Justice and compassion may be abstract concepts, but that doesn't mean they elude all definition. Actually, we know for a fact that the concepts of 'justice' and 'freeing a mass murderer" are mutually exclusive.
Abdel Baset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, better known as the Lockerbie Bomber, was released by Scottish authorities and sent back to Libya on Thursday night. Because the Scottish legal system allows for "compassionate release" in the case of terminal illness, al-Megrahi, who was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, was allowed to return to his home country. Al-Megrahi was the sole person found responsible for the deaths of the passengers and crew on Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988.
Oh, by the way, al-Megrahi wasn't even in jail until more than 11 years after the bombing.
Plus, after waiting more than a decade to be brought to justice, al-Megrahi didn't even serve his full sentence. Instead of a life sentence, he only served a paltry eight and a half years.
Complications ranging from Libya not wanting to release al-Megrahi to an inability to find a "suitable" or "neutral" ground for his trial in a case involving the murder of 259 people delayed justice for more than a decade. And, apparently, once justice had already been delayed, the Scottish government figured it was best to just forget the crimes even happened.
Where is the compassion for the families of those that Al Megrahi murdered? The deceased didn't get three months to spend at home with relatives, knowing their fates and making amends before facing their deaths.
"Compassionate release" should not extend to mass murderers, period. The fact that the Scottish legal system allows for this loophole shows that it has some serious, gaping holes; the fact that the Scottish Justice Department did nothing to close that loophole in this situation shows a serious lack of common sense.
And still, there is no explanation given by Cabinet Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill, the person bearing the responsibility for the decision to release the terrorist. We would think that if a government decision caused international backlash, that government would be willing to defend its decision.
This is literally the opposite of what happened last week in North Korea. And, when Bill Clinton went to free two innocent journalists from a dictator's labor camp, people still managed to complain by construing it as fostering ties with a tyrannical government.
But now, as the Scottish government frees a convicted mass murderer in order to placate a tyrannical government, people are somehow managing to not faint from a sense of indignation. Hell, the most indignant "protest" we've seen is a Web site asking us to boycott the sale of whiskey. Even Libyans welcomed him back with a parade.
American politicians should do more than expound platitudes about how justice was diverted and actually confront the Scottish government with some questions.
Although we agree with the sentiment of the whiskey protesters, we might need to ignore them and drink our own weight in whiskey instead. It might be the only way to understand how this decision can be construed as justice.
