Come Clean!

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Thanks to another leaked document, the Sunday Times has revealed that as long ago as December of 2007 Jack Straw was writing to his counterpart in the Scottish Executive, Kenny MacAskill, about the possibility of releasing the convicted Pan Am bomber, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi.

Ignoring the issue as to whether or not this terrorist’s release might have been linked to some sort of trade deal between Britain (or Scotland) and Libya, the Government needs to come clean on what it knew about the affair before his release.

And so does ‘Bronco’ Brown after the news that he discussed with the Libyan leader, Colonel Gaddafi, the conditions under which the terrorist might be released some weeks before the event took place.

Opposition parties are rightly calling for a public inquiry into the affair but, if past calls for other inquiries are anything to go by, they are unlikely to get one.

Meantime, the record of this current government is sullied even more.
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At Least We Have Compassion

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Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber who has terminal prostate cancer, has been returned to Libya after being freed from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds.

Jailed in 2001 for his part in the atrocity which killed 270 lives in 1988, al-Megrahi is said to have only three months to live, and his release has created a storm of protest even though there are many who believe that he was only the scapegoat for the bombing of the Pan-Am jet.

Commonsense prevailed when Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill pointed out that, while no compassion was shown by al-Megrahi to those on board the flight, that alone was not a reason to deny it to him and his family in his final days.

But what a shame that compassion for this man was met with his triumphant return to Libya!
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