The Proverbal Rock
By Heather Graham
Monday 19th October 2009
Monday 19th October 2009
With the release of convicted Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the Scottish government came in for intense criticism. Outraged at the decision to return him to Libya, victims families on both sides of the Atlantic reacted angrily. The US State Department publicly condemned the decision, and there were even calls for an American boycott of the UK. While the anger of the victims’ families may be understandable given their personal involvement, releasing Megrahi realistically seems to have been the only viable course of action.
Although the decision was officially based upon compassionate grounds, perhaps the true reasons were far more practical than philosophical. Faced with the decision, the Scottish Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill, was placed between the proverbial rock and a hard place.
To decline Megrahi’s request for compassionate release would have been to cause yet more suffering to innocent people. If he had been denied release, he would have become far too ill to remain in prison and would have required treatment in a hospice. This would have created a situation where the other completely innocent residents of the hospice would have had their final days blighted by the attentions of an over-zealous media eager for an interview with the convicted bomber. The resultant need for round-the-clock security would have created further inconvenience, and the expense of such an operation would most likely have attracted heated criticism from opposition politicians furious at the use of taxpayers’ money to protect a convicted murderer. The Daily Mail would doubtless have made it front page news.
Aside from the logistical and monetary considerations, and despite governmental denial, releasing Megrahi was also politically expedient. If Megrahi had been refused release, (guilty or not) he would have been cast as a martyr for whatever cause he supposedly murdered 270 people for. In the current climate of global terrorism, where the emphasis is firmly upon “winning hearts and minds”, detaining him would simply have reinforced the idea of Western persecution. Though it may be something of a cliché, taking the moral high-ground may prove
to have been the best course of action. In this war of ideologies, of peace versus terror, perhaps releasing Megrahi was a vital, though undeniably difficult step toward the end of that conflict.
Although the decision was officially based upon compassionate grounds, perhaps the true reasons were far more practical than philosophical. Faced with the decision, the Scottish Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill, was placed between the proverbial rock and a hard place.
To decline Megrahi’s request for compassionate release would have been to cause yet more suffering to innocent people. If he had been denied release, he would have become far too ill to remain in prison and would have required treatment in a hospice. This would have created a situation where the other completely innocent residents of the hospice would have had their final days blighted by the attentions of an over-zealous media eager for an interview with the convicted bomber. The resultant need for round-the-clock security would have created further inconvenience, and the expense of such an operation would most likely have attracted heated criticism from opposition politicians furious at the use of taxpayers’ money to protect a convicted murderer. The Daily Mail would doubtless have made it front page news.
Aside from the logistical and monetary considerations, and despite governmental denial, releasing Megrahi was also politically expedient. If Megrahi had been refused release, (guilty or not) he would have been cast as a martyr for whatever cause he supposedly murdered 270 people for. In the current climate of global terrorism, where the emphasis is firmly upon “winning hearts and minds”, detaining him would simply have reinforced the idea of Western persecution. Though it may be something of a cliché, taking the moral high-ground may prove
to have been the best course of action. In this war of ideologies, of peace versus terror, perhaps releasing Megrahi was a vital, though undeniably difficult step toward the end of that conflict.