Compassion?

[poltr1]

By now everyone's heard about the dying Libyan terrorist who was released back to his own country by Scotland. Yeah, I'm not happy about it either. Especially considering that he got a hero's welcome in his home country. But it's not our country's laws at work here, and the Scottish minister who released him is defending his decision.

Somehow I'm reminded of the Babylon 5 episode "Deathwalker". Except that we don't have the Vorlons to come along and off him on the way home. That would have been fitting.

Comments

[stevieannie.livejournal.com]

I'm deeply saddened by the reaction of certain sectors of the US press, which seems to be "**** the English!".

For the record, I haven't found a SINGLE english person who isn't horrified and disgusted by the decision as well. Please don't blame English people - blame the government which is as crooked as all h*ll. We will be doing our damnedest to vote them out as soon as possible...

[owlsforodin.livejournal.com]

I'm of two minds about the release.

On one hand, the guy's terminally ill, and he should be allowed to die amongst family and friends in his homeland. Vengeance needs to have some limits.

On the other hand, was he the ringleader of his group, the mastermind of the plot, or merely the participant. If the last one, then I don't mind repatriating him if he is in the final stages of his illness. If the on of the first two is true, he should rot in the worst jail we can find. The trouble with those persons is that they can resume their position within their group and/or pass on what they know so that future terrorists can do their deeds with more success.

Personally, I have my misgivings over life sentences, but that's for another time and place.

[owlsforodin.livejournal.com]

And on the subject of his receiving a hero's welcome, I blame that on Muslim culture, not on the recipient. He couldn't control that.

[poltr1]

Point taken. There are still a lot of differences between "the Scottish" and "the English", even though they're under a common flag these days.