So no sleuth has put any other evidence together? Where does it lead? Cui Bono? Ask that first.

The one thing that doesn’t just “seem” but is certain is that Megrahi was convicted and nobody else was charged.

Even if he really did to it, why are people so outraged at showing him a little humanity? Aren’t we supposed to be better than the terrorists? So shouldn’t we have more compassion than them?

Listening to this story on CBC Radio, in which they interviewed an American mother of a victim and a British mother of a victim, I was appalled at the AMERICAN’s responses: hateful, vengeful, and full of venom. In a nice way. But she was totally convinced this guy was guilty and furious that he was being let go.

In contrast, the British woman was polite and firm in her assertions that there is a group of Brits that are quite convinced he is not guilty, and this same group has been pushing for a long time for a thorough inquiry, which the authorities have denied. Guess that good old American “Frontier Justice” is just baked in.

Robert Baer also supports the Iran theory in his See No Evil.

I’ve also been shocked at how the MSM over here has not once, to my knowledge, raised the specter of his innocence.

Perhaps we just aren’t interested in looking too closely at how we treat “the guilty.” Especially if they are “feriners.”

The Iranians’ likely motivation in bombing a Western airliner stemmed from the shooting down of an Iranian airliner a few months earlier by the USS Vincennes in the Persian Gulf.

Counterspin, the weekly radio program of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), had a segment last week covering this ground, by way of an interview with author and media critic Edward Herman. Worth a listen; the mp3 can be downloaded here.

The one thing that does seem certain is that whoever did do it wasn’t Megrahi.

“Certain,” you say?

Well, I’d have to say that is quite a reach.

Robert Fisk has written about this topic for years, most recently:

http://www.independent.co.uk/o…..75813.html

I agree w/your comment and go 1 step further…The USA entered a full
fledge war in Iraq for OIL and killed a whole lot more innocent people
than the terrorist from Libya!! Talk about hypocricy!! We have nary a
thing to add to this dumb story!!We are the hypocrits, we kill, we go to
war needlessly and in the case of Iraq…FOR OIL…what say you?

Thanks for publishing this.

But I still cannot believe that this is even news. It was perfectly obvious at the time that Libya in general and this guy in particular were NOT responsible for the bombing. Iran and Syria were much more likely, given Reagan-era shenanigans in Lebanon and that administration’s barely disguised support for Iraq.

Despite the Iranian-sponsored 1983 bombing of a US Marine barracks in Lebanon and the continued taking of US hostages in Lebanon, the Reagan administration was frantically trying to appease Iran. They wanted the Iranians to keep quiet about any as-yet unrevealed details that the latter knew of the Iran/Contra arms scandal and they wanted to find out what the Iranians had learned from the torture of hostage CIA officer William Buckley, who was, in fact, already dead.

This is what wingnut Republican concerns for security come down to: hiding THEIR secrets. Anything goes in these cases, from treasonous dealings with an enemy state to letting the murderers of Americans go unnamed to blaming murders on third parties that have been targeted for the next Republican designer war (which thankfully did not quite come off, though we were closer to losing an aircraft carrier than many people think).

If it wasn’t a Libyan, what was all that horsetrading with Qaddafi about then?

Perhaps the reputation of western intelligence and law enforcement agencies benefited from the conviction of someone from Libya, a pariah among western nations. Failure to convict someone would make these agencies and their governments appear less competent. Conviction of someone from another nation might present diplomatic problems. This is not an accusation, but an exploration of possible answers to Cui Bono. Surely none of these agencies or their governments would mislead us?

It was perfectly obvious at the time that Libya in general and this guy in particular were NOT responsible for the bombing.

“Perfectly obvious,” you say?

Hmmmm.

Even if he really did to it…

He extinguished the lives of 270 people.

Aren’t we supposed to be better than the terrorists? So shouldn’t we have more compassion than them?

His punishment, life, food, shelter, but containment so he doesn’t repeat the job.

Moral equivalence?

I can understand the reluctance of the media to delve to deeply because, IIANM, the Lockerbie bombing provided the occasion for Saint Ronnie to order a retaliatory bombing on Muammar Quaddafi himself, which resulted in the death of one of Quaddafi’s children.

I say, do you know how little oil we get from Iraq?

I don’t think one person could do this alone so not all those involved have been caught yet.

If the man was guilty I don’t think he should have been released because he was dying. Long sentences mean people will end up dying in jail and that is why they are so long.

On the other hand the Lybians should have been more “gracious” in their reaction to this demonstration of compassion.

Why has most the criticism of the Megrahi release been directed at Libya rather than the Scots? Isn’t the job of the Libyan government doing things to help its citizens, particularly in cases like this where that citizen may have been unfairly convicted?

Why has most the criticism of the Megrahi release been directed at Libya rather than the Scots?

I wonder how you got that impression. The Scots have received a great deal of criticism — both internally and externally — and so has British PM Gordon Brown.

the Lybians should have been more “gracious” in their reaction to this demonstration of compassion.

They should express themselves and do things the way we say they should, right?

No but it seems to celebrate the way they did was like jumping on the graves of those who died in the downing of the plane.

The government should have simple made a statement that they were grateful for the compassion of the Scottish justice system and skipped the fanfare. Show some class eh?

Your perception may be different than theirs. Class. By whose definition?

They should express themselves and do things the way we say they should, right?

That’s really funny, coming as it does from one of this blog’s most . . . shall we say, intense advocates of how other people should behave.

Reagan’s attack that killed Quadaffi’s 4 year old daughter was actually before Lockerbie. It was a response to German nightclub bombing that killed US serviceman.

Come on, the only physical evidence in the case is linked to the Libyan. Anything else is pure speculation. And I give little credence to Andrew Solomon’s theories which are bereft of any physical evidence.

Hey, they didn’t cut off any “feriners” heads, so maybe they were showing some of their class.

By my definition by world community standards. What would the Spanish or the French or the Chileans do?

Here’s a discussion of this issue from Gwynne Dyer, a generally reliable Canadian journalist.

http://www.straight.com/articl…..as-so-weak

Thanks for the correction. That explains how the Libyan connection gained credibility in the US.

I don’t know what the Spanish, French or Chileans would do. World community standards?

SD please … the release was meant a gesture of compassion for a man who was dying who was convicted of mass murder. How doesn’t one receive him without making it into an event which angers and insults other people. To show grace would be world class. This was not well done.

There are no world community standards, that’s why the UN has so much trouble just getting people to pay attention to them.

As for Megrahi himself, I let God do the judging. If he did it, then it will be on his soul- and if he didn’t, then he is free. Either way, everyone gets what they deserve- and that’s all I care about.

Besides, given the above story, it’s quite likely he didn’t do it at all. Take note, my gentle people- whenever a government says the evidence is “thin”, they mean “non-existent”. I’m a law student, and I can tell you now- cases are won on the preponderance and existence of a lot of evidence, not “thin” evidence.

Not well done by your standards. For all I know this guy might be a hero to them. Not having been there I have to assume they were there of their own volition. I doubt the Libyans give a rat’s ass what you, I or any other Westerner thinks about it.

SD

Public opinion in the west means something to them, one would hope. We’re supposed to respect other nations not trample on their values and sensibilities.

I doubt every person in that crowd was a government functionary. To the “average citizen” of Libya I would imagine they pay as much attention to public opinion in the West as the “average citizen” here does to public opinion in Libya. I don’t recall any official statement from the Libyan government apologizing for the demonstration on the tarmac. If anything the “average citizen” in Libya may well see us as imperialistic infidel warmongers. How wrong would they be?

I remember reading during the trial (and before) that the Iranian govt was ultimately behind the bombing. It was a revenge attack for the Iranian civillian airbus that was shot down by a U.S navy warship in the Persian gulf in the late 80’s.All the pasengers aboard that aircraft died as well. There was an attempt to assasinate the commander of that ship (who was never given anything but praise, and probably a medal by the reagan regime), with a bomb under his car near his home in California.The govt claimed those responsible were “Syrian” agents, at a time of conflict between Isreal and Syria over the west bank and the Golan hts.So it seems that back then (kinda like now), it was pin the tail on the “terraist”. I dont know if this guy is innocent, if he IS guilty, he is guilty of being a Libyan agent, who was given orders and a mission by his superiors and carried them out, kind of like any American CIA agent would do.

SD,
I lived in Libya from 1978-81. I still have copies of Quadaffi press releases call Caspar Weinberger the “US Minister for War” Hardly inappropriate eh?

My years included the Hostage Crises where Libyans blew up a Us Embassy car thankfully with no one in it.

That had to be an experience to remember. Out of curiosity, what did they think of us 30 years ago, the “man on the street?”

I made several Libyan friends. It was amazing to me how a group of tribal people one generation from camels could distinguish between the American Government and me, an American educator there to help them.

“America Government is Mish Quase(Not good), but you my American friend ok”

Much more enlightened than our fearful citizens scared of anyone who is different.

What is justice in such situations? I think that is a central issue folks need to grapple with. My conclusion is that there is none. Nothing will bring the victims back; there is no “remedy making things whole,” to use the legalese. There is no compensation for the relatives that makes things right, though it might ease their situation. Now, if I could put a bullet through the head of the man who killed my wife five years ago, erase her death, erase the five years of being a single parent to young children, I would be sorely tempted to do so. But, that is make-believe, and should be treated as such. He will probably go to trial in January.

Anyone know what the research literature says on whether the families of murder victims get closure when the convicted is executed? I only know two, and neither indicated the execution helped in resolution.

Seems that punitiveness and vindictiveness rather than compassion and forgiveness have overtaken American society, and for that, we are less.

Do I believe the man who killed my wife should pay a penalty? Of course. Without penalties, there is license for any act of harm; even primitive societies have sanctions for acts against its members. Does that necessary mean justice has been achieved? I don’t think so.

And that is the conundrum the families of murder/terrorist victims must come to reconcile themselves with. There is no justice; but that does not mean one cannot grieve and move forward–not move on, but move forward. No, there is not closure, but one can move forward.

DM

The rather scurrilous, but highly entertaining, English magazine “Private Eye” has long argued for his innocence.

As far as the Libyans are concerned, they believe that the man was innocent. In that situation you would expect celebration upon return, and how heroic it is perceived has more to do with their relations to the “West” than with any notion of supporting terrorism. This point seems to be missed entirely by the media that may be forgiven (because we don’t expect much) to be gullible about the purported justice to convict the man in the first place.

I think the worst aspect of the political stunt that was the conviction of the sacrificial Libyan intelligence agent, is the continued insistence of justice and truth, now topped off by a show of how humane the system is.

Libya bombing: 15 Apr 1986
PanAm 103 bombing: 21 Dec 1988

So, how was the bombing of Libya retaliation for the bombing of flight 103, again? The way I heard the story it was the other way ’round.

One word……… Oil…… The compromising of all we hold important for the black gold. As slaves where exploited for their uncompensated labor to line pockets of corporations, those who died in a terrorist attack will little accountability, their lives and memories are now desecrated by the actions of politicians inured for the benefit of BP. A disgusting manifestation of situation ethics by political and corporate scum. Those responsible for this release, die and rot in hell. Rest in peace Nicole Belangei, a victim, again!