[The Herald today prints six letters on the repatriation issue. All are supportive of the Cabinet Secretary for Justice's decision. The following are excerpts.]
The Herald deserves great credit for its fair and measured reporting on all aspects of the Lockerbie atrocity and the freeing of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi. Clearly, the only way peace of mind can be achieved on both sides of the Atlantic will be by the establishment of an independent public inquiry to examine the facts surrounding this most complex and controversial case.
The victims and their families deserve to know the truth, and perhaps it will emerge that Megrahi has also been a victim. Open minds and generosity of spirit are needed for the present, and future opinion polls may very well show a fair-minded public giving full support to a Justice Secretary whose brave and principled decision allowed Scotland to demonstrate to the world that it is a nation defined by its compassion, integrity and justice to all.
Ruth Marr, Stirling.
I am immensely proud of the integrity and courage of the Scottish Justice Secretary's decision and, as an elected member of the Scottish Parliament and member of the Scottish cabinet, he does act in my name, and I accept that. I also think there may well be profound positive implications for world politics in the long run.
First, and not only because Gaddafi's son says it, this decision may well have "touched Libyans", and the flags were celebratory and respectful, just as we would celebrate the return home of a long-held prisoner from abroad.
Secondly, this decision may well have touched the hearts not only of Libyans but also moderate Muslims around the world. It may have a deep and long-lasting impact on Muslim views of the west, when one small nation does not practice vengeance but has the maturity to act in a compassionate way to the one who is held to have injured us.
Veronica Gordon Smith, Edinburgh.
The speculation regarding the amount of time Megrahi has to live appears to reach new lows of obscenity.
So far nobody has questioned whether the "three months" are lunar months or the various combinations of 30- and 31-day months.
We now have the playground spectacle of the greatest experts in the western hemisphere uttering phrases hardly seen in the scientific journals of their chosen subjects; phrases such as "egg on his face" rather than: "The predictions have led to somewhat divergent results."
We also have expert politicians who, like onlookers at a playground fight, are backing their "expert" because he is a "better professor than the rest".
I can only hope that if they are eventually proved wrong, they have the good grace to apologise for holding everyone up.
I have long been of the opinion that when an expert leaves medicine for politics, then there is an immediate increase in the IQ of both professions; this saga has only strengthened my opinion.
Dr Andrew Craik, Calderwood, East Kilbride.
Have our opposition politicians really descended to the level of playground conkers whereby we may expect ructions should Megrahi live one day longer than three months predicted?
Bill Waddell, Cumbernauld.
Are the Americans really concerned about the release of Megrahi, purely because of the Lockerbie atrocity?
The detention of Megrahi in a Scottish prison put a cloud over relations between Libya and the UK; had he died here, antagonism towards the UK would have lasted many years.
As long as he remained in Scotland the UK suffered difficult trade relations with Libya, leaving a gap for others to cash in on, both in trade and oil exploration. No doubt many of the companies best placed to take advantage of this situation would be from the US.
International relations are a murky business at best. Maybe we should hesitate and think a while before accepting the outrage of some US officials at face value.
Maggie Jamieson, South Queensferry.
MISSION LOCKERBIE:
ReplyDeleteMEBO are determined to reveal the Scottish miscarriage of justice with our exonerating evidence and thus help to rehabilitate Libya and give Mr. Abdelbaset Al Megrahi his honour back.
We will prove that Libya and Mr Al Megrahi had absolutely nothing to do with the PanAm 103 bombing!
A new public investigation in this case will rise Libya's international reputation and the prestige of Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi and his son Mr. Saif el-Islam Gadhafi, who was a key figure in normalizing Libya's relations with the World and make the international community aware of the unjust UN-embargo against Libya and its people.
The key for the final proof is that the MST-13 fragment
does not descend from a timer supplied to Libya.
After evaluating the criminal manipulation in the Lockerbie affair, it must be concluded that the “Lockerbie Criminal Team” after September 17, 1999 had themselves been convinced that the MST-13 timer fragment, allegedly found in Lockerbie, could not have come from the twenty MST-13 timers delivered to Libya.
This was the logical reason that after Bolliers personal expertise of the timer fragments in Dumfries beetween September 13 and September 17 these two crucial pieces of evidence PT/35(b) and DP/31(a) against Libya had been manipulated for a second time intentionally by Scottish "Officials".
Why the manipulated MST-13 timer fragment play such an important role in the "Lockerbie-scandal"?
The prosecution was already in possession of at least one MST-13 timer before the timer fragment was allegedly found in the collar of a T-shirt at the site of Lockerbie. This timer was used to set up the wrong trace to incriminate Libya and put heavy economical sanctions (UN embargo) on Libya (1993). Then Mr Abdelbaset al Megrahi and Mr al-Amin Khalifa Fhima were found as scape-goats and indicted. For Megrahi's conviction the Malta-bombing-suitcase theorie was invented (2001).
It was only through this criminal action that it became possible to carry out the political order to implicate and maintain the country of Libya in the attack on Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie.
Important: Some of the Scottish Officials are the true criminals in the Lockerbie Affair: Ex forensic scientist Dr Thomas Hayes (RARDE) UK, Ex forensic expert Allen Feraday (RARDE) UK and three known persons of the Scottish police are responsible for manipulating evidence in the Lockerbie Affair and are still protected by the Scottish Justice ! (They are not involved in the PanAm 103 bombing, but responsible for the conspiracy against Libya).
More informations including defence evidences on: www.lockerbie.ch
by Edwin and Mahnaz Bollier, MEBO Ltd. Switzerland