Terrorism is bad. Terrorists doubly so. Cowards who plan the mass killings of innocent people are the vilest scum on the planet. I don't think that you will find anyone, save a terrorist, who disagrees with these statements.
I have been following this case of the Lockerbie bomber with interest for the past few months. This convicted terrorist who spent only a few years in jail for the bombing of an airline over Lockerbie, Scotland, asked for a compassionate discharge to return to his home in Libya because his cancer is terminal. Last week, the Scottish government agreed to discharge this terrorist on compassionate grounds. The terrorist returned to Libya and was received with a hero's welcome, being greeted by Libya's ruler, Ghadaffi, as he stepped off the plane. International condemnation of the celebration was declared and many are now calling for a boycott of Scotland as a result of their act of compassion.
Was this release misguided? Should this terrorist have been left to rot in jail until he was dead? That he deserved no less is clear, but to my way of thinking, I think Scotland got it right.
We are in a battle for the very souls of humanity. It is a battle with many battlelines and many victims - some innocent, some not. Sometimes the forces of good win, sometimes the forces of evil. Oftentimes, its impossible to tell who won, who loss, and who was good or evil.
But compassion is never wrong. And showing compassion to your enemy is doubly never wrong. I know that it hurts the victims and I know that it hurts our sense of justice to see such an ugly display as the one that greeted this terrorist bomber in Libya, but the release of a dying man from prison was the right thing to do. Allowing a man to die surrounded by loved ones, even if he didn't offer the same comfort to his many victims, is the right thing to do.
In this battle, the only victory that can be declared is by the side that stands by what they claim to believe. Both sides say they are right. Both sides say that they love peace and justice. But one side released a sworn enemy from jail so that he could die with his family, and the other cheered a mass murderer like he was a war hero.
It might feel like ash in your mouth right now, but in the larger scheme of things, Scotland showed its quality and will taste something infinitely sweeter in the end. They showed the world who they were.
1 comment:
"Compassion is never wrong."
Depends on what you mean by compassion. If compassion means sparing his life, then by all means, I agree. If, however, compassion means foregoing all sanction, then I disagree vehemently.
Second, compassion is only appropriate when it is understood and acknowledged by the party upon whom it is bestowed. It flows from a position of power and righteous judgment. If it is seen merely as an indication of weakness and not as act of kindness or mercy, then it (compassion/mercy) is meaningless.
Cheers.
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