Scotland freed the terminally ill Lockerbie bomber on compassionate grounds Thursday, allowing him to go home to Libya to die and rejecting American pleas for justice in the 1988 attack that killed 270 people. As the White House declared it “deeply regrets” the Scottish decision and US family members of Lockerbie victims expressed outrage, Abdel Baset Al-Megrahi left Greenock Prison and flew out of Glasgow Airport on a Libyan Airbus plane. “I think it's appalling, disgusting and so sickening I can hardly find words to describe it,” said Susan Cohen of Cape May Court House, New Jersey, whose 20-year-old daughter, Theodora, died in the attack. Al-Megrahi, who had served only eight years of his life sentence, was recently given only months to live after being diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said although Al-Megrahi had not shown compassion to his victims, MacAskill was motivated by Scottish values to show mercy.
