Compassion, unfortunately, is something that is all too often in short supply, especially when it comes to governmental institutions. In the case of the convicted Libyan Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Basset Ali Al-Megrahi, the Scottish government's decision to return the convict to Libya is a show of compassion that is raising the hackles of families of the 259 victims on the plane and the 11 on the ground. Little wonder. Al-Megrahi, an intelligence agent for Moammar Gaddafi's government in Libya at the time of the bombing, was the only person convicted for the bombing that knocked the plane out of the sky, causing it to plunge into the small town of Lockerbie, Scotland. The Libyan government has accepted “general responsibility” for the bombing and turned Al-Megrahi and another man over to authorities for prosecution. The other defendant acquitted by the Libyan government has paid billions of dollars in restitution to the families of the 270 victims. Most of the passengers who died were Americans as the plane was headed from Heathrow Airport in London to New York, and US secretary of state has issued a strong statement opposing the release of Al-Megrahi. Several American families are adamantly opposed to Al-Megrahi's release which has come under discussion because the convict has been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer and is not given long to live. He was also given the right to appeal his conviction on the grounds that he might have been incorrectly identified as the man who bought the clothing in Milan which was used to wrap the bomb. The case of Al-Megrahi pits the very real and fully justified desires of those connected to the victims to those of society at large, which unavoidably is likely to show more compassion toward those convicted of such a horrendous crime. Al-Megrahi and others who were involved in a truly heinous crime showed no compassion to those whom they murdered and as far as many are concerned, a life sentence is already enough compassion shown to at least one bereft of it. __
