He shall die...
Monday, 24. August 2009, 01:45:37
I've visited, that is to say - on most occasions - 'passed through' Lockerbie on my touring holidays of yore, but I don't think I've seen it since the day an airliner dropped onto it. If I did then I just didn't make the connection. The Lockerbie that was the site of the worst terrorist atrocity to hit the UK in living memory and the one I recall from my younger days are like two completely different things.
Over the last few days pictures of Lockerbie have been everywhere, and I didn't recognise the place, but that was because they were all post-terrorist pictures and for the most part taken from overhead. Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
A lot of people aren't happy about Lockerbie at the moment. Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, the only person to be convicted of the crime has just been released to live out his last few weeks back home in Libya, an act of compassion apparently. It's proved a bit controversial.
The problem is that most of the citizens of Lockerbie think the guy was a patsy while most of the US victim's relatives are equally certain he was guilty as hell. Now me, I'm not directly involved so in theory I should be more able to judge dispassionately the pros and cons of the situation. Can I heck! I think I agree with both parties. I'm pretty certain that the authorities on both sides of the pond wanted to get the guys that committed the crime, and ol' Abdel was one of the first names in the frame, I'm well satisfied that he was guilty as charged, but I'm also pretty certain that his involvement was about as significant as that of the getaway driver in a bad gangster movie. Add to that the fact that his verdict was on the verge of being quashed with the revelation that the only person to identify him and thus connect him with the crime saw a newspaper picture identifying him as the perpetrator before making his I.D.
My doubts as to his being both the brains and the brawn behind the crime are further enhanced by the unlikelihood that Libya sponsored it all on their own. The US shot down an Iranian airliner, killing all on board, and apart from the usual protests Iran did nothing about it. No one was ever charged, or even arrested for the event, and yet Iran sat on their hands. Then Libya took it upon itself to blow up this US airliner? It just doesn't ring true.
So how do I, in the end, feel about this cancer-riddled convicted criminal being allowed to return home? Well, my left wing side feels like it was the right thing to do because it shows that we're better than them, whoever they happen to be, and my right wing side thinks its the right thing to do because he's dying anyway, and I don't see why we should pay for his medical bills until it happens.
Satisfaction all 'round then.
Not really. I won't be satisfied until the guys at the top, the guys that sent the pawns out to do their bidding, get what's coming to them.
Over the last few days pictures of Lockerbie have been everywhere, and I didn't recognise the place, but that was because they were all post-terrorist pictures and for the most part taken from overhead. Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
A lot of people aren't happy about Lockerbie at the moment. Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, the only person to be convicted of the crime has just been released to live out his last few weeks back home in Libya, an act of compassion apparently. It's proved a bit controversial.
The problem is that most of the citizens of Lockerbie think the guy was a patsy while most of the US victim's relatives are equally certain he was guilty as hell. Now me, I'm not directly involved so in theory I should be more able to judge dispassionately the pros and cons of the situation. Can I heck! I think I agree with both parties. I'm pretty certain that the authorities on both sides of the pond wanted to get the guys that committed the crime, and ol' Abdel was one of the first names in the frame, I'm well satisfied that he was guilty as charged, but I'm also pretty certain that his involvement was about as significant as that of the getaway driver in a bad gangster movie. Add to that the fact that his verdict was on the verge of being quashed with the revelation that the only person to identify him and thus connect him with the crime saw a newspaper picture identifying him as the perpetrator before making his I.D.
My doubts as to his being both the brains and the brawn behind the crime are further enhanced by the unlikelihood that Libya sponsored it all on their own. The US shot down an Iranian airliner, killing all on board, and apart from the usual protests Iran did nothing about it. No one was ever charged, or even arrested for the event, and yet Iran sat on their hands. Then Libya took it upon itself to blow up this US airliner? It just doesn't ring true.
So how do I, in the end, feel about this cancer-riddled convicted criminal being allowed to return home? Well, my left wing side feels like it was the right thing to do because it shows that we're better than them, whoever they happen to be, and my right wing side thinks its the right thing to do because he's dying anyway, and I don't see why we should pay for his medical bills until it happens.
Satisfaction all 'round then.
Not really. I won't be satisfied until the guys at the top, the guys that sent the pawns out to do their bidding, get what's coming to them.
WIDGETIZE