The Time To Complain and Investigate Was Before Lockerbie Bomber Was Released

It's a little late to investigate how and why Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, the convicted terrorist who murdered 270 people in blowing up Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, was released. Was it because BP was pressuring the British government to make any kind of a deal in order to secure drilling rights in Libya? Was it because the British government saw an opportunity to open up a new relationship with the Libyan regime? BP admits that they lobbied to get the British government to make some kind of deal, but didn't specifically call for Megrahi's release. The British government has repeatedly admitted that they were trying to make an oil deal, but weren't influenced by BP.

What about justice?

Justice was denied in this instance. Scotland enables convicted felons to be released if they can show that they are in ill-health. Megrahi was supposedly released because he was suffering from terminal cancer and had just months to live according to doctors. One of those doctors turned around and now says that Megrahi could live 10 years or more. He ended up serving less than 8 years in prison - or 11 days for each victim he murdered.

The fact is that Megrahi should never have been released - whether under some misguided notion of compassion or because of lobbying to get oil rights in Libya. The man was culpable for murdering 270 people and his sentence should never have been cut short.

The current move to launch still more investigations will not show anything that we don't already know. We know the British and Scottish governments screwed up. We know that oil deals played a role. We also know that the British government is trying to pass the buck on to the Scottish government and the judges who ruled for his early release. BP was trying to secure oil deals and the British government was working to smooth things over with the Libyans, who were busy trying to get Megrahi back.

UPDATE:
Here's New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand talking about the situation:

Lockerbie Bomber Should Never Have Been Released

It was a travesty of justice when a Scottish judge ruled that the convicted bomber of Pan Am Flight 103 was allowed to be released back to Libya. The judge had enabled his release for health reasons - taking into account that he had prostate cancer. It is even more so when you have reports that his health situation is such that he might now live another 10 years.

Professor Karol Sikora, who assessed Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi for the Libyan authorities almost a year ago, told The Sunday Times it was "embarrassing" the bomber had outlived his three-month prognosis.

Megrahi, 58, is the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of a US Pan Am jumbo jet over Lockerbie, which left 270 dead.

The Scottish government provoked outrage from the United States when it released him from prison in August 2009 on compassionate grounds because he dying of metastatic prostate cancer.

In Scotland, prisoners are eligible for release on compassionate grounds if they have fewer than three months to live.

A report in the Sunday Times said Libyan authorities, keen to secure Megrahi’s release, asked several experts to put a three-month estimate on the bomber’s life but Professor Sikora was the only one to agree.

Professor Sikora, the dean of medicine at Buckingham University and medical director of CancerPartnersUK in London, was paid for his medical assessment of Megrahi at Greenock prison on July last year.

Sikora is embarrassed that he got this terrorist's prognosis wrong. Thanks for that. His misguided decision enabled a convicted terrorist to go free. Scotland should seriously reconsider its "compassionate" release program.

The decision to release this terrorist was made in part because of oil and gas deals between the British government and the Libyan government. The compassionate release program enabled all this - and in the process the only convicted terrorist involved in the murder of 270 people got just a few days in prison per each victim.

Justice Unserved: Scotland Releases Pan Am Flt. 103 Bomber

This is compassionate? A convicted terrorist walks free out of some misguided notion of compassion.

Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, 57, is suffering terminal prostate cancer and has three months to live. Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill ordered al Megrahi's release on compassionate grounds, saying he will be "going home to die."

"Our justice system demands that judgment be imposed but compassion available," MacAskill said. "Our beliefs dictate that justice be served but mercy be shown."

The White House, which has urged Britain to keep al Megrahi behind bars, said it "deeply regrets" the decision.

MacAskill said he accepted al Megrahi's 2001 conviction for the Lockerbie bombing, the worst terrorist atrocity ever committed on UK soil. He also said he supported a severe sentence. But he said al Megrahi's lack of compassion for his 270 victims should not be a reason for Scotland to deny compassion to him.

He served all of 11 days for each of his 270 victims.

He just as easily could have died in prison, which was befitting of an unrepentant terrorist who murdered 270 people on board Pan Am Flight 103, which on December 21, 1988, exploded in the skies over Lockerbie, Scotland killing all 259 people on board and 11 people on the ground.

I'm supposed to be swayed by the fact he's suffering from terminal prostate cancer?

Also, Secretary of State Clinton should be ashamed of the statement she released in connection with the Administration's response to Scotland's actions:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who last week stressed U.S. opposition to a release, issued a similarly worded statement.

"Today, we remember those whose lives were lost on December 21, 1988, and we extend our deepest sympathies to the families who live each day with the loss of their loved ones due to this heinous crime," Clinton said.

These lives weren't merely lost - they were murdered in cold blood by this terrorist. Most of those on board the plane were Americans, including 35 students from Syracuse University, four from Colgate University, four from Brown University, and two from the State University of New York at Oswego. All were studying abroad and were heading home for Christmas.

UPDATE:
As if you expected anything different from Libya, Megrahi was welcomed back with a heroes welcome.

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