Focus on Megrahi obscures fact that Scotland was dragged into US fight

The shooting down on 3 July, 1988 by the American navy ship the USS Vincennes of a civilian Iranian airliner shortly after it took off from Bandar Abbas airport in Iran quite legally is generally accepted as the incident which led to the bombing.

The United States has never admitted responsibility or apologised for this incident, which cost 290 innocent lives.

What is sad in this case is that due to American incompetence Scotland was dragged into the whole affair, Scottish lives were lost and the Scottish justice system has been placed under unreasonable pressure.

Whether the two Libyans originally accused were guilty and whether Malta (which has also been dragged in as the source of the bomb) was involved is now likely never to be ascertained unless some sort of public inquiry is held. The role of the CIA, which appears to have had intelligence on the possibility of a Pan Am flight being bombed also needs to be questioned.

Before the United States dares to criticise any decision made by a Scottish court or a Scottish minister it should remember it has no jurisdiction over Scotland and, more importantly, no moral right.

BRUCE SKIVINGTON

Pairc a Ghlib

Strath Gairloch, Wester Ross

Megrahi was found guilty. Now he has been released to go home to die and America is upset. Let us not expend too much sympathy for the crocodile tears from Washington.

Richard Nixon lied about Watergate. George Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction. The CIA broke US law in Nicaragua. It is a great pity that Scottish courts put any faith in questionable evidence provided by the US government. Whether through ignorance or design, American officials will say what is politically expedient, with no regard for the truth. The Scottish justice secretary, Kenny MacAskill, is to be commended for righting a wrong and setting Megrahi free.

JOE MIANO

Bekescsaba

Hungary

Megrahi was convicted of the murder of 275 people. As a believer in the death penalty I see no reason why it should not be exercised for such crimes. However in his case there is one overwhelming mitigating circumstance – he is clearly innocent.

NEIL CRAIG

Woodlands Rd.

Glasgow

Free personal care for older people, the smoking ban, opposition to Trident, and now Megrahi's overdue release: does it not give you a wee twinge of pride? Weel done the Scottish Government.

GEORGE McKISSOCK

Queen Margaret Place

North Queensferry, Fife

Having defected from the Labour Party to vote for the SNP at the last election, I am now completely disillusioned. The Megrahi episode has been the final straw and only demonstrates how soft the SNP is on crime and terrorism.

It seems that no matter how heinous their crimes, criminals are being freed early, with Megrahi the tip of the iceberg.

The SNP has forgotten the victims of Lockerbie and the attack on Glasgow Airport. The message it is sending out to other potential terrorists is one that leaves our country open to further attacks, because we are seen as being lenient.

MICHAEL DONALDSON

West Aveniue

Plains, Airdrie

Kenny MacAskill says Megrahi is "going home to die". On 21 December, 1988 there were 189 Americans on that plane going home to live. Sadly, they and the others who perished were not offered the same chance as Megrahi.

TIM McCORMACK

Foyers

Inverness-shire

The release of Megrahi is nothing short of an insult to the families of the 270 people he murdered. If the people of Scotland wanted to show compassion, Megrahi would have been moved to a Scottish prison infirmary that would have allowed his family to freely visit while he dies.

ALLEN SANDERSON

South 1900 East

Salt Lake City, Utah

Megrahi was a small-part player in a big-time crime, and the idea that the Libyans were merely carrying out a task on behalf of the Iranians to revenge the shooting down of a civilian airliner by the US has a logic difficult to dismiss.

Calls for an expensive and probably futile public enquiry are quite simply a waste of time. It would be a better plan to allow time to be the investigator, collecting new facts as they emerge. Across the world there are armies of people who investigated this crime. They have good memories and if they have any worth as investigators will have preserved their notes and records. Staging a formal enquiry would serve only to drive the truth further underground, from where it might never re-emerge. We have seen just that on many occasions when national interests and the desire to protect intelligence mechanisms have kept valuable information out of the public domain; now it is time to seek the truth by other means, and that should not exclude the age-old process of buying it on the open market.

JIM BRADLEY

Thornfield Terrace

Selkirk