Posted by
EWRoss on Monday, August 24, 2009 7:00:00 AM
Lockerbie is a word that history will always associate with one of the worst terrorist attacks in modern history--the December 21, 1988, murder of 259 people aboard Pan Am Flight 103 and 11 people in on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland.
The release on August 20 of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi--the Libyan intelligence officer convicted of mass murder and sentenced to life imprisonment for that crime--by the Scottish government is outrageous. It's an insult to the families of the people al Megrahi killed, and it sends the wrong message to terrorists everywhere.
Scottish officials have rejected a scathing and appropriate rebuke by FBI Director Robert Mueller, saying that "compassionate release might not be part of the US justice system, but it is part of Scotland's." Al Megrahi's release, claims by Colonel Gaddafi's son Seif al Islam that British oil and gas contracts played a role in his release, and the hero's welcome he received upon his return to Libya, however, leave a foul odor in the air.
Actions have consequences. Consequences for the Scottish government should be more than just a rebuke by Director Mueller. Until al Megrahi is incarcerated in Libya, we should not reward Libya and Gaddafi, who seek improved relations with the United States, by showing them favor. Scheduled visits by US diplomats and DoD officials to Libya should be indefinitely postponed. Their counterparts should not be welcome in the United States. When Gaddafi comes to the United Nations in September US diplomats should give him the cold shoulder.
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