LIBYA, LOCKERBIE, LIBERTY

I listened to the extremely judicious and statesmanlike statement by the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Kenny MacAskill, this lunchtime. As he averred, the decision as to whether to release Ali al-Megrahi was his and his alone. He was – no doubt painfully – aware that whichever way he jumped he would attract intense, even vituperative criticism.

The vituperation has come almost entirely from the United States. There seems no sentiment anywhere in that nation on behalf of release. One bereaved mother declared that MacAskill’s decision was not compassion but weakness. This is hard to compute. The most pressure was coming from the US and the US is used to getting its way. Buckling to that pressure might well have been characterised as weakness.

Nobody on the American side of the Atlantic appears to take into account the very real concern over whether al-Megrahi was justly convicted. The evidence was wholly circumstantial. The court at the time alluded to “others” who were not arraigned but those others have never been tracked down or even named. Among those asking for further investigation of the case are bereaved people from this side of the Atlantic. That they do not subscribe to what inevitably comes over from the Americans as a naked desire for vengeance and punishment is as eloquent as it is moving.

David Cameron, ever looking for a bandwagon, has joined the condemnation of Obama, Clinton and the American families. His statement sounds like that of a self-confident but naïve Vth former: “I think this is wrong and it’s the product of some completely nonsensical thinking in my view … This man was convicted of murdering 270 people. He showed no compassion to them”. Cameron is in the same tit-for-tat mindset as the Americans. He’s probably getting his head ready for switching to an American-style attack on the NHS.

By all means should there be a fresh investigation of the evidence that remains of what is somewhat misleadingly known as the Lockerbie bombing. The debris of the exploded aircraft still exists. It is obviously a disadvantage that 21 years have elapsed since the atrocity. All this time, the conviction has looked unsound and al-Megrahi has been protesting his innocence and trying to effect an appeal. If his name comes to be cleared posthumously, it will be instructive to see what the Americans have to say about it then.