Outrage Over Lockerbie Terrorist’s Release Grows
A wave of public anger has shaken the British government and shows no signs of abating anytime soon.
The British historian and my esteemed journalistic colleague Professor Geoffrey Alderman has published an editorial in the Jewish Chronicle of August 28 entitled “I’m Ashamed to Be British.” When I saw the title I thought Geoffrey was referring to the disgraceful football riot that engulfed parts of London’s East End at the end of August because Millwall was playing West Ham in the Carling Cup.
Regular readers of my columns will know that I am passionate about sport, having once been the London correspondent of World Tennis magazine and being regularly pie-eyed due to addiction to late-night broadcasts of American football, baseball, and other events. So the violent riots at Upton Park in East London as August came to a close ignited my interest and I rather assumed Geoffrey Alderman was going to share my shame.
But no — his article was about the other disgrace in British life this past month: the release on “compassionate grounds” of Lockerbie terrorist Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi back into the bosom of his homeland by the Scottish authorities, who some of us had assumed had incarcerated him for life. Professor Alderman reminded his readers that the British justice system in the persona of Justice Secretary Jack Straw (he calls him “the Man of Straw”) had released brutal “great train robber” Ronnie Biggs to a retirement home paid for by the taxpayer in the same month that the Libyan had been let free and that neither man has ever shown remorse.
Like me, Geoffrey Alderman is filled with shame and dismay; he regards the release of al-Megrahi on the grounds of Scottish compassion “pure, unadulterated humbug.”
On Wednesday, September 2, the Scottish Parliament had a stormy day because the Pan Am 103 Lockerbie story will just not go away. I have to confess I thought the al-Megrahi “hero’s welcome” by Colonel Gaddafi would be a one-day wonder, but I was wrong. As September gets well underway the British media are full of the story and the turbulent debate in Scotland’s Holyrood halls of power was fierce. The Scottish coalition came close to a no-confidence vote. Condemnation of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown — himself a Scot — kept bubbling up in the public forum like the never-ending pink floss in a cotton candy machine.
I have a special feeling about Lockerbie and therefore think about that atrocity every day. In December 1988 my father had a heart attack. I can still remember standing by my bathroom sink brushing my teeth and wondering if I could knock off work at Anglia TV in London on December 21 and get straight onto the Pan Am flight that left in the early evening. My mother told me, however, that if my father had seen me arrive in intensive care in that New Jersey hospital he would have assumed I had been told he was going to die and that it would do him a power of good if I did not fly over. She went through the whole Jewish mother litany of “and anyway, I don’t want you flying in winter and maybe hitting a blizzard, etc., etc.” And so it was that on the evening of December 21, 1988, my Anglia TV colleague Annie Price, a wildlife cinematographer who was going to take the trip with me had I gone, sat in cold shock but safe in my living room, the two of us watching those horrific images unfold in a Scottish village that could so easily have been our final resting place.
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Carol Gould is the Philadelphia-born author of Don’t Tread on Me: Anti-Americanism Abroad, Spitfire Girls, and A Room at Camp Pickett, a play about her mother’s experiences as a WAC in World War II; she has just completed films about black GIs and GI babies. Carol has been a panelist on BBC's Any Questions?, hosted by Jonathan Dimbleby, and is a commentator on Sky News, Press TV, the BBC World Service, and Five Live.
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27 Comments
1. Wil:I am not sure the general public will ever know all that went on behind the scenes concerning the decision to release al-Megrahi. Although I don’t agree, at least I can understand it if it meant billions of dollars of oil for the UK.
However, if it was for merely humanitarian reasons, then some members of the British and Scottish governments are astonishingly naive, near-pyschotic, and utterly unfit for office.
Sep 6, 2009 - 1:45 am 2. Blackwater:This has to be the most embarassing fiaso I’ve EVER seen in the UK. Despite the election of George Galloway. Get these leftist labour asshats the hell out of government. They’re destroying the UK.
Sep 6, 2009 - 1:49 am 3. SAF:Nothing will come of this. It will fade with few repurcussions to any of the culprits.
Sep 6, 2009 - 4:26 am 4. Ruebacca:England is a multicultural basket case. Muslims bomb your buses and then pay to use them for propaganda. The Falklands was the last gasp of the Anglo Saxon fire and self respect. England will soon be slaves to Islam and it’s corruption.
Sep 6, 2009 - 4:58 am 5. Marie Claude:BUT from Drudge_Report: RECENTLY DECLASSIFIED U.S. INTELLIGENCE DOC TIES IRAN TO LOCKERBIE BOMBING…
http://doregold.blogspot.com/2009/09/irans-role-in-downing-pan-am-flight-103.html
Beside Iranin resistants in France already told the same story 4 years ago
Sep 6, 2009 - 6:11 am 6. BettyBlue:As I’ve said before—if there was any real doubt about this guy’s guilt, it should have been cleared up in court, not just waffled away with some phony “compassion” release.
And, of course, it wasn’t about his guilt/innocence, or “compassiona”; it was all about the oil.
Sep 6, 2009 - 7:13 am 7. Thomas A.:It was a deal for oil for BP. So now the British industry and their automobiles are powered by American blood, thanks to Scottish “justice”.
Sep 6, 2009 - 7:20 am 8. Morton Doodslag:If it had been Iran rather than Libya which had agreed to pay over $2 billion in compensation for Lockerbie, then I’m certain the Marie Claudes of the world would be posting “evidence” that fill-in-the-blank had done it instead. The tendency of so many Westerners to fall over themselves to defend Muslim terrorists, or show them “compassion”, under the pathetic pretense of seeking justice is absolutely nauseating. This includes all the treasonous Leftists who trumpet lies about “torture” in Guantanamo. It is all a pretext to illustrate how the West is at fault for Islamic terrorism unleashed against it.
Every one of these formulations is ultimately designed to exhibit how we only get what we deserve from Islamic terrorism because of our own cruelty and criminality. As such, the Marie Claudes of the world exhibit their loathing of our civilization, and their insane affinity for a barbaric anti-civilization.
As for the Vincennes calamity — the US not only admitted its fault, but paid compensation. The US certainly did not deliberately target a civilian Iranian airliner. And it never enters the bubble heads of these defenders and explainers-away of Islamic terrorism that our Muslim enemy is just cynical enough to fly airliners filled with civilians towards navy destroyers after being warned not to, (or into skyscrapers) exactly in order to create mass-havoc. The Marie Claudes of the West help the Islamic enemy to augment Islamic terror by such actions.
Sep 6, 2009 - 7:41 am 9. 888:Totally short-sighted with no compassion whatsoever to those who lost loved ones on that fateful flight.
I’ve always wanted to visit Scotland. My husband, who is Scottish on his Mum’s side, proudly wore a Scottish traditional shirt in Vegas last week. But, we, like many who are outraged by this decision by the Scottish local government and perhaps Gordon Brown (we don’t really know for sure, do we?), will skip Scotland for France and northern Spain on our next holiday. Lots of other tourists in the States doing the same.
Sep 6, 2009 - 7:48 am 10. Carol Gould:This has been released today by the Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/6143073/Revealed-Libya-paid-for-medical-advice-that-helped-Lockerbie-bombers-release.html
CG
Sep 6, 2009 - 8:16 am 11. Marie Claude:test, post swallowed
Sep 6, 2009 - 8:33 am 12. Marie Claude:Cher Morton,
“If it had been Iran rather than Libya which had agreed to pay over $2 billion in compensation for Lockerbie, then I’m certain the Marie Claudes of the world would be posting “evidence” that fill-in-the-blank had done it instead.”
Iran has not the habit to pay anything with money, but rather to make the others pey her ransoms (ie last foreign hostages)
Now when Iran organises terrorist attacks, she does it with a precise agenda, we experienced quite a few in the eighties and nineties too
Also we had Tenere plane crash that was officially attribuated to Kadhafi too, but that our renseignments agent traced up to Iran.
Though when a Bush administration could press on Lybia to pay for Lockerbie, we had to shut up for Tenere, for, in the meanwhile, you decided that Kadhafi was the reborn good guy, then his country could be open to foreign companies again, yeah, that was he was looking for too, cuz, he was complaining about the fact that his country could be as rich as the Saudi’s with the benefits of oil, and for that, he was ready to endorse Lockerbie, but that he made re-pay back by EU with the bulgarian nurses transaction.
Kadhafi was only the useful buffoon, cuz Iran is a too big fish, and much more dangerous !
Now, I’m not inventing, just quoting different sources
http://bit.ly/H77mb
Sep 6, 2009 - 8:45 am 13. NahnCee:Confused that going to France and spending American tourist dollars there is seen as preferrable to going to Scotland and spending tourist dollars there. Since France has been stabbing America in the back for decades while Scotland / England only began recently to be anti-American pro-Islam waffles.
And let’s not even start to talk about Spain and their political support for America, so why on earth would any one want to go there and support *that* country or its people?
Why not just go to China and be done with it?
Sep 6, 2009 - 10:14 am 14. Aaron Bynres:Perhaps this could spark a British Tea Party/ Town Hall sort of movement. Its time the British pols got a serious wakeup call.
Sep 6, 2009 - 10:18 am 15. Kazooskibum:Marie Claude has just made the case for bombing Iran back to the stone age.
Sep 6, 2009 - 10:26 am 16. Morton Doodslag:Although we shouldn’t do anything that drastic, I can see her point.
Marie — It is well within the realm of chance that Iran (or any other Islamic fascist regime) also has its fingerprints on the Lockerbie atrocity. This in no way exonerates Libya’s obvious role. Had Iran been solely behind the evil, Kadafi never would have expended $2 billion from his treasury to get off the sanctions regime. In fact, he paid the money, and remained on the sanctions regime because we also knew he was up to his eyeballs in WMD proliferation.
Perhaps you are unaware, but most who trot out this “Iran was behind the Lockerbie bombing” use this allegation as a way to further a narrative which has several malignant terror-serving kernels in it — those are:
1. Libya was innocent, therefore sanctions against it are yet another form of Western Imperial persecution of innocent Muslims, ergo…
2. The West is cowardly, hypocritical, and treacherous and it deserves whatever Islamic terror directed against it.
So despite your claim of citing “facts”, the narrative you parrot furthers the anti-Western pro-Islamic-terror agenda of our enemies. So please stop being a tool, witless or otherwise.
Sep 6, 2009 - 10:32 am 17. arthur:it’s all about the OIL!
Sep 6, 2009 - 11:03 am 18. Marie Claude:“Kadafi never would have expended $2 billion from his treasury to get off the sanctions regime.”
Being a buffoon, doesn’t meen that he is a fool, he had other trump cards in his surprise pockets : hostages, not only the Bulgarian nurses, that the western countries were ready to buy, so, he was sure that he could get his stakes back.
Now he is still a twisted fellah, but not as terrible that some wanted to see him, he is just too narcissic, and to be a media star
I am not a islamic tool, you don’t know me, just that we have another understanding of the hidden policies that you’re ready to swallow, becaus the titill your proudness of bein g such strong and good guis
Even having a phony anti-Israel discourse,I recall you that he expelled all the Palestinians from his country
Sep 6, 2009 - 11:10 am 19. Marie Clude:Nah, see !!!
Confused that going to France and spending American tourist dollars there is seen as preferrable to going to Scotland and spending tourist dollars there. Since France has been stabbing America in the back for decades while Scotland / England only began recently to be anti-American pro-Islam waffles.
please go, your subtility will be surely appreciated in Scottland, until you don’t write on a site call F**Scottland… oops F**France
Sep 6, 2009 - 11:15 am 20. JoshC:“Perhaps this could spark a British Tea Party/ Town Hall sort of movement. Its time the British pols got a serious wakeup call.”
Honestly, this sentence is complete nonsense. The only people who care about this story are journalists and opposition MPs, the first because they can fill newspaper columns with it and the MPs because they can pretend ‘moral superiority’ and hope they’ll get a few votes out of it. The truth is nobody in Britain gives a shit.
Sep 6, 2009 - 1:37 pm 21. clarice feldman:The Brits now say that Obama and Clinton were fully informed every step of the way–so they lied and Mueller who wrote to protest was made a fool of by his own boss.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/09/obama_knew_about_lockerbie_bom.html
Sep 6, 2009 - 1:55 pm 22. sagman44:“Hey, we didn’t know anything about the release,” says the Administration. Well, that must royally tick off the Brits. Things are going to be frosty between us and them for a good long time. Not to worry, though; we still have friends like Chavez, Castro, and Zelaya.
Sep 6, 2009 - 5:56 pm 23. ER White:The Brits punch back over the Lockerbie bomber scandal.
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1211495/No-10-turns-Obama-Clinton-criticising-decision-release-Lockerbie-bomber.html)
Now we know BOTH Obama and Hillary! knew in advance and did nothing to stop it. This FACT should be shouted to the roof tops and Congress MUST INVESTIGATE.
Republicans – This should be part of your rebuttal after Obama’s healthcare speech to the Joint Session of Congress. How can we trust a man to “reform” our healthcare when he shows such poor judgement. Heads should role.
For Hillary!: Time to Resign. (Then run a insurgent campaign against obama in 2012…heh..heh..heh)
Sep 6, 2009 - 8:24 pm 24. Inrptrn:Of course no one in Britain gives a shit…that’s exactly how such a thing could happen at all. The one time greatest nation on earth now lets mass-murderers who kill innocent children on their own soil go free out of “compassion”.
And of course, if it was for a tidy sum of money than it’s clearly the right course of action, damn the families of the lost, damn honor, and damn justice.
Sep 6, 2009 - 9:29 pm 25. Steve:Obama knew. I wonder what the consequences will be for him. They should be severe.
Sep 6, 2009 - 9:56 pm 26. Poor Citizen:Its not right that this guy was released to a “hero.s” welcome back at his country. However, as an american overseas I can appreciate prisoners being exchanged, or handed back to their home countries..but only “if” they still have to serve their Entire sentence. As for why? I only have to smirk when I know other people realize what alot of us already know..Bush, Obama, Blair, Brown and the entire oil dependant west? Its about the Oil, and it “was always”/// always about the Oil. So please don’t be shocked.
Sep 7, 2009 - 1:22 am 27. Cybergeezer:It keeps getting better;
Sep 7, 2009 - 2:26 pmhttp://hotair.com/archives/2009/09/06/uk-sources-obama-knew-about-the-lockerbie-bomber-every-step-of-the-way/