Lockerbie

[fabrisse]

As many of you know I was scheduled for Pan Am 105 on the date of the Lockerbie bombing. About a month before the flight, my boss told me I had to change it so I paid a $75 charge and took the same flight the next day.

Because my connecting flight left Brussels at 0600, I wasn't surprised that I couldn't get a newspaper. I was shocked they were all out of newspapers in London when I tried to get one. You can imagine my surprise when I had an entire row to myself, so I could stretch out and sleep on a trans-Atlantic flight only a day or two before Christmas. Seriously, the plane was nearly empty.

It wasn't until I landed in Boston, after changing planes again in New York, that I found out what had happened. My parents and sister knew that I hoped to change my flight back to the earlier day, if it were possible, and, in those pre-internet days, no one knew who had been on the flight and who hadn't. The manifest wasn't released for several more days. Their being at the airport was an act of faith.

I'm not certain how I feel about a sick man being released from prison to die. I'm against the death penalty, but dying of cancer in prison doesn't count as that.

Part of me says a show of compassion may help the West in the eyes of the terrorists. But part of me knows 259 people had their bodies ripped apart in mid-air because of this man's actions, and it seems unjust that he should spend his last days in freedom.

Comments

[sunspiral.livejournal.com]

From what I've read about the case, it sounds like there was just a wee bit of British interest in greasing the wheels of an oil deal with Libya.

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

Yes. And oddly enough, I have to give some props to Gaddafi for dismantling Libya's part in the terror machine after 9/11. He apparently made it a personal request.

It still feels wrong.

[sunspiral.livejournal.com]

I agree that it's wrong, although there are apparently still some theories that it was an Iranian operation to get revenge for the shooting down of that Iranian airliner.

[eanja]

I had the same impression as sunspiral; that a big part of the release was because the Libyan government had specifically asked, and it was being done as a goodwill gesture toward them.

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I think that's true.

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

I didn't know this about you. I've never felt sympathy for your mother before, but now I do.

Yeah, I dunno, either.

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

Mom was an excellent wife for a soldier, and sometimes that includes having the faith to show up at the airport.

What made it worse was that I'd had an emergency appendectomy only a couple of weeks earlier. I still couldn't lift much and I was moving so slowly that I was literally the last person off the plane. I didn't know the previous day's flight had exploded or I might have tried to hurry. The relief on all their faces was tremendous.

I found the post where I list most of my close calls with bombs. It's here (http://fabrisse.livejournal.com/17699.html#cutid1), if you're interested.

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

Have you seen today's news about Tom Ridge? Kinda coincidental.

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

I'd missed that. Thank you.

[riverfox.livejournal.com]

When I heard about this, I thought, "Okay, he's dying, he should have access to his family." But the man needs to be in a prison in order to pay for what he did. I would have preferred they transfer him to another prison than set him free. I'd love to forgive the man, but it's not my place. It's up to the families, and with this release, their wishes are being disregarded. Forgiveness is a good thing, but it can't happen unless those families give it. If they can't, the rest of us shouldn't and shame on Scotland for not considering that.

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

This was just such an odd thing. If he'd been in prison for the whole twenty plus years, I might feel differently too. But he only served 8 years.

[riverfox.livejournal.com]

Yes. He was sentenced to life, and that's what needs to happen. There are other prisoners with diseases and other health problems. Why does he get the exception just because it's cancer? It's nonsense.

I have to admit - I'm at a loss

[alyburns.livejournal.com]

Many criminals die in prison of Aids, cancer, heart ailments, etc. and NONE of them are allowed to 'go home to die' - so this just completely puzzles me.

I just don't get it.

Re: I have to admit - I'm at a loss

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

That's about it.

[wadjet-theperv.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure either, particularly the hero's welcome he received when he got back to Libya. That was unnecessary I felt.

As for oil deals, I'm not sure, but the Scottish legal system is separate from the one in England and Wales, and the Scottish Parliament makes its own decisions so I don't know that our PM or government would have been involved. Of course, I don't trust any of them, so knowing the Foreign Office it's entirely possible.

As far as compassion goes, no-one in Libya had any for the victims, so I'm at a loss as to why he was released. I have a similar opinion of Ronnie Biggs who has also just been released on the grounds of ill health. He didn't have any compassion for the train driver who was bludgeoned during the Great Train Robbery.

Life should mean life.

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

I didn't know Biggs had been released.

The celebration in Libya really left a horrible taste in my mouth. As you say, compassion needed to be shown on the other side as well.