US Lockerbie bomber investigation

[js207]

"Cherry picking" is a basic human condition. People tend to hear and remember things which they agree with over things which they disagree with. The strange thing to me is that people with so much responsibility weren't able to do a much better job of it!

And I'm with you, MMI: the guy's dying, quickly. Just let it go, and get down to fixing the system that (apparently) railroaded him in the first place, then released him in the second.

To me, the root problem is that the 'justice' guy was regarding anything supporting the mass-murderer's release as being good, anything impeding that release as bad ... shouldn't anyone in that position be at least neutral on the question of release, rather than wanting a reason to release criminals if he can? I'm not alone in suspecting he never really put his previous career as a defence agent behind him.

Yes, Megrahi will soon die - as he was "supposed" to almost two years ago now - which will at least bring a little closure. I would hope this debacle has at least made this government less trigger-happy about letting convicts out - perhaps amend the law to exclude violent crimes from the scope of this early release loophole, and/or change it to a tagging-based home release, with a curfew and absolute prohibition on leaving the country. As it is, even after Megrahi violated the conditions of his release (regular checkins and notifying the authorities of any change of address), was there really any chance of the Libyans returning him because of it?

Of course, bringing back capital punishment and applying it in his case would have avoided the whole issue - though sadly the promising start that e-petition had seems to have stalled now, and our politicians are probably too soft to comply anyway.

[Thorne]

the root problem is that the 'justice' guy was regarding anything supporting the mass-murderer's release as being good, anything impeding that release as bad

Which is the very definition of cherry picking. He had already made up his mind and only needed a minimum of support to "justify" his decision. To his credit, for what it's worth, he at least didn't try to misrepresent the doctor, trying to make it seem as though the doctor said one thing while in reality he'd said another. That's another all-to-common tactic.