Scotland’s release of Pan Am 103 Terrorist Bomber Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi was based more on personal gain than compassion, Boston University students said in a debate Wednesday.
‘It wasn’t compassionate,’ College of Arts and Sciences senior Cassandra Jenecke said. ‘It wasn’t out of the goodness of Scotland’s heart, it was a coldhearted economic move and an attempt to solidify their position in the world. I’m disgusted with the British government and Scotland.’
Over 40 students gathered for a debate led by BU International Affairs Association President Frank Pobutkiewicz and Vice President Raphaella Zerey on the recent release of the sentenced Libyan terrorist bomber.
Megrahi was sentenced to a minimum of 27 years in prison in Scotland, but was released on Aug. 20 after serving only eight years after medical evidence showed that he had three months to live due to prostate cancer. He received a hero’s welcome upon his arrival in Libya.
He was charged for a terrorist bombing that killed 259 people on board Pan Am Flight 103, and 11 more on the ground on Dec. 21, 1988, a total of 270 casualties, according to The New York Times.
Students said they were skeptical that the release was appropriate, even after taking his illness into account.
‘It sickened me to the depths of my soul,’ Jenecke said, opening up the debate. ‘[The victims] were people our age, struck out, after having the time of their lives in a foreign country.”
School of Education freshman Corey Wisler agreed with Jenecke.
‘None of them had the chance to grow old,’ she said. ‘But because he is being released, he’ll be able to get visits from his family, from his friends, and that seems terribly unfair.’
The majority of the debate centered on BUIAA’s question of whether or not the Scottish government, or any government, would leverage prisoners in order to acquire better trade relations.
Many BU students said they assumed that this was the case.’
CAS sophomore Adam Even Engel said the British government only released Megrahi in order to boost their trading system with Libya, using his illness to benefit Britain’s reputation in the world’s eyes.’
‘He was diagnosed with terminal cancer and they have something to gain from it,’ he said. ‘It makes them look good because they’ve just released somebody on ‘compassionate grounds.’ They are releasing somebody about to die for the sake of gaining a huge foothold on a part of the world that is so hard to make peace with.’
But Engel said he thinks Scotland has jurisdiction over its own national decisions.
‘ ‘I think that the Scottish government was acting on its own, because, for all intents and purposes, they are their own government,’ Engel said. ‘We never asked other countries if Bill Clinton could go to North Korea to release our people. This was a trial done by the Scottish government. It was their right to do it.’
null • Aug 3, 2010 at 2:22 pm
<br/>“The bombing of the Pan Am flight was conceived, authorized and financed by Ali-Akbar (Mohtashemi-Pur), the former Iranian Minister of Interior. The execution of the operation was contracted to Ahmad (Jabril), Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command (PFLP-GC)) leader, for a sum of 1,000, 000 US dollars. One hundred thousand dollars of this money was given to Jabril up front in Damascus, by the Iranian Ambassador to Sy [i.e. Syria], Muhammad Hussan (Akhari) for initial expenses. The remainder of the money was to be paid after successful completion of the mission.”<p/>The attack was in retalliation for the shooting down, just 5 months previously, of an Iranian airliner returning pilgrims to Iran from Mecca. That aircraft and its 290 victims (89 of them children) was shot down by the US battle cruiser the USS Vincennes which had entered Iranian waters in a deliberately provactive move. None of its crew faced any indictment for this clear act of terrorism and illegal use of military force. In fact on their return George Bush Snr decorated the senior officers…! Justice? <p/>So why did the US not go after Iran when US intelligence clearly knew they were behind it? That is a very good question and one which the CIA’s Bob Baer recently addressed. The answer is simple, Baer stated to a Scottish newspaper last month that now as then, Iran can close down the Straits of Hormuz in a month and gas prices would go through the roof and drive the US economy into a severe economic depression that would take decades to recover from.<p/>So to accuse tiny Scotland of having an economic interest (ignoring the fact Scotland is already the biggest oil producing country in Europe, so why would we need Libyan Oil?) is utterly perverted. The full truth behind Pan Am 103 will eventually see the light of day and when that day comes the role of US intelligence services and the US Government will, or should, come under serious criticism in the States. Some of actual bombers, as identified in the above US intelligence cables, presently reside in the US. <p/>Students have a right to debate serious issues such as this, but informed comment can only come through educating yourself of all the available facts. My message to Boston University students is simple; search and you will find that truth. You should, however prepare yourself for the perhaps unpalatable picture that emerges and your country’s role in it.