Compassionate Release of the Lockerbie Bomber

I think we all remember the Lockerbie, Scotland incident where, on Wednesday, December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103, bound from London to New York was blown from the skies over Lockerbie by a bomb that had been smuggled on board. Two hundred seventy people were killed. Two hundred fifty-nine on the airplane and eleven on the ground.

The only person convicted of that crime was Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi [al-Megrahi]. (I am sure he did not work alone. And, it was suspected that the government of Libya might have had a hand in that tragic incident.) Then last year, he was given a compassionate release and send back to Libya because, supposedly, he was dying from prostate cancer and only had two or three months to live. He's still alive today. Go figure?

Today, Friday, August 6, 2010, I heard a brief news report on TV (since I switch channels between commercials, I can't remember which network did the reporting) that there were three doctors who had examined al-Megrahi, but only one of them said that he only had two to three months to live.

Of course, now there are rumors flying about that British Petroleum was involved in getting al-Megrahi's release, so they could get oil leases off the coast of Libya. There are even rumors that the Obama administration might have had a hand in the terrorist's release. Again, just rumors, and probably not to be considered seriously.

But here is what is to be considered seriously. Al-Megrahi, with pre-meditation, and in cold blood, planned and executed the murder of 259 people, causing the additional murders of 11 more people on the ground. Where was his compassion? He had none, of course. I'm sure he thought he was doing the work of Allah. I don't know if Allah talked directly to al-Megrahi and said, "Hey al, I just don't have the time to kill these people, so I need you to do it for me, okay?" But I don't think so.

Someone doing the work of Allah, or God, to murder innocent men, women, and children, really aren't doing God's work. They are doing the work that their hatred and intolerance has convinced them to do. They are doing it for the only reason anything gets done, no matter what the rationale: The desire to do it and the ability to do it.

I do not subscribe to any organized religion. The concept of an Almighty Creator God, as imbedded in the religious beliefs of the Jews, Christians, and Muslims, or any other relgion for that matter, is irrational on many levels. The least of which is that such a being would need humans to go around, with hatred in their hearts, killing those who do not believe as they do.

That monster, that evil, cold-blooded murderer, al Megrahi, should have been summarily executed upon conviction, either by hanging or beheading--and publicly. Unfortunately, Scotland does not have the death penalty. Therefore, he should have died in prison, prostate cancer or not.

And, to those murderer-hugging, anti-death penalty types out there who think that my belief makes me just like al-Megrahi, I say this: His execution would have been brought about because of his actions, actions that he was not forced to take. His execution would not be, as some would like to believe, a deterrent. It would serve merely to rid society of one more bit of human excrement that has no respect for the rights and lives of others.

And, if BP executives, or any politicians, had any part in getting al-Megrahi his compassionate release for economic gain, I hope that it is discovered, verified, and reported. I hope that the outrage would be so great by the public that such people would be punished severely; for such people are nothing more than greedy, unprincipled human vermin.