Though this is somewhat dated now (and I regret that it is “old news”), I myself only recently came upon the full letter that current US FBI Director Robert Mueller sent to Scotland’s Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill with regard to Scotland’s release of the Lockerbie bomber. Mueller crafts his letter in a way much more politically-correct than I could have realized myself. Yet his point is abundantly clear.
I re-print his entire letter here, as it deserves to be read in its completion:
Dear Mr Secretary:
Over the years I have been a prosecutor, and recently as the Director of the FBI, I have made it a practice not to comment on the actions of other prosecutors, since only the prosecutor handling the case has all the facts and the law before him in reaching the appropriate decision.
Your decision to release Megrahi causes me to abandon that practice in this case. I do so because I am familiar with the facts, and the law, having been the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the investigation and indictment of Megrahi in 1991. And I do so because I am outraged at your decision, blithely defended on the grounds of ”compassion”.
Your action in releasing Megrahi is as inexplicable as it is detrimental to the cause of justice.
Indeed, your action makes a mockery of the rule of law. Your action gives comfort to terrorists around the world who now believe that regardless of the quality of the investigation, the conviction by jury after the defendant is given all due process, and sentence appropriate to the crime, the terrorist will be freed by one man’s exercise of ”compassion”. Your action rewards a terrorist even though he never admitted to his role in this act of mass murder and even though neither he nor the government of Libya ever disclosed the names and roles of others who were responsible.
Your action makes a mockery of the emotions, passions and pathos of all those affected by the Lockerbie tragedy: the medical personnel who first faced the horror of 270 bodies strewn in the fields around Lockerbie, and in the town of Lockerbie itself; the hundreds of volunteers who walked the fields of Lockerbie to retrieve any piece of debris related to the break-up of the plane; the hundreds of FBI agents and Scottish police who undertook an unprecedented global investigation to identify those responsible; the prosecutors who worked for years – in some cases a full career – to see justice done.
But most importantly, your action makes a mockery of the grief of the families who lost their own on December 21, 1988. You could not have spent much time with the families, certainly not as much time as others involved in the investigation and prosecution. You could not have visited the small wooden warehouse where the personal items of those who perished were gathered for identification – the single sneaker belonging to a teenager; the Syracuse sweatshirt never again to be worn by a college student returning home for the holidays; the toys in a suitcase of a businessman looking forward to spending Christmas with his wife and children.
You apparently made this decision without regard to the views of your partners in the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the Lockerbie tragedy. Although the FBI and Scottish police, and prosecutors in both countries, worked exceptionally closely to hold those responsible accountable, you never once sought our opinion, preferring to keep your own counsel and hiding behind opaque references to ”the need for compassion”.
You have given the family members of those who died continued grief and frustration. You have given those who sought to assure that the persons responsible would be held accountable the back of your hand. You have given Megrahi a ”jubilant welcome” in Tripoli, according to the reporting. Where, I ask, is the justice?
Sincerely yours,
Robert S. Mueller, III
Director, FBI
Director, FBI
I cannot supercede this missive.
BZ
Secretary Kenny MacAskill should be ASHAMED of himself, especially when he reads this letter, but he won’t! What a disgusting idiot letting that guy go. So what if he was dying, SO WHAT. I say put him out of his misery then.
Scotland SO deserves this letter……and still they insist on “compassion” …..
Maybe Mueller’s a conscientious ex administration type…….Ridge sure isn’t. Did you see HIM going back on his remark that Bush might have raised terror levels before the 2004 election for “Security Reasons”? He prints it in a book to get it sold and now says “Well…he was ‘musing’?” GRRR.
Thanks for printing this letter; I hadn’t seen it, BZ. xx
Old news or not, this bears repeating.
The release of the Lockerbie terrorist is a travesty beyond any words I have.
He cares so much more than those “compassionate” leftists. His care is genuine.
Compassion should be shown to the victims of this act, not to a terrorist serving a life sentence.
The bombing was an act of war.
Those who do so without any sanction from any Nation deserve the Pirate label as they fight in Private War which is a threat to all mankind. There is no excuse for that by any individual, anywhere, ever.
The families of the dead deserve more than sympathy: they deserve justice brought against the perpetrators. Terrorists are far worse than animals as they have the choice to be civilized and do not do so, reclaiming all their liberties and rights to themselves. Any Nation that seeks to wage war through such means deserves no quarter as such governments are a debasement to their society and a threat to all.
Terrorists deserve the absolute, minimum compassion for anything. Civilized peoples used to understand this threat and countered it. We no longer do, and soon we shall be civilized no longer as we step away from doing the necessary to do the ‘nice’. That will get us killed.
My sympathy and compassion to the families of the victims.
May the cowardly politicians who worked this deal rot in hell when they pass on. They are debasing civilization for expedient ends, which never justify the means. They hasten the day of civilization’s fall because acting civilized is hard…
AJ: I cannot tell you how thankful I am that you come here and comment.
You are THE Educated Voice that visits.
BZ
Simply F**king amazing! I walked into a trade show this winter and was approached by a “person” asking if I was interested in going to Scotland. I’ve be wanting to go to Scotland for a long time to do a “scoth tour” (single malt highland being among my favorites). But said “person” was a full blown muslim was full-on muslim wardrobe. I promptly told her to f**k off, and I will never vist Scotland if she what was representing a FORMERLY strong nation!
William Wallace would be ashamed if he were still around.
That letter is exactly the response that all of our US leaders should be giving. I would be very interested to hear what the other members of the administration communicated to Scottish officials prior to the release. If they are like that it is a shame that the WH is blocking the release. Hope the reason for the secrecy isn’t some deal like the British made.