Thread: The release of the lockerbie bomber

Originally Posted by Kees

We should not forget that many people living in the Arab world feel he did not commit a crime at all but is fighting a just cause.

So is this a bit like "Ones mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter"?

I still dont really buy that. And I dont think it will provide much comfort to those who lost loved ones on that flight.

On a basic level, the guy murdered 270 people and, to be honest, I dont really care about the whys and wherefores. I dont care why Timothy McVeigh set off that bomb in Oklahoma, nor do I care why the 7/7 bombers blew up those tubes and buses here in London. The fact is they did it, and they should be locked up forever (or executed ideally, as McVeigh was) and not released on "compassionate" grounds.

The release is just a slap in the face for the victims and yet another demonstration that our government is not fit for purpose.

If you'd told anyone, anywhere, 50 years ago that a government would release a terrorist on compassionate grounds you'd have been laughed at. And if it had happened there'd have been riots in the streets about it.

Today, our politicians stand up on television, attempt to justify it and send the guy home to a heroes welcome.

Please, do not get me wrong, I think he committed a hideous crime against innocent civilians. I too think that in general the western judicial system is too soft to criminals like the Lockerbie bomber.

I was only truing to put the hero's welcome he got into perspective.

OTOH I am afraid some of the U.K.'s politicians got week kneed when Gadaffi had some good trade deals on offer.

Originally Posted by commiecat

There is a difference between being found guilty, and actually being guilty. Like I said earlier, I also have some doubts.

I actually looked up this on wikipedia:

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ironically I looked for the word 'proof' in the article and the browser said 'not found'. Telling?

Originally Posted by Stubear

On a basic level, the guy murdered 270 people and, to be honest, I dont really care about the whys and wherefores.

This is in a sense quite surprising. To kill anyone is terrible! To kill that many people is horrific!! But I would never ever say I didnt care about the reason for killing even just one person.

When we start not caring about the whys and wherefores is when we start not caring so much about needing proof.

Some things to note:

1)Megrahi was more than convicted as a bomber, he was also an intelligence officer.

2)According to the Guardian:

"The vital evidence that linked Megrahi to the bombing of Pan-Am 103 was a tiny fragment of circuit board found in a wooded area 25 miles from Lockerbie six months after the atrocity. Crucial to the prosecution's case was the use of expert witnesses to make the link between Megrahi and the circuit board timer which was said to have been part of the bomb's detonator."

"It transpired that there was never any chemical analysis, no swabbing for the gaseous reaction that would indicate whether the circuit board had survived an explosion. It was all visual, for instance that it looked a bit charred, and all on the say of experts"

"In addition, one of the strongest pieces of evidence in the prosecution case was the testimony of Maltese shopkeeper Tony Gauci. He identified Megrahi as the man who bought the clothing wrapped around the bomb and later found scattered in the countryside around Lockerbie. The clothing was traced by police to Malta. Documents seen by the commission reveal that Gauci was interviewed by Scottish and Maltese police 17 times during which he gave a series of inconsistent statements."

The article makes thought-provoking reading:

Evidence that casts doubt on who brought down Flight 103 | UK news | The Observer

3) The second man, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, accused of the same crime was found entirely not guilty.

I guess its a case of drawing your own conclusions...