US ambassador hits back at cardinal over Megrahi release

Published on Thursday 9 September 2010 15:41

ONE of America's most senior diplomats last night issued hard-hitting criticisms of the Scottish Government and a senior Catholic cardinal when he spoke in Glasgow last night.

• US ambassador Louis Susman Picture: TSPL

Louis Susman, US ambassador to the UK, strongly condemned justice secretary Kenny MacAskill's decision to release Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, and made the pointed remark that America was "not a vengeful nation" in reference to recent comments made by Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the leader of Scotland's Roman Catholics.

Speaking at a CBI dinner in Glasgow, Mr Susman said: "We have said repeatedly we respect the right of the Scottish Government to make the decision, but we felt that the heinous nature of the crime did not justify the release under any circumstances.

"We agree with Prime Minister Cameron who said that Megrahi should not have been shown compassion when he did not show any himself.

"The fact that Megrahi lives on as a free man, 13 months after his release, in Libya, in luxurious surroundings, only reinforces our conviction that he should have served his sentence in Scotland. America is not a vengeful nation as some have said."

His last remark was seen as a pointed response to statements from Cardinal O'Brien. Last month the cardinal criticised America's "culture of vengeance" and told US Senators they had no right to question the standards of Scotland's justice system over the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

Mr MacAskill freed cancer-stricken Megrahi on 20 August last year. He was given three months to live, but is living with his family in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

The decision caused uproar in the US and among many of the relatives of the 270 people he was convicted of killing in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

In his remarks, Cardinal O'Brien condemned the American justice system and spoke of a "conveyor belt of killing" in its use of the death penalty.

He also accused the American system of being based on "vengeance and retribution" saying he was glad to live in a country where "justice is tempered with mercy". He also likens America's executions to those in China, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran and highlights those countries' poor human rights records.

He said the US senators seeking to question Scottish and British government ministers should instead "direct their gaze inwards".

The Cardinal also backed Mr Salmond's decision not to send his ministers to the US for a Senate hearing, saying that Scottish ministers are answerable to Scots and not to the US. He described the decision as "thoughtful and considered".

Shortly after the Cardinal's remarks, Mr Salmond said: "Some people say that the Scottish system has too much compassion.At the end of the day, I think I'd rather be First Minister of a society with too much compassion than be First Minister of a country with too little compassion."

He added: "We have great respect for the relatives in all 23 countries who lost people in the Lockerbie atrocity.

"Some relatives say we took the right decision. Many American families say we took the wrong decision. All we ask people to understand is that everything we have done on this matter has followed the principles of Scottish justice."

MacAskill rejected Megrahi's application to be released under a Prisoner Transfer Agreement negotiated by the UK government and Libya.

It emerged subsequently that the Libyans had delayed signing an oil deal with BP in order to pressure Megrahi to be included in the agreement, which the then UK justice secretary Jack Straw subsequently agreed to.

The revelations prompted the US Senate's Foreign Relations Committee to launch a hearing into the release.

Both MacAskill and Straw were asked to attend, but both declined on the grounds they did not answer to a foreign legislature. The senators have now declared they may visit Scotland later this year to speak to MacAskill and Straw here.

The Catholic Church has held a long standing opposition to the use of the death penalty. However, the decision by Cardinal O'Brien to link America's record over the death penalty to its call for an inquiry over Lockerbie was criticised by relatives of those who died.