Should Auld Outrages Be Forgot
By Mitch Berg
A Scots judge frees a terminally ill convicted terrorist:
Scotland freed the terminally ill Lockerbie bomber on compassionate grounds Thursday, letting the Libyan go home to die despite American pleas to show no mercy for the man responsible for the 1988 attack that killed 270 people.
The White House declared it “deeply” regretted the Scottish decision as Abdel Baset al-Megrahi left prison and flew to Libya on an Airbus dispatched to Glasgow Airport.
Scotland’s justice secretary said freeing the bomber was an expression of the Scottish people’s humanity but U.S. family members of Lockerbie victims expressed outrage.
It was “an expression of Scottish values” that al-Megrahi be allowed to return home to die.
Of course, al-Megrahi – who has never expressed the faintest remorse for the murder of almost 300 people, and had to be dragged from Libya under international pressure when his value to Gaddhaffi finally dropped below break-even – never allowed any of his victims the same courtesy.
For those who’ve forgotten:
Many of the victims were American college students visting home for Christmas.
Others were innocent Scots in their homes.
It’s good to know that some Scots have some real values:
Some men outside the prison made obscene gestures as al-Megrahi’s prison van drove by toward the airport.
After the Munich Olympic Massacre in 1972, when the “international community” slapped the few apprehended terrorists on the wrist and let them off with fewer consequences than a German traffic ticket for murdering the Israeli Olympic Team, the Israelis sent hit teams roaming the world to track down and kill the terrorists. Mossad shot them down like scabrous dogs in the streets, pumping their chests full of lead from contact range; they blew them up in hotel rooms; they bombed their cars. (Tragically, they killed an innocent Arab waiter in Lillehammer, Norway, in a case of mistaken identity; the person for whom he was mistaken lived on for years – but he can’t have made a whole lot of long term plans).
Just saying. I don’t give a rat’s ass how terminal this piece of human-shaped mold is. If what he did doesn’t warrant a midnight date with a JDAM or a silenced bullet in the dark or a garrote, I don’t know what does.
August 20th, 2009 at 11:58 am
[…] Cross-posted at Shot In The Dark, whose proprietor, Mitch Berg, is proud of the part of his Scottish heritage that would have shown its outrage at this travesty at the tip of a claymore. […]
August 20th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Vince Flynn based a portion of the motivation of his character, Terrorist Hunter Mitch Rapp, on the fictitious death of Rapp’s girlfriend on Pan Am 103. Were that it were true that someone who harbored the desire to see an end to this piece of filth on terms other than his disease, and the means to accomplish that task, really existed.
Ever read Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse? A hyperbariatric chamber is a wonderful tool…
August 20th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I find it very confusing. What are “Scottish values?” Are they Christian values? I guess there’s a variety of soft-headed Christianity that believes that justice has no place in… well, the justice system. “We’ve not only gotten past the idea of retribution, we’ve even gotten rid of justice! Except as a reason for increasing the size of government programs, of course.”
But I don’t think Scotland actually considers itself Christian anymore. “Scottish values” would seem to be “even better than Christian values! Not only do we not punish those who injure us, we enable and encourage them! It’s the ultimate stage in the evolution of morality–suicide!”
August 20th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
I find it very confusing. What are “Scottish values?” Are they Christian values? I guess there’s a variety of soft-headed Christianity that believes that justice has no place in… well, the justice system. “We’ve not only gotten past the idea of retribution, we’ve even gotten rid of justice! Except as a reason for increasing the size of government programs, of course.”
But I don’t think Scotland actually considers itself Christian anymore. “Scottish values” would seem to be “even better than Christian values! Not only do we not punish those who injure us, we enable and encourage them! It’s the ultimate stage in the evolution of morality–suicide!”
August 20th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
It’s good to know that some Scots have some real values: -Being of Scottish decent, this comment seems a little over the top – “Some”?
Most people have plenty of human principals – this comment is by it’s nature a racially discriminating tone, and one that simply isn’t necessary. I’ve never heard of ‘Scottish’ values other htan maybe wearing skirts without underwear and telling the Brits to get bent – so assuming there are such things, or more correctly, thinking we need to speak to a whole group based on such a comment – is unnecessary. I don’t think we ever benefit from making sweeping statements about a race or religiion, rarely is there anything other than normal attitudes among any large group of people – at least in terms of what constitutes an ‘average’ position.
Look, I agree this guy deserved a bullet more than a trial, but once a trial, and jail were the course of action, then we are obligated to show we are better than scum, that we in fact temper justice with compassion (at times). If the standad in Scotland is to provide this sort of discharge, then the publicity value of the crime shouldn’t determine whether such compassion is provided.
Whether such compassion SHOULD be provided is entirely another question. I don’t think so – frankly no one should feel they’ll eventually get to go home at the end of their days – this guy deserves to die alone in prison. It’s not cruel, it’s not inhuman, and it is just.
August 20th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
“It was “an expression of Scottish values” that al-Megrahi be allowed to return home to die.”
Too cheap to keep him in prison, eh?
Angryclown agrees with you 100%. A morally illiterate move.
August 20th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Another terrorist free to raise money for Obama! This should have faced a panel twenty years ago.
August 20th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
I think this guy should have died in jail. Wonder though, how long he is expected to live given his current health? Days? Weeks?
If the time involved is short enough, given that ‘home’ is not a place known for high quality medical care, the Scots are probably not doing this terrorist any favors would be my bet.
He may very well at home shuffle off this mortal coil a good bit quicker, and in more pain, than had he remained in a UK jail, receiving their medical care. All the while, giving the Scots the apparent moral high ground for compassion. If that is indeed the case, I salute their cost-effective, Machiabellian way of thinking.
jaunito wrote: “Ever read Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse? A hyperbariatric chamber is a wonderful tool… ”
Yes, but it is such a very high tech way to go about it, it’s too $$$$ intensive to be practical on any scale, and it leaves an awful mess behind afterwards to clean up.
You can accomplish the same thing low tech, with garden variety ergot and some handy herd-animal parasites if sufficiently motivated, and almost no mess to clean up afterwards.
Ask Mitch, LOL.
August 20th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Peev mewled “this comment is by it’s nature a racially discriminating tone” which is pretty damn funny. The Scots are a “race”? You might make a case for the Picts.
Peev doesn’t seem to grasp that the Scots have maintained a distinct cultural identity, and a component of that would be their values.
I think someone should force-feed Peev some Haggis.
August 20th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
“I think someone should force-feed Peev some Haggis. ”
ROFL, is it true that making anyone eat Haggis is contrary to the Geneva Conventions? (Just the smell of that stuff is bad; but then so is the smell of Lutefisk. Eww)
August 20th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
hey Haggis done right is a tasty nuanced repast!
August 20th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
It occurs to me that the most condign course of action would be to fly him home on a C-130, and, about angels 25 over Tripoli, open the cargo ramp and give him a nudge. Sauce for the goose, etc.
August 20th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
wouldn’t it have been nice if his plane had blown up on the way back to Libya? Because we all know that the CIA, not terrorists took down Pan Am 103, just ask those people in England.
August 20th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
As regarding the Scots, Pen’s comment puts him in agreement with the great Dr. Johnson.
I say this as a descendant of Boyds, Yandles, Kickleiters, and other non-Anglo-Saxon residents of the British Isles.
August 20th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
It’s nice to see you wingnuts go back to hating terrorists. You were getting awfully soft for awhile when you were forced to come up with excuses why your favoritist president ever couldn’t take out Osama, Mullah Omar or Ayman al Zawahiri. Angryclown remembers thinking what a bunch of little girls you all were, pretending it didn’t really matter if bin Laden was alive or dead.
August 20th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
I don’t pretend. I believe he’s dead.
August 21st, 2009 at 12:55 am
Obama has a much clearer idea of America’s enemies than Bush did. They aren’t Osama & Sadam, they are Americans in hospices and Americans who work for insurance companies. He’s going to smoke ’em out!
“Bring it on, Granny!”
August 21st, 2009 at 6:22 am
Terry says:
“Obama has a much clearer idea of America’s enemies than Bush did. They aren’t Osama & Sadam, they are Americans in hospices and Americans who work for insurance companies.”
That is silly, Terry. Jon Stewart in his interview with Betsy McCaughey last night got to the meat of that argument, when both of them got into the actual language of the proposed bill. McCaughey tried to gin up all kinds of wacky, scary conclusions, and Stewart kept bringing her back to the actual langauge of the bill which did not, emphatically did not, support her conclusions.
I went back to look at what factual information there was about the Lockerbie tragedy. It is disconcerting to see how little factual information was ever turned up – the conviction pretty much hinges on the ID of a shop keeper in Malta and the forensics around the remains of a shirt.
This was not a one man operation; where are the others, and why isn’t there more evidence than essentially the notoriously unreliable single ID? I’m not willing to go as far as some have that this was the wrong guy, but there are definitely a lot of questions left unanswered. Too many unanswered questions to go as far as calling for a garotte in the dark.
August 21st, 2009 at 6:55 am
Yossarian said: “I don’t pretend. I believe he’s dead.”
Obamacare claims another victim.
August 21st, 2009 at 7:27 am
Dog Gone doesn’t know that circumstantial evidence is all that is needed for a murder conviction. Al-megrahi purchased items that were found in the remains of his suitcase after the plane went down. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Bomb in suitcase, clothing in suitcase.
August 21st, 2009 at 9:35 am
My comment was meant to be silly 🙂
Quoting Jon Stewart is fool’s game. He’s a freakin’ fake newsman, as he mentions when he get called on his BS.
August 21st, 2009 at 10:27 am
Barack Obama:
“We have been in contact with the Scottish government indicating that we objected to it,” President Barack Obama said of Thursday’s release.
“We thought it was a mistake. We are now in contact with the Libyan government, and want to make sure that if in fact this transfer has taken place, he is not welcomed back in some way but instead should be under house arrest….”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8213352.stm
Perhaps Mr. Obama could ask GW Bush or Dick Cheney for advice on how to handle Libya.
August 21st, 2009 at 11:11 am
Yeah, Terry. Maybe they’d tell him to restore diplomatic relations and drop Libya from the list of states that sponsor terrorism. Oh wait, they already did that in 2006!
August 21st, 2009 at 11:28 am
golfdoc50 Says:
August 21st, 2009 at 7:27 am
Dog Gone doesn’t know that circumstantial evidence is all that is needed for a murder conviction. Al-megrahi purchased items that were found in the remains of his suitcase after the plane went down. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Bomb in suitcase, clothing in suitcase. ”
I am aware of it golfdoc50. I am also aware that eye witness identifications, even where someone expresses certainty, are not very reliable, and it is a regular new feature to see convictions later found to be of the wrong person.
More to the point however, is that we have never found out who else was involved and prosecuted them. Mitch specifically expressed ” If what he did doesn’t warrant a midnight date with a JDAM or a silenced bullet in the dark or a garrote, I don’t know what does.” I pointing out that it is not pragmatic to off someone while there are still so many unanswered questions to which they might provide answers, and unknown numbers of other individuals who have not been brought to justice.
August 21st, 2009 at 11:36 am
Terry Says:
August 21st, 2009 at 9:35 am
My comment was meant to be silly
Quoting Jon Stewart is fool’s game. He’s a freakin’ fake newsman, as he mentions when he get called on his BS. ”
Stewart asserts more than anyone that he is not a newsman. That doesn’t mean he is uninformed or a fool. He is at times very serious in his interviews, and he invites regularly to his show individuals who are prominent, and sometimes – not always – intelligently discusses their work. Other times he just clowns around. McCaughey was a case of the former, as was his interviewing of Cramer earlier this year.
It would be specious to believe that only formal news personnel have a serious impact. Among others, the late Johnny Carson was prominent for his influence on current events. His mocking of either right or left, individuals and political movements, were recognized for altering perceptions and opinions. Even Edward R. Murrow straddled the line between entertainment and news.
Stewart is sometimes a clown, but other times very much NOT.
August 21st, 2009 at 11:40 am
Stewart is only a clown when, as stated, he gets called on his nonsense.
In this example, he is assuming that if that bill is put into law, it will not be “interpreted” in any way contrary to what he thinks it says. Which is nonsense.
“I pointing out that it is not pragmatic to off someone while there are still so many unanswered questions to which they might provide answers, and unknown numbers of other individuals who have not been brought to justice. ”
Good point. Better to release him and send him back to Libya. Now all those questions will be answered. Much better than killing him.
August 21st, 2009 at 11:58 am
Angryclown hates to disagree with you Dog Bone, because you’re very intelligent and possibly hot. But foreign terrorists don’t merit the protection of the U.S. (or U.K.) legal systems. When they are in our custody, we treat them with a minimum level of human dignity and fairness because we are civilized, not because they are deserving. Such consideration does not apply, however, to free-range terrorists outside the U.S. Death by the most expedient means, whether delivered by gun, knife, bomb or – Angryclown’s favorite – drone-launched missile, is exactly what they deserve. And it’s what the U.S. military and the operational arms of our intelligence services should be set up to deliver. There may very well be reasons that it is not in the U.S. interests to anger Libya at this moment over this issue. And we should do what is in our interest. But it seems to Angryclown, there is no reason to rule out hastening al-Megrahi’s departure from the earth with a well-placed cruise missile up his cancer-ridden ass.
August 21st, 2009 at 12:57 pm
buzz, it has been reported in the press that this guy has prostate cancer, and only a few months to live. I am a skeptic, and I wonder if we will ever hear about this man again – if it will be news when he dies, or if he will just quietly disappear and not shuffle off this mortal coil any time soon.
I am wondering if a possible explanation for his being sent back to Libya might involve him having rolled over on someone else; either Lockerbie related or some other intelligence matter. It has been established that he was libyan intelligence, not a stateless terrorist We are not always told the truth about details in these things, after all.
I wonder what Libya plans to do with OR to him as well. They currently find it in their own interest to cooperate with us. I don’t know if anyone else can get information out of this guy, but it is certain no one can get information out of him once he is dead.
While I have the greatest respect for Terry (an affinity for motorcycles AND poetry about Mephistopheles, it doesn’t get better than that) I would still put to you that it is a false argument to claim that because someone is an entertainer or especially a humorist, they are debarred by that from ever being taken seriously, or commenting seriously. Even statements presented with humor can be intended quite seriously in spite of the tone; look at some of the writings from further back – Twain, Will Rogers, Tom Lehrer’s lyrics, Sir David Frost as a satirist as well as a journalist (That was the week that was, back in the 60s). I would suggest it is a mistake to dismiss someone on the basis of ALSO entertaining.
August 21st, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Dog Gone, I have seen Limbaugh’s right to be on the public airwaves defended on this blog. I have never seen anyone here defend him as a policy analyst. Limbaugh doesn’t pretend to be anything other than an entertainer.
Stewart is a fake newsman on a comedy show. He has the annoying habit of getting on a high horse about what he sees as the failure of politics in the US, and then crawling off his high horse muttering his ‘fake newsman’ excuse when people challenge his political views.
Just because someone agrees with you politically does not mean that they are wise and insightful.
August 21st, 2009 at 2:33 pm
A lot of libs get their news from Stewart. Probably better than Matthews or Olbermann. Ha ha ha ha ha which one gets tingles in his pants whenever the Obamassiah speaks?