The latest Wikileak brings this back on the agenda. In my book 2010 A Blueprint For Change, I had quite a bit to say about this. There are four elements to the aftermath of the tragedy. The first is who did it. The second is the grief of the bereaved. The third is justice for the guilty and the fourth is was this a spontaneous act or a planned reprisal? Unfortunately the grief and the justice have become entangled in a fashion which causes distress without any certainty of justice. This needs to be looked at.
First, it is very unlikely that this was a spontaneous act of terrorism. It was certainly a reprisal for the unlawful bombing of Col. Gaddafi’s palace by American planes, refuelled in England, which missed the target but killed one of his children. It is also very likely indeed that the shooting down of an unarmed civilian airliner from Iran, flying in its own airspace by an American warship six months earlier, resulting in the deaths of all on board, all civilians and including over sixty children, was a factor in the plan. This plan was elaborate, punctilious, tragically effective and almost certainly hatched by more than one state and certainly by more than one man.
Al Megrahi may have been involved in part. The nature of his trial, in a piece of Holland ceded to Scotland for the purpose, without a jury and based on evidence initiated by the CIA, was not a fair trial by the standards of the United Kingdom, nor for that matter the United States. The desire for vengeance is not a licence to reduce the standard of transparent justice upon which both nations are founded to practice and proclaim. We therefore do not know whether Al Mergrahi was actually guilty. The Judges thought so, based on what they were told. Distinguished campaigners, including some of the kin of the victims, believe he was not.
Gaddafi has paid out $billions in compensation to relatives willing to receive it; substantially, by a wide margin, more than the U.S paid the relatives in Iran. It was and is significantly in the national interests of the U.K and U.S that relations with Libya (and Iran for that matter) were put on a better footing. Even the bellicose Tony Blair could see that. Once Megrahi be came ill pressure built for him to be repatriated. All the papers thus far leaked or released show that the British Government wanted him released but the Scottish government had the jurisdiction under its own law. It declined the Libyan blandishments but followed its proper legal process, just as in the England the authorities had released the great train robber to die of cancer at home.
The fact the Al Megrahi has lived longer than expected is obviously due to the fact that he is not in prison (who would have the motivation to fight the Big C when incarcerated for life?), but also because he is now receiving the best treatment the world can offer and oil rich Libya can buy.
Grief is one thing. Vengeance is another. Justice is something else. Compassion is a quality only the best can exercise. They must not be confused, one with the other. Each stands alone.