20 August 2009

MacAskill’s Two-Track Railroad: part 10/10
Leaving Glasgow
20 August 2010


Note, August 20 2011: One year ago I posted this, to mark the one year anniversary of al-Megrahi's release. Two years on, he's still alive as Libya is murdered over rumors (like sniping children, "bombing his own people," etc.), and people are still mad about what Libya's "gotten away with." Anyway, this day marks another one of shame in the long and sad history of the grinding down of Libya and its people. Mr. al-Megrahi flew home permanently guilty. The events of Agust two years ago explain how. We know why. The saga starts, as I told it a year ago, on August 3. That post is below, and links carry one through the sickening process from there.

Note, Oct. 16: I just noticed again that August 20, that fatefully two-year anniversary, was the start date of the final rebel push on Tripoli that seemed to succeed in only two days. Uncanny timing, that.

<< Previous: 19 August

One year ago today Kenny MacAskill announced and enacted the decision he made the previous day - to release Abdelbaset al Megrahi to his native Libya. At midday the BBC announced:
[Megrahi] will be flown home to Tripoli from Glasgow this afternoon following an announcement by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill. ... A spokesman for the administration insisted the decision had been reached "on the basis of clear evidence and on no other factors.
The promised appeearance came across the airwaves an hour later, at 1300 BST, from the Scottish Government's ministerial headquarters in Edinburgh. MacAskill was in top form, explaining the decision with flourishes like "compassion and mercy are about upholding the beliefs that we seek to live by, remaining true to our values as a people..." It droned on for a bit.

Another BBC story later in the day explained what came next:
A police convoy left Greenock Prison, where Megrahi was serving his sentence, just an hour after the announcement of his release was made.

It was greeting by angry jeers from a small group of local residents.

Megrahi was taken to Glasgow Airport where he boarded an Afriqiyah Airways Airbus plane bound for Tripoli, wearing a white track suit and clutching his prison release papers.
With a white scarf across his face to protect from infection, Megrahi labored up the ramp, looking like a human white flag of surrender flapping in the breeze. The colorful Libyan jet took off at 1530 BST, just two-and-a-half hours after MacAskill first opened his mouth to explain. It muscled up into the sky, away from Glasgow, and banked south towards home.

That was hardly the end of the story, but it is the end of this series of articles.

6 comments:

Bunntamas said...

STV is running a article today, titled Majority of Scots now oppose Megrahi's release included is a poll citing ...of 1013 people showed 54% disgreed with the decision to allow Abdelbaset al Megrahi to return home to Libya to die, with 35% agreeing. also included is a video w/ new content, but also some clips from the "controversial" documentary recently aired by STV

Caustic Logic said...

I did check that out. Did you happen to catch the comments beneath? Not much support there.

1) A year ago, most people there thought he really would be dead in something like 3 months. A year later, not so much. He was released too early, a SLIGHT majority seems to think.

2) It's an STV poll, not necessarily a pure reflection of Scottish opinion.

3) Quite a few people in Scotland, if not a majority, are heavily influenced by corporate media that pushed a U.S.-friendly line. Not everyone reads the Firm or even the Herald (or whatever other papers regularly mention doubts).

4) If they did this same survey on people who first correctly answered 3 of 5 questions about details of the case, I wager the opinion would be different. The medical decision could still be questioned, but an innocent man going free isn't likely to make one extremely upset.
(note: those who know the most about the case seem to have the most doubts over it, and I have yet to see how much you know)

Caustic Logic said...

P.S. - I still haven't seen Bunntamas' good evidence for her beliefs. It's becoming fairly clear that they're just faith-based.

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