Big Mistake

I'm late in getting this on the record, but I just had to say that the release of the Lockerbie airline bomber was a big mistake.

Perhaps it was pushed as a way to heal the wounds between the Muslim and Western worlds, and perhaps there is reason to do that. However, to release someone responsible for the deaths of 270 people - including several from upstate New York - does not make sense.

This does not heal wounds. It aggravates them, especially for the families of the victims. And the Libyan celebrations of his release only underscore how foolish the British were to let him go.

If he were so sick that it warranted a release on humanitarian grounds, then he should have at least been carried off the plane on a stretcher.

He should have died in prison.

I wonder whether the U.S. could pursue him for prosecution.

On the other hand, I found it interesting that there was also a story in today's paper about William Calley apologizing for the My Lai massacre in 1968. He had been sentence to life in prison, but ended up serving only three years in house arrest. While there is some value in his apology - comparable to McNamara's apology for the entire Vietnam War - one must wonder how he managed to have such a normal life after this atrocity.