By Patricia Lee Sharpe
As for that brilliantly choreographed welcome home in Libya, maybe it was a promise breached. Gaddafi père lies low, a bow to decorum, allowing Gaddafi fils to do a little politicking with the nationalist masses, since he hopes to succeed his father as leader of Libya. Outside Libya, however, only the unredeemably anti-West will not see the wheels-down extravaganza as ungratefulness incarnate and in bad taste, too. However, in so far as anything else was expected, that was a little naive, it seems to me.
To the relatives of those who died so horribly at Lockerbie: would you not be willing to consider that this gesture of mercy sends a powerful signal to the Muslim world—a gesture that honors your lost ones in a most noble way? How wonderful (indeed, how clever) to send a message of compassion to a Muslim population of which the majority do indeed worship God as “the Compassionate.” Might it not inspire Muslims to respond in kind? Might it not pull the rug out from under the mass murderers whom the generality of Muslims do not in fact applaud? Might it not give support to this too silent majority?
Now, I am not naive. I do not dismiss out of hand the real politik speculations about doing business with Libya that might have played a role in al Megrahi's release, though adequate proof of such possibilities has yet to emerge. However, Scots being Scots, I could also imagine another non-sentimental consideration, which might be adopted by American prison reformers. A man who is dying of cancer can do no significant harm. A man who is dying of cancer has, as I noted above, served out a life term for all practical purposes. So why not free him, assuming there are loving hands to receive him, and save on the huge cost of keeping a sick man alive?
I’ve a wee bit of Scots blood in me, and I’m a wee bit proud of Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.
Ali al-Megrahi is dying of prostate cancer. Since he has only a few months to live, he has, in effect, served a life sentence. Why isn’t this a time for compassion? Why can’t he die in the arms of his mother? So what if he devotes the enfeebled last months of his life to trying to prove that his conviction for involvement in the Lockerbie bombing was unjust? Either he comes up with convincing evidence, in which case we can rejoice that a wrong will be minimally undone. Or he comes up with nothing, which means he’s still guilty in the eyes of most of the world.As for that brilliantly choreographed welcome home in Libya, maybe it was a promise breached. Gaddafi père lies low, a bow to decorum, allowing Gaddafi fils to do a little politicking with the nationalist masses, since he hopes to succeed his father as leader of Libya. Outside Libya, however, only the unredeemably anti-West will not see the wheels-down extravaganza as ungratefulness incarnate and in bad taste, too. However, in so far as anything else was expected, that was a little naive, it seems to me.
To the relatives of those who died so horribly at Lockerbie: would you not be willing to consider that this gesture of mercy sends a powerful signal to the Muslim world—a gesture that honors your lost ones in a most noble way? How wonderful (indeed, how clever) to send a message of compassion to a Muslim population of which the majority do indeed worship God as “the Compassionate.” Might it not inspire Muslims to respond in kind? Might it not pull the rug out from under the mass murderers whom the generality of Muslims do not in fact applaud? Might it not give support to this too silent majority?
Now, I am not naive. I do not dismiss out of hand the real politik speculations about doing business with Libya that might have played a role in al Megrahi's release, though adequate proof of such possibilities has yet to emerge. However, Scots being Scots, I could also imagine another non-sentimental consideration, which might be adopted by American prison reformers. A man who is dying of cancer can do no significant harm. A man who is dying of cancer has, as I noted above, served out a life term for all practical purposes. So why not free him, assuming there are loving hands to receive him, and save on the huge cost of keeping a sick man alive?