The Shame of Scotland, the Shame of the United Kingdom, the Shame of the Civilized World @ AMERICAN DIGEST

August 23, 2009

The Shame of Scotland, the Shame of the United Kingdom, the Shame of the Civilized World

The list of those slaughtered the Libyan animal at Lockerbie. Click to enlarge and read the names if you can bear it.

'We should be ashamed that this has happened' The Guardian

It seems to me an utter perversion of the meaning of compassion, both in law and morality, to suggest that an unrepentant, mass murderer of entirely innocent human beings should not be required to end his life in prison. The Lockerbie bombing was a crime against humanity, part of a series of terrorist acts most likely approved by Gaddafi and cold-bloodedly carried out by officials such as al-Megrahi. The requirements of compassion extend only, in international humanitarian law, to providing medical assistance and pain-killing drugs to treat his cancer and allowing family visits. But his crime against humanity was in law unforgiveable – that is why – such crimes have no time limits on prosecution and no provision for early release. The decision to release al-Megrahi for what any person of any intelligence at all would foresee as a hero's welcome in Libya was lacking in compassion to every victim of terrorism and makes an absurdity of the principle of punishment as a deterrent.

MacAskill's arguments are both morally and logically fraudulent. We show mercy towards the merciless by abjuring torture and the death sentence. Crimes against humanity are so heinous that the perpetrator forfeits any claims to favourable treatment beyond that laid down by the Geneva conventions, namely humane treatment in prison overseen by the Red Cross. His release, in order that the criminal state which approved his crime may celebrate it and so justify its criminal actions (which include provision of semtex for many IRA atrocities as well as training terrorists for worldwide barbarities and the assassination of Gaddafi's opponents at home and abroad, and in several cases in England), is a sad day for humanity and for the struggle for global justice. We should be ashamed that this has happened. -- Geoffrey Robertson QC Member of the United Nations Justice Council, and first president of the UN war crimes court and the author of Crimes Against Humanity: the Struggle for Global Justice:

Elsewhere, this observation: Follow and Kill Every Single Taliban

There has been a reluctance to engage locations in which known Taliban are located, allowing them to escape and fight another day. Such tactics may gain the support of the locals for the time being, but they ensure the continuation of the fight. Like the locals said, we must follow and kill every single Taliban. Taking prisoners is not productive.

Posted by Vanderleun at August 23, 2009 3:02 AM

Yep utterly shameful of the Scottish nationalists. None of us here admire the Scottish governments decision. Only it's nutjob First Minister Alex Salmond, defended it.

The same approach by the Scottish nationalists here was taken in Northern Ireland between Clinton and Blair under the guise of a civilised "peace process" and lauded by all. All those Irish terrorists are walking free and some of them sit in its government. But noone mentioned shame back then. Least of all Americans whose Presidents continue to laud its success, pressure the result, celebrate Gerry Adams in NYC and during that whole period harboured and protected many of these individuals in the US after killing British service personnel and innocent civilians in Northern Ireland. One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter at the end of the day.

At least this guy was prosecuted, served time and will be stone cold dead inside a month. His victims families can grasp that small mercy as the world bends over and over with various excuses for global terrorists.

My heartfelt sympathy goes out to families enduring these injustices while all our noble politicians offer their platitudes for daft "peace processes" and so called "acts of humanity". To hell with them all.

Posted by: alison at August 23, 2009 3:58 AM

The problem is confusion between the roles of an individual vs those of society. Seriously.

If the criminal in question were a lone operator who was going home to die with his family in the Scottish Highlands, the clemency would have been less harmful.

But the actual situation is that Libya committed an act of war against Great Britain as part of the jihadi effort sometimes known as the Clash of Civilizations. As such, it's more of a zero-sum game between the two sides; what Libya gains, Great Britain loses.

The judge, of course, is mandated only to focus on the case of the individual, and he is not a part of the Defense Ministry. This sort of manipulation is known as "Lawfare". The use of law to fight a war.

Posted by: Fred at August 23, 2009 6:49 AM

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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

"Taking prisoners is not productive."

Indeed. Shaul lost his kingdom because he did that, instead of killing Agag.

The civilized world will have to return to ancient laws of warfare (like Jewish Law, in my local case) if it is to survive the onslaught of those 7th-century Bedouins.

Posted by: KosherWarrior at August 23, 2009 4:23 AM

A man or a nation receives no more respect than he demands. The Muslim is seeing us as they should be seeing us. When that changes, they will understand immediately. That is all they do understand.

Posted by: james wilson at August 23, 2009 8:23 AM

He was forced to drop a potentially very embarassing appeal to get this release. A lot of people, including some relatives of the victims, believe this man was railroaded for political considerations, and he has been freed for the same.

Maybe one day we will learn if the Iranians did this as revenge for the USS Vincennes shooting down one of their airliners 5 months before? That sure sounds like motive to me.

Posted by: Al McLaren at August 23, 2009 8:56 AM

So The Guardian has come out against foreign policy realism and for a morality based foreign policy?

Some one let George W. Bush know - he'll get a chuckle out of it.

Posted by: Mikey NTH at August 23, 2009 11:01 AM

As radio host Dennis Prager frequently says "being on the Left means never having to say you're sorry."

Anyone that doubts if the Left will sell each of us into slavery for their own benefit needs only to look at this news item. If they have to firebomb every major city to save a salamander, we're toast. We have no intrinsic value to the Left and they will trade us for any shiny object that catches their eye.

Posted by: Scott M at August 23, 2009 11:24 AM

I had never before seen the monument in the picture. It is wrong for the terrorist attack to be labeled a "disaster" -- a name more fitting for an accident or natural event. Lockerbie was not a disaster; it was murder.

Posted by: John at August 24, 2009 6:20 AM