Scotland do not believe Megrahi was responsible for the Lockerbie atrocity and many of the victims families feel the same. It is very likely Megrahi was a scapegoat and at the least it was a very dodgey conviction. I hope he can find some comfort in dying with his family around him. The real culprits will never be found.

[Rakhmetov]

Pure media lies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From William Blum's website:

http://killinghope.org/bblum6/panam.htm

[Stranger Than Paradise]

Yes, I know little about the situation but just reading about the case the other day made me feel skeptical.

[pastradamus]

Its reassuring to hear good people like yourselves criticize this. Britain was, at that time and still is, Involved in creating a system of scapegoats. These scapegoats serve the function of preventing bad Security PR. I mean if the UK government at that time had no suspects to pin this on there would be public outrage and they would look like failures. Failure's who could be put out of office in the next election that is.

[*Red*Alert]

First of all there have always been questions about his involvement, with most believing he was simply an obvious scapegoat due to his position in Libyan intelligence services. However, for some reason in 2003, Libya admitted responsibility for the bombing through the "actions of its officials". With the motive allegedly being the sinking of 4 Libyan ships and shooting down of two fighter jets during the Gulf of Sidra incident in 1981. So American interference had a significant part to play, but sadly there were alot of other nationalities on board other than the 169 Americans.


Either way, the man is only estimated to live another three months and there is little point in keeping him locked away, at incredible cost to taxpayers, in a jail,

[und]

If anyone was watching BBC News on Friday, they would have come across mentions of "mass crowds" and Megrahi "coming home to a heroes welcome". The "mass crowds" were in fact about 50 people, but the camera was positioned in such a way that it seemed like there were more people. I know some photojournalists so understand that this is an old trick used for propaganda. About the "heroes welcome", not a single high rank political figure even made a statement about the man's arrival. Anyone with half a brain can see past this theatrical show, but the sad thing is that the BBC does it so well, they can trick tens of millions of people. The current state of mass media is a joke.

[Red Scare]

I can't really say I have an opinion on the case, since I haven't really looked into that much.

[Dr. Rosenpenis]

thanks for chiming in, then

[Magdalen]

If anyone was watching BBC News on Friday, they would have come across mentions of "mass crowds" and Megrahi "coming home to a heroes welcome". The "mass crowds" were in fact about 50 people, but the camera was positioned in such a way that it seemed like there were more people. I know some photojournalists so understand that this is an old trick used for propaganda. About the "heroes welcome", not a single high rank political figure even made a statement about the man's arrival. Anyone with half a brain can see past this theatrical show, but the sad thing is that the BBC does it so well, they can trick tens of millions of people. The current state of mass media is a joke.

As a caller said on the George Galloway show last night, 'Ye ken George, eh had more o' a crowd at ma fiftieth birthday like'.

[Sam_b]

First of all, this is absolutely ridiculous and a deliberate way of maintaining the scapegoat and bypassing justice, whilst all the time the SNP can preach on in a Paisley-like manner about being humanitarian. When Kenny McAskill says that you will die in prison unless you drop your appeal (which it should be his right to have) and you have five children and a 90 year-old mother that you have not seen in ten years, what are you going to do? Its an absolutely cynical ploy by the SNP, and a way of avoiding a public enquiry into the bombing. Indeed, there is a guy sittin gin a Swedish jail right now who admits to the bombing! Have any enquiries or investigations been taken into this? Of course not! It would be a waste of money of the $3million given by the US to the leading witness, and the chief prosecutors who now have lucrative judge positions.

This also has a wider effect on SNP strategy which is interesting, to say the least. I think the political implications of the party standing up and thus distancing itself from US capital is huge. It should be noted that the SNP are preapred to do this now, evidently much so over British capital which it relies on and keeps it in its current position as the administration of Scotland. This is why they are preapred to stand up to America but not to the British Parliament over the independence debate, for example: because it is not in their current interest.

In a few years from now if the SNP keeps itself in power and makes gains over independence and suchlike, these bold moves will wither away, as it will be its turn to attract capital to Scotland rather than having to be on a receiving end of it. The recipient thus becomes a larger co-conspirator in neoliberalism.

[political_animal]

When Kenny McAskill says that you will die in prison unless you drop your appeal (which it should be his right to have) and you have five children and a 90 year-old mother that you have not seen in ten years, what are you going to do? Its an absolutely cynical ploy by the SNP, and a way of avoiding a public enquiry into the bombing.

Hmm, except the question of his guilt or otherwise was completely separate to the issue of 'compassionate release' and his release was NOT dependent on him dropping his appeal. Indeed, HIS side, decided unilaterally to drop the appeal.

The real issue at play here isn't about whether or not he did the bombing (there is plenty of evidence floating around that he may be innocent, but as it stands, he is currently guilty of the crime) but whether or not a release on 'compassionate' grounds is legitimate.

It seems that some of the US families are making a lot out of this and the reasons I see for this are twofold 1) there is no such thing as 'compassionate release' in the US system and 2) the US seems to have a far different view about what jail is for than the UK.

For me, the issue is completely clear. It was right to release him on compassionate grounds. It is irrelevent that he showed 'no compassion' for the victims, what matters is that we - as a society - don't descend to the level of plane bombers and terrorists (in the loosest sense of the word). By extricating ourselves from the emotions involved and by showing that we will hold higher morals and belief in a just world, we are better as people.

If we hold out for revenge, or have a belief in punishing anyone whilst providing no outlet for remorse, we merely brutalise and institutionalise those we 'lock up and throw away the key'.

It may be galling to see a convicted mass murderer receive a heroes welcome, but the point is, that we have shown compassion for someone who lacked compassion for us. In the long term, it may reap rewards in that we may affect the next generation of would-be terrorists in a positive way.

The way the Scottish government has acted over this case is very much different to the way the UK, US and the rest of the world has acted in their dealings with 'terrorism' in Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere else they perceive it to exist, where - through our actions and lack of compassion - we are breeding the next generation of terrorists, suicide and plane bombers.

Kenny McAskill has shown the way forward. Now we need the rest of our foreign policies to follow suit. The US recation is disappointing but predictable, but quite what it has to do with the director of the FBI, is anyone's guess.

[Devrim]

The romours going around Beruit were that it had been commisoned by the Syrians and carried out by one of the Palestinian groups. I don't know how acurate they were. There are a lot of conspircay theories and plots discussed in the Middle East. They are not always wrong though.

Devrim

[YKTMX]

A good decision. The reaction of British ministers in particular has been disgusting. They're just trying to whip up opposition to the very popular social democratic nationalist government here in Scotland.

Mandelson is a scum bag.

[Sam_b]

It may be galling to see a convicted mass murderer receive a heroes welcome, but the point is, that we have shown compassion for someone who lacked compassion for us. In the long term, it may reap rewards in that we may affect the next generation of would-be terrorists in a positive way.


Except that, he didn't do it and it was nothing more than scapegoating.

[political_animal]

Except that, he didn't do it and it was nothing more than scapegoating.

Well, if you're only going to selectively quote...

As it stands, any theory of scapegoating is mere conjecture. Whether you like it or not, he is a convicted mass murderer.

[ls]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/megrahi-web-dossier-will-prove-innocence-1790031.html : megrahimystory.net (http://megrahimystory.net)

[Stranger Than Paradise]

Well, if you're only going to selectively quote...

As it stands, any theory of scapegoating is mere conjecture. Whether you like it or not, he is a convicted mass murderer.

Are you forgetting who his accusers are?

[political_animal]

Are you forgetting who his accusers are?

Not at all and I have no intention of getting involved in conspiracy theories real or imagined. The fact of the matter is that he IS a convicted mass murderer, in that he had a trial and was found guilty of the crime with which he was charged. Whether he did it or not is an entirely separate matter and not something which I alluded to.