Scotland's False Compassion is No Compassion At All

WHistling foams with customary rabid zeal:

The sweetheart deal charge involves the Jewish cabinet member (only one) whose name is often seen around such things, as commentators have noted.

Sorry, Whistling (in the dark), but it is the Christians, as usual, who are up to their necks in oil, drowning the rest of us, freeing mass murderers. BP is the world's largest oil company. It does its own killing, has committed murder on US soil, as well as in the Middle East, Iran, notably, my country, and, of course, gotten away with it. (See Wikepedia.)

Very Christian of them to exchange this man for oil. Your relatives, no doubt.
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From the Times UK online

DURING the past year a small ship bristling with computers and seismic equipment has been crisscrossing the Gulf of Sidra, in the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast. Its mission: to help to find BP’s next offshore oilfields.

The company’s search for oil off Libya and in a 20,000-mile area in the west of the country potentially offers as much as £15 billion in new revenue. But less than two years ago it was feared that the deal could founder — and the reason was wrangling over Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the jailed Lockerbie bomber.

BP was finally given the go-ahead six weeks after a volte-face by the British government to include Megrahi in a prisoner transfer agreement with Libya under which prisoners could serve out sentences in their home countries. Jack Straw, the justice secretary, revealed this decision in a letter to his Scottish counterpart. He cited “wider negotiations” and the “overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom”.

Sources in the UK and Tripoli said last week that those wider interests included BP’s hoped-for share of Libya’s untapped oil and gas reserves. The decision to include Megrahi in the prisoner transfer arrangement was seen by Libyan officials as paving the way for his release — and BP’s much-coveted deal was finally ratified.

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BP last week denied the agreement was influenced by talks over prisoner transfers and specifically Megrahi. But other sources insist the two were clearly linked. Saad Djebbar, an international lawyer who advises the Libyan government and who visited Megrahi in jail in Scotland, said: “No one was in any doubt that if alMegrahi died in a Scottish prison it would have serious repercussions for many years which would be to the disadvantage of British industry.”

the cabinet member who's name is named around any

"sweetheart deals"...as mentioned just below...

is an English, NOT Scots government official.

And, bythe way, contrary to the rabbis contention, (only his lawyers questioned his quilt, etc.) there was a GREAT DEAL of question about the guilt of Megrahi...

at the time of the trials, where two others were absolved...and since then. in many places. Commented on in many of the stories about the release.

Does this 'columnist' not read anything, not know the facts...
think he can make up things as he goes along, or what?

"WAS it,

the fine rabbi asks, the "sweetheart deal between Scotland and Lybia".

The sweetheart deal charge involves the Jewish cabinet member (only one) whose name is often seen around such things, as commentators have noted.

The rabbi calls it "cheap compassion". He gives strict direction (to the Scots!) on what words would've been necessary to make it real.

Holds himself rather dear, doesn't he.

As for liking compassion, of course not, he is what he is, isn't he.

Rabbi Hirschfield,

I am heartened at last to encounter a sensible article on the topic. I am not consoled by the commitment of the terrorist to the Libyan healthcare system, because something tells me that Muammar Abu Minyar al-Qaddafi gets quite adequate healthcare, and I have a feeling that our poor Abdel will be on the same plan, which, not entirely coincidentally, will not be adversely affected by the global economy, thanks to BP's new deal with Libya.

---

JeannieTomlin,

Not everyone who disagrees with you is "spewing hate." I disagree a lot with much of what the Rabbi writes, but hate is not his style.

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HugeSceptic,

Normally, I am not so petty, but your irritating and uninformed response demands it. "Sceptic" is spelled with a "k".

Secondly, BP is a UK-based company, true. And Scotland is part of the U.K. Look it up in Wikipedia or something. Does it defy possibility that a big oil company could have gotten together with the government to broker a deal. Seriously?

Thirdly, if you google "bp oil deal libya" you get a bunch of hits from news sources posted yesterday and today, as well as related ones about ongoing negotiations regarding al-Megrahi's release FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS.

Read it.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6814974.ece

And yeah, I got some names: I've got some names: Jack Straw and Kenny MacAskill. There are any number of laws, I am sure, that might have been invoked to keep al-Megrahi behind bars. With about two gajillion of them on the books, it shouldn't be too hard to find one. But this wasn't about law or justice, and you admitted as much, so YOU stop being so sanctimonious.

Ryan Haber
Kensington, MD

"Secondly, they failed by keeping others incarcerated who are at least as likely to die of natural causes, including cancer."

WRONG and ignorant. They do not keep incarcerated others who are at least as likely to die of natural causes. In the past decade 24 prisoners have been released under the Scottish compassionate release STATUTE. It is part of Scottish law. One other at least was a murderer.

You MIGHT learn a few facts before you open your mouth and spew hate.

Properly considered, mercy says more about the giver than it does about the reciever. Mercy does not comment on the deeds, it only says that even though the perpretrator deserves it, the punishment will be curtailed.

That is what God did for us, in spite of ourselves. That is what Christ did as the Roman soldiers cricified him, when he said, "Father, forgive them..."

So if we consider what Scotland did as an act of mercy, then our ire should be directed at the unrepentant bomber (and even that we do not yet know).

To do otherwise is to make mercy a crime, and Scotland the fiend. I do not think they are.

To Rabbi Brad Hirschfield. Quotes from your article.
1 they failed by keeping others incarcerated who are at least as likely to die of natural causes, including cancer.

2 Was it about the rumored sweetheart deal which will now be made between oil officials in Scotland and Libya?

Re 1 Got any names?

Re 2 The "Scottish" oil company to which I assume you are referring is BP. This is a multi-national organisation registered in the UK. It has 22,000 employees in the US involved in the production of natural gas, fuel refineries, and energy distribution. Also Exxon are now involved in Libya thanks to the "compassion" of Scots Law.

Try to separate "Justice" from "Law". The Law of Scotland provided the excuse for this decision. End of story! Whether or not justice has been seen to have been done is another matter. Corporate business does not have a bleeding heart and it's persuasive influence over governments is considerable. Stop being sanctimonious and look at the real (money-driven, decaying)Western world with the US and the UK equally complicit in greed. I can assure you that neither myself nor my friends would condone the release of a guilty man under any circumstances. But when it comes to situations like this, we are powerless as individuals. The people of Scotland are suffering the consequences through vitriol and hatred coming from your shores. I hope some of you understand that whether Fascists on Socialists run the country, the Law is the Law and we can do nothing about it. We could elect a new government, of course, and send those with whom we disagree into political oblivion. Unfortunately, politicians can only base their decisions and legislation(unless they are dictators) on the advice offered by their "expert" advisors eg the Church, the Legislature, National Security and above all the Multi-National Corporations