Memories of Lockerbie Untainted by a Killer's Act

Lockerbie, Scotland was my Brigadoon. A dear friend from Wales and I were driving north to Edinburgh when we encountered heavy fog. As she was doing all the driving, I was quick to agree when she suggested we stop in the next town we came across to spend the night and allow the thick fog to dissipate. We drove slowly around a bend in the road and there was the lovely little town called Lockerbie. It was 1982 and I had never heard of it before. But we found a cheap B&B and headed off to the local pub for a few pints. The locals were welcoming of two young women -- one from the States and one from South Wales -- buying us drinks and challenging us to darts. It was a memorable evening that quickly faded away. Until one day I heard on the evening news that a Pan Am jet had exploded over the town of Lockerbie. My harbor from the storm had become the epicenter of a tempest.

This past weekend, my teenage daughter and I were seated in the Portland, Maine jetport waiting for our delayed flight back to Virginia after a blissful week in coastal Maine. The TV in the waiting area was tuned to CNN but with the sound turned down. She asked why crowds were jubilantly celebrating the arrival of a frail man walking down the steps of a plane. Suddenly images of Lockerbie flooded back -- with images of destruction. I recalled the fuselage lying in a field, airline seats and luggage scattered across the town, grieving relatives waiting at JFK. How to explain to my daughter that a man convicted of murdering hundreds of innocent people was being hailed as a hero in his native Libya?

It is impossible to reconcile my memory of a bucolic little Scottish town with the searing images of a passenger jet brought down by evil onto the rooftops of that very place. It is even harder to see the only person convicted of it embraced by so many. So often one event can eclipse another, with the most horrific dominating. But there is also karma. Lockerbie was and is more than the site of a tragedy. And the hero's welcome will quickly devolve into a hellish descent into the final stages of terminal cancer for Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi. Memories remain for all of those who lost loved ones on the plane; hopefully they hold onto the beautiful ones. I choose to remember Lockerbie as I saw it emerging from the fog -- a town like many in Scotland, with arms wide open. Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, guilty or innocent, has only weeks to sift through his own memories. We must trust that they, too, are part of his punishment.

Comments

[rudolph]

Sentimentality is very gratifying, but it's a narcotic substitute for historical perspective.

[adamsste]

The guy is already a hero and he knows he is going to die. What would prevent him from strapping on a backpack of explosives and going out as a martyr? I don't think that the Scots thought it through.

[Rubiconski]

When are we gonna lock up our own terrorist, George Bush? Hundreds of thousands of innocent people died at his command. No one accountable?! Oh that's right they were only A-rabs. The Israelis and the zionist media are okay with that.

[adamsste]

You are absolutely right. Then we can go after Obama for the deaths taking place in Afghanistan......

[skipper25]

One wonders why there has been so much passion generated by Megrahi's release when nothing at all was said about the release of Calley, the officer responsible for the My Lai massacre.

[Freestyler]

So true.

[yappnmutt]

the man was likely innocent, although we will never know for sure. it is also likely the downing of the flight was probably in retaliation for the downing of an iranian passenger plane by usa forces.

[Passenger57]

I read about Megrahi's trial - and it was clear that he was designated to be the one to go away for the bombing. Just the story of how the bomb made it through (I think) three checkpoints is incredible.
I'm tired of hearing how monstrous Megrahi is - especially with no mention of the fact that he obviously didn't work alone.
Let's not "move on" until we find out who the actual masterminds were...

[cosmo9]

Senator John McCain was in Libya last week kissing up to Colonel Gadaffi are you aware of that? I sincerely doubt that Megrahi is guilty but even if he is then he would have been ordered by his leader to carry out this act. What does that say about your leaders hugging and kissing Gadaffi?

Tell me also why is America still sheltering the terrorist accused of blowing up a Cuban aeroplane killing 80 people?

[lastpost]

Is compassion a sign of weakness, or is it the proof of strength?

Did he actually do it? Or is he a sacrificial token of his own system?
Either way, if the prognosis is correct, he is a dead man walking.
Having him perish in a prison cell would not revive one single victim.
His immediate family are arguably as innocent, as the victims and their families are.
Through this, one side has demonstrated to the other that although also animals, they are the more civilised form.
Isn’t fostering retaliation a sentiment corrosive in the extreme?
Pragmatic peoples may perceive what feuding families might fail to. That punishment is one thing. But when set on a search for revenge, best first dig two graves.

[S1m0n]

Given that:

1) a judge has recently ruled that al Megrahi did not receive a fair trial because of prosecution misconduct* and that this was material and likely to have affected the verdict, and
2) it will be impossible to re-try the case because the accused has only 3 months left to live,

releasing al Megrahi to die at home is the most just among of a short list of bad but still possible options.

*Specifically, concealing exculpatory evidence from the defense.

[TXfemmom]

My guess is that this man has more than just a few weeks to live. He has done everything he can do to look frail, but his health will suddenly rally, now that he is in Libya.

The civilized world needs to shun Libya, as we see that they celebrate a mass murderer of innocents.

[Garioch]

Right, are you under the impression that we don't have doctors in Scotland?

[Freestyler]

Tamar provides a way to feel life amidst the memories of mass murder in the air -- and the recent release of its “mastermind.” Her vision of Lockerbie before the downing of the plane offers a peaceful way to move forward even as the madman behind the disaster has his few worthless moments of reliving his notoriety.

[Garioch]

Even those who think that he was guilty don't generally try to say that he was the mastermind behind it.