Chilling

Lockerbie Bomber's Hero Welcome

Terrorist, released from Scotland, cheered in Libya.

The contrast between the Lockerbie bomber's release from prison in Scotland, and his homecoming in Libya, couldn't be greater. Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence agent who was the only person convicted in the deaths of 270 in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, was granted a "compassionate release" from a Scottish prison and departed via plane for his home country of Libya on Thursday morning, amid protest and outrage from American leaders, including President Obama. Al-Megrahi's arrival in Tripoli, however, was that of a hero: Al-Megrahi exited the plane to a tarmac full of cheering crowds, waving flags and pumping their fists in support of the cancer-stricken terrorist. The New York Times reports that Washington had pressured Libya not to permit a hero's welcome for Al-Megrahi, leaving D.C. with two diplomatic failures: one with Scotland, which permitted the bomber's release, and one with Libya, which permitted the jubilant public homecoming. The father of one Al-Megrahi victim, an Army specialist, spoke against the bomber's "compassionate release": "He didn't show our kids any mercy so I have a hard time feeling compassion for him."