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FBI Director Decries Bomber's Release

By DEVLIN BARRETT
,
AP
posted: 16 HOURS 31 MINUTES AGO
comments: 741
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WASHINGTON (Aug. 22) - FBI Director Robert Mueller sharply criticized Scotland's justice minister for releasing the Lockerbie bomber, an act that "gives comfort to terrorists" all over the world.
Mueller sent a letter to Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, who cited compassionate grounds in his decision to let Abdel Baset al-Megrahi return to Libya because he has prostate cancer and was given only months to live by British doctors.
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Lockerbie Controversy
Thousands greet convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi on Thursday as he returns home to Libya. Al-Megrahi was the only person convicted for downing a U.S. passenger jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. He was released on compassionate grounds. Al-Megrahi, top left, is accompanied by the son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
Amr Nabil, AP
Amr Nabil, AP
The angry tone of the letter is out of character with the normally reserved Mueller, indicating his outrage is personal as well as professional. He also sent copies to the families of the Lockerbie victims.
"I have made it a practice not to comment on the actions of other prosecutors," Mueller wrote. "Your decision to release Megrahi causes me to abandon that practice in this case. I do so because I am familiar with the facts, and the law. ... And I do so because I am outraged at your decision, blithely defended on the grounds of 'compassion.'"
Before he became FBI director, Mueller spent years as a Justice Department lawyer leading the investigation into the 1988 airplane bombing that killed 270 people, most of them Americans.
Mueller said Thursday's release was "as inexplicable as it is detrimental to the cause of justice. Indeed your action makes a mockery of the rule of law."
His letter was dated Friday, and was made public Saturday.
Releasing the convicted bomber "gives comfort to terrorists around the world who now believe that regardless of the quality of the investigation ... the terrorist will be freed by one man's exercise of 'compassion.'"
A statement from Scotland's government on Saturday noted Mueller has "strong views" because of his involvement in the case. "But he should also be aware that while many families have opposed Mr. MacAskill's decision, many others have supported it," the statement said.
Bert Ammerman of River Vale, N.J., who lost his brother Tom Ammerman in the bombing, praised Mueller for the "frankness and honesty" in his condemnation of the release.
Mueller recounted his own emotional experiences leading the investigation — seeing a teenage victim's single sneaker, a Syracuse University sweatshirt, toys in the suitcase of a businessman heading home to see his wife and children for Christmas.
"Your action," he wrote MacAskill, "makes a mockery of the grief of the families who lost their own on December 21, 1988. You could not have spent much time with the families, certainly not as much time as others involved in the investigation and prosecution."
He ended the Lockerbie letter with a frustrated question: "Where, I ask, is the justice?"
President Barack Obama on Friday called the elaborate homecoming in Libya for the freed bomber "highly objectionable."
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2009-08-22 17:28:05
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Junelee0319

01:25 PMAug 23 2009

vcponsardin.............yeah - right - and those planes only hit the twin towers because they missed a turn

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Marin20783

01:25 PMAug 23 2009

The people of Libya and other middle east countries celebrate the murder of innocents because that gives them status in their Muslim religion. Remember the films of the people of Egypt celebrating the deaths of the innocents in the twin towers, and how appalling that was, and how there was no an outcry by Muslims? Of course now we hear that Muslims were alarmed, but at the time all we heard from them was that the murder of innocents was "part of their religion, but not necessarily practiced by all muslims". Burning people at the stake is part of the history of Christianity, but if someone was to practice it today, it would not be dismissed as "part of the religion" but instead there would be a public outcry by not some, but ALL Christians. Scottish officials did the Christian thing by releasing a mass murderer on compassionate grounds, but it's probably fortunate that LIbya's response to the gesture provided such a clear view of Muslim thinking. Does anybody still think they are ...

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RaspberriesO

01:25 PMAug 23 2009

SALTY72701:23 PMAug 23 2009THE RELEASE OF THIS TERROIST SCUM BAG WAS ENGINEERED BY A MUSLUM INFLUENCED REGIEIME CALLED GREAT BRIITIN ENGLAND OR WHATEVER YOU WANT TO CALL THIS WHOER OF A COUNTRY, ONCE GREAT BUT NOW JUST A WHIMPER OF IT ONCE WAS A WINSTON CHRCHILL EMPIRE OF STRENGH---WHERE THERE IS SMOKE THERE IS FIRE---THEY HAVE EXCHANGED THEIR INTEGRITY FOR OIL , A DEAL THIS WHOER OF A NATION MADE WITH LYBIA--TO FREE THIS SCUM BAG TERRORIST AND SPIT IN THE FACE OF THE RELATIVES THIS TERRORIST MURDERER MURDERED..THE ONCE GREAT BRITAN IS A WHOER.>>>>>The U.S. is riding the U.K's coattails into the same kind of hell under Obama.

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SALTY727

01:23 PMAug 23 2009

THE RELEASE OF THIS TERROIST SCUM BAG WAS ENGINEERED BY A MUSLUM INFLUENCED REGIEIME CALLED GREAT BRIITIN ENGLAND OR WHATEVER YOU WANT TO CALL THIS WHOER OF A COUNTRY, ONCE GREAT BUT NOW JUST A WHIMPER OF IT ONCE WAS A WINSTON CHRCHILL EMPIRE OF STRENGH---WHERE THERE IS SMOKE THERE IS FIRE---THEY HAVE EXCHANGED THEIR INTEGRITY FOR OIL , A DEAL THIS WHOER OF A NATION MADE WITH LYBIA--TO FREE THIS SCUM BAG TERRORIST AND SPIT IN THE FACE OF THE RELATIVES THIS TERRORIST MURDERER MURDERED..THE ONCE GREAT BRITAN IS A WHOER.

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(1)

BCCPAN

01:23 PMAug 23 2009

America made a bad choice in the last election. We have an all talk do nothing leader who bows to dictators and thinks sweet talk will defuse terrorism. Plus he wants to change America into Europe didn't we fight a war to get away from Europe?

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vcponsardin1

01:23 PMAug 23 2009

American's are too stupid to remember that the bombing of the Pan Am flight was a direct response to the downing of Air Iran Flight 655 a few months earlier in which 290 innocent men, women and children were killed when the US Navy "accidentially" shot it down over the Gulf. While I deplore both actions as outright murder, let's not forget the context. The Libyans didn't bomb Pan Am for no reason.

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Junelee0319

01:23 PMAug 23 2009

Where was the united nations ? that worthless waste of space and money

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GFRATI8

01:20 PMAug 23 2009

JTonkins 01:08 PMAug 23 2009 Yarnall PI 12:52 PMAug 23 2009 obama could have stopped this! but he didn't as the terrorist was a brother muslim. ---------------------- Obama is not a muslim...He's a P U S S Y==================LOL!!! YEAH I'LL BET THE LEADER OF THE TALIBAN IN PAKISTAN NOW DEAD IS THINKING THAT RIGHT?.............LOL

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DJONES528

01:19 PMAug 23 2009

Where is Hillary Clinton? She must be drinking beer with Joe Biden in the rose garden!

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GFRATI8

01:19 PMAug 23 2009

JTonkins 01:14 PMAug 23 2009 Do you think Michelle will ever let Obama have his balls back so he can actually STAND UP for America???==================DO YOU THINK BUSH WILL EVER CAPTURE OR KILL BIN LADIN?.....................OOOPPS....8 YEARS LATER AND NOTHING..

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FBI Director Robert Mueller sharply criticized Scotland\'s justice minister for releasing the Lockerbie bomber, an act that gives comfort to terrorists all over the world. Mueller sent a letter to Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, who cited compassionate grounds in his decision to let Abdel Baset al-Megrahi return to Libya because he has prostate cancer and was given only months to live by British doctors.