Opinion: Compassion for whom?

The flight of Pan Am 103 ended in disaster over Scotland. The plane exploded in mid-air and crashed into a small village called Lockerbie.

This was in 1988.

The crash was the result of terrorists.

Two-hundred and fifty-nine passengers and crew were killed. Eleven Scots were killed on the ground when debris from the disintegrating plane slammed into their village.

Last week, the sole convicted perpetrator of the disaster was released from a Scottish prison on grounds of compassion. He is suffering from terminal prostate cancer. Supposedly, it is a long-standing Scottish policy to release terminally ill prisoners.

This was bad enough, but, in a horrible display, Libya celebrated him as a returning hero. The celebration, which President Obama called “highly objectionable,” outraged more people than even the release itself.

Times change. Political alliances and accommodations change. And, it seems the seriousness of mass murder changes. Now, accusations abound that Scotland and the United Kingdom fashioned the release as part of negotiations for Libyan oil.

Many of the families and friends of those killed in the crash of Pan Am 103 are still alive. Many say they still feel the loss of those taken from them. Time may have softened their grief, but their loss remains.

Compassion may be lacking in this world. Yet, to use compassion as an excuse to ignore intentional, premeditated murder of hundreds of strangers is sophistry and speciousness at its very worst.

The release further injures the already suffering families and friends whose lives were forever affected. The reaction of the Libyans just adds salt to those newly reopened wounds.

Compassion? Compassion for whom? Maybe just those who need Libyan oil.

Gordon Forgey

Publisher