Lockerbie Bomber Released...

[Big Orange]

I feel very, very conflicted about this. In fact there is evidence that he (Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi) was just a sacrificial lamb in some cynical geo-political exchange:

Page last updated at 18:49 GMT, Thursday, 20 August 2009 19:49 UK
Lockerbie bomber freed from jail

The convicted Lockerbie bomber has been flown home to Libya after being freed from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds.

Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, 57, was jailed in 2001 for the atrocity which claimed 270 lives in 1988. The decision to release Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, was made by the Scottish Government. US president Barack Obama said the decision was "a mistake" and some US victims' families reacted angrily. Some 189 Americans were among those who died in the explosion.

A police convoy left Greenock Prison, where Megrahi was serving his sentence, just an hour after the announcement of his release was made.

It was greeting by angry jeers from a small group of local residents.

Megrahi was taken to Glasgow Airport where he boarded an Afriqiyah Airways Airbus plane bound for Tripoli, wearing a white track suit and clutching his prison release papers.

The aircraft took off shortly before 1530 BST and arrived in the Libyan capital shortly after 1930 BST.

The government said it had consulted widely before Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill made his decision on applications for Megrahi's compassionate release or his transfer to a Libyan jail. He told a media conference on Thursday that he had rejected the application for a prisoner transfer.

However, after taking medical advice it was expected that three months was a "reasonable estimate" of the time Megrahi had left to live.

He ruled out the option of the Libyan being allowed to live in Scotland on security grounds.

And Mr MacAskill stressed that he accepted the conviction and sentence which had been handed to Megrahi.

"Mr al-Megrahi did not show his victims any comfort or compassion. They were not allowed to return to the bosom of their families to see out their lives, let alone their dying days. No compassion was shown by him to them," he said.

"But that alone is not a reason for us to deny compassion to him and his family in his final days."

Mr MacAskill continued: "Our justice system demands that judgement be imposed, but compassion be available.

"For these reasons and these reasons alone, it is my decision that Mr Mr Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, convicted in 2001 for the Lockerbie bombing, now terminally ill with prostate cancer, be released on compassionate grounds and be allowed to return to Libya to die."

Mr MacAskill had been under intense pressure from the US government to keep Megrahi behind bars, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying his release would be "absolutely wrong".

"Compassion and mercy are about upholding the beliefs the we seek to live by, remaining true to our values as a people - no matter the severity of the provocation or the atrocity perpetrated," he added.

In a statement released after his departure from HMP Greenock, Megrahi continued to protest his innocence.

He said: "The remaining days of my life are being lived under the shadow of the wrongness of my conviction.

"I have been faced with an appalling choice: to risk dying in prison in the hope that my name is cleared posthumously or to return home still carrying the weight of the guilty verdict, which will never now be lifted.

"The choice which I made is a matter of sorrow, disappointment and anger, which I fear I will never overcome."

Reacting to the decision, US president Barack Obama said: "We have been in contact with the Scottish Government, indicating that we objected to this and we thought it was a mistake."

He said they had also contacted the Libyan government to ask that Megrahi not be "welcomed back" but instead placed under house arrest.

"We've also obviously been in contact with the families of the Pan Am victims and indicated to them that we don't think this was appropriate," he added.

The Libyan government has played down claims Megrahi would return to Tripoli a hero.

He will be required to live permanently at a given address in Libya, must agree any change of address and must not travel from Libya without consent, the Scottish Government said.

The families of American victims of the Lockerbie bombing reacted angrily to the news of his release.

Kara Weipz, of Mt Laurel, New Jersey, who lost her 20-year-old brother Richard Monetti, said: "I don't understand how the Scots can show compassion. It is an utter insult and utterly disgusting.

"It is horrible. I don't show compassion for someone who showed no remorse."

New York state resident Paul Halsch, whose 31-year-old wife was killed, said of Mr MacAskill's decision: "I'm totally against it. He murdered 270 people.

"This might sound crude or blunt, but I want him returned from Scotland the same way my wife Lorraine was and that would be in a box."

However, British relatives' spokesman Dr Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora in the atrocity, said he believed Megrahi had "nothing to do with" the bombing.

"I don't believe for a moment that this man was involved in the way that he was found to have been involved," he said.

"I feel despondent that the west and Scotland didn't have the guts to allow this man's second appeal to continue because I am convinced had they done so it would have overturned the verdict against him.

"It's a blow to those of us who seek the truth but it is not an ending. I think it is a splitting of the ways."

The BBC's Christian Fraser in Tripoli said that until now, Libyan officials had been careful not to comment in case they jeopardised the release, wary of last minute interventions by the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Officially there are unlikely to be any triumphant statements, but given the personal involvement of Mr Gaddafi it will no doubt be seen as further evidence of his growing stature on the international stage, our correspondent said.

It is rumoured that he has asked to see Megrahi when he returns, and the timing is perfect - in 12 days' time Libya celebrates the 40th anniversary of the revolution that brought Muammar Gaddafi to power, he added.

Our correspondent said Megrahi's release has been billed by the leader as the new dawn for Libya, and to many it will be viewed as a more palatable ending to one of the darkest chapters in the country's history.

Appeal dropped

Megrahi was convicted of murder in January 2001 at a trial held under Scottish law in the Netherlands.

A first appeal against that verdict was rejected the following year.

However, in 2007 the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission granted him a second appeal.

It subsequently emerged he was suffering from terminal cancer but a bid to have him granted bail was refused.

His second appeal got under way this year but shortly afterwards applications were made for both his transfer to a Libyan jail and release on compassionate grounds.

Earlier this week the High Court in Edinburgh allowed Megrahi's application to drop his second appeal.

BBC

[The Spartan]

I spoke with my mom last night and she brought this up. She had talked to her sister back in Scotland and from the people she had spoken to, well, they're quite upset by this.

[Dartzap]

I spoke with my mom last night and she brought this up. She had talked to her sister back in Scotland and from the people she had spoken to, well, they're quite upset by this.

Which is fairly understandable, considering the amount of crap this has dredged up.

The release has certainly shown up some stark differences in attitudes about justice between the two countries, thats for sure. It almost seemed that the State Department was shocked that one of their allies might go against their wishes. The amount of vitriol has been....disturbing, to say the least.

[Master of Ossus]

He got a hero's welcome back in Libya. What a stupid decision to let him go free.

LONDON, England (CNN) -- It was "deeply distressing" and "deeply upsetting" to see the convicted Lockerbie bomber get a hero's welcome in Libya, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Friday.

Just hours after being freed from a Scottish prison where he was serving a life sentence, Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi walked off a plane in his native country to a cheering crowd that waved flags and honked horns.

"Obviously, the sight of a mass murderer getting a hero's welcome in Tripoli is deeply upsetting, deeply distressing," Miliband told BBC radio Friday morning. He added that personally, "I find it deeply distressing of course, as well."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had specifically asked Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi not to give al Megrahi a celebratory welcome, Brown's office at 10 Downing Street said.

Brown wrote a letter to Gadhafi, delivered to the Libyan Foreign Ministry on Thursday, asking the Libyans to act with sensitivity with regard to al Megrahi's return.

The letter was private and therefore won't be released to the media, a Downing Street spokeswoman said.

Al Megrahi, 57, was convicted in 2001 of planting a bomb on Pan Am flight 103 which exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988 killing all 259 of those aboard the plane -- including 189 Americans -- and 11 people on the ground.

He suffers from terminal prostate cancer and has three months to live, Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said. Watch MacAskill deliver his announcement »

MacAskill released al Megrahi on compassionate grounds, saying he was going home to die. His decision was highly controversial, drawing criticism from the United States and dividing family members of the 270 Lockerbie victims.

Both Brown and Miliband made clear that the decision to release al Megrahi was for the Scottish government to make. But Miliband said Libya must now act responsibly.

"I think it's very important that Libya knows, and certainly we have told them, that how the Libyan government handles itself in the next few days after the arrival of Mr. Megrahi will be very significant in the way the world views Libya's reentry into the civilized community of nations," Miliband said.

"It is in our interests to stand up for our own principles in the interests of international relations," he said. "Where Libya is willing to abide and engage in the international system in a way that does the right thing for those international principles, we will engage with Libya."

Al Megrahi always maintained his innocence, complaining that he had to spend years in prison for something he did not do.

"The remaining days of my life will have to be spent under the shadow of the wrongness of my conviction," he said in a statement issued Thursday through his attorney. Watch Lockerbie bomber maintain his innocence »

He also offered sympathy to the families of the victims.

The U.S. government responded Thursday to al Megrahi's release, saying it "deeply regrets" the decision.

"As we have expressed repeatedly to officials of the government of the United Kingdom and to Scottish authorities, we continue to believe that Megrahi should serve out his sentence in Scotland," the White House said in a statement. Watch President Obama say release is "mistake" »

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a similarly worded statement.

"Today, we remember those whose lives were lost on December 21, 1988, and we extend our deepest sympathies to the families who live each day with the loss of their loved ones due to this heinous crime," Clinton said.

And the FBI said in a statement it was "deeply disappointed" over the decision to release al Megrahi.

"In a case of mass murder over Lockerbie, Mr. Megrahi served less than 14 days per victim," FBI director Robert Mueller said in the statement.

The justice secretary said he decided not to transfer al Megrahi to a Libyan prison, even though a prisoner transfer agreement exists between the United Kingdom and Libya, but instead chose to set him free on compassionate grounds.

Families of the Lockerbie victims have been sharply divided over whether al Megrahi should ever be released. iReport.com: My uncle never got to say goodbye

Susan Cohen, who lost her 20-year-old daughter, was adamant about her position, calling al Megrahi a "mass murderer" and his release "appalling."

"Are we so devastatingly weak now, have we lost all our moral fiber that you can say that Megrahi can be released from prison for a compassionate release? Where was his compassion for my daughter? Where was his compassion for all those people," Cohen told "American Morning." Bert Ammerman, whose brother died in the bombing, called al Megrahi's release "ludicrous."

"First of all, he got his compassionate release when he got life imprisonment and not capital punishment, which Scotland doesn't have," Ammerman told CNN. He should have remained in prison, then after his death, his body could have been returned to Libya, he said.

"Two, he's going to be going back, even if he has terminal cancer, as a hero, and he's going to be received as a hero in Libya," Ammerman said.

"Three, let's cut through all this information. He's being released because big business in the United States, Great Britain want the oil in Libya, and that's what's driving this whole wagon," he said.

[Vendetta]

On the other hand, now he can die of prostate cancer at the expense of the Libyan government, not the British taxpayer.

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

I agree with his release, because frankly, I can't see any value to keeping him behind bars. It's not like he's a threat to anyone with 2 months to live, and it's not like keeping him in a tiny room in a big stone building for another couple of months will somehow make things more 'just'.

[Frank Hipper]

He murdered 270 people.

Charles Manson is a name that sends shivers down people's spines to this day, and he was never found to have directly killed anyone.

Fuck him.

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

Of course, there's also the issue that Megrahi may not actually be guilty, between the Libyan government's obvious scapegoating of him, tbe break-in at Heathrow only revealed 12 years after the crime, the Maltese shop owner who identified him having seen his name in the paper as a suspect, and the considerable pressure to find a guilty party at the time. Now, it's entirely possible and plausible that he is guilty, but I would say that there remains a reasonable doubt.

[Crazedwraith]

Would it be too cynical of me to remember all the stories of overcrowding in the prisons when hearing the stories of people being realised on 'compassionate grounds.' More like they just want the room and are trying to find anyone they can reasonably release.

[Rye]

He murdered 270 people.

Supposedly. Suffice it to say, it wasn't exactly the fairest of trials.

Fuck him.

His prostate's doing that for us. At least now we don't have to pay, as Vendetta says.

[Jade Falcon]

I see in one of the tabloids, which granted aren't the most reliable sources, there are apparently efforts to organise boycotts, mostly based in the US, to boycott Scotland. In other words its tourism and Scots goods. Maybe some of the extremists that are doing this need to be reminded of the years that the IRA had fundraisers for 'the cause'. I know that those weren't government sponsored, but still....

[Master of Ossus]

I agree with his release, because frankly, I can't see any value to keeping him behind bars.

You can't see the value in preventing people like him from getting heroes' receptions for killing hundreds of innocent people? What about in alleviating the grief of his victims' families, who seem to be universally upset about this decision?

It's not like he's a threat to anyone with 2 months to live, and it's not like keeping him in a tiny room in a big stone building for another couple of months will somehow make things more 'just'.

It would keep his victims' relatives from being upset, again, over Scotland's weakness with the issue. And since when does "life in prison" justly equal "at least until your health starts failing?"

[Jadeite]

I don't have any sympathies for the US government getting pissed off about this, particularly after the conduct of the American government after the shoot down of IR 655.

Basically the US government just got a taste of the crap it's dished out onto other countries for decades, and is finding out it doesn't taste so good.

This is of course, beside the point that the man's conviction was apparently on pretty shaky grounds.

[Dark Hellion]

I agree with his release, because frankly, I can't see any value to keeping him behind bars.

You can't see the value in preventing people like him from getting heroes' receptions for killing hundreds of innocent people? What about in alleviating the grief of his victims' families, who seem to be universally upset about this decision?

It's not like he's a threat to anyone with 2 months to live, and it's not like keeping him in a tiny room in a big stone building for another couple of months will somehow make things more 'just'.

It would keep his victims' relatives from being upset, again, over Scotland's weakness with the issue. And since when does "life in prison" justly equal "at least until your health starts failing?"

Let me be the first to say woop-dee fucking doo that he got a hero's welcome in some shithole country that no one gives a fuck what the people in it think. Preventing a hero's welcome is just appeal to emotion bullshit. Numerous total shitheads get heroes' welcomes just as undeservedly. I don't know why you are pretending that this has something to do with fairness while at the same time objecting to compassionate release. It is frankly a sad statement upon humanity when we view compassion as some type of weakness when so many of the worlds problems are based entirely in the lack of empathy for other human beings.

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

It would keep his victims' relatives from being upset, again, over Scotland's weakness with the issue. And since when does "life in prison" justly equal "at least until your health starts failing?"

Turns out 'justice'/= 'vindictive punishment'. I mean, Jesus Christ, it's not like he's home-free or anything. Cancer isn't sunshine and lollipops to live and die with. It's pretty hilarious that your argument is 'We ought to lock people up to make some other people feel better.' I mean, if there's no other worldly reason to keep this guy in jail, why not just pointlessly punish everyone who's generally hated to soothe people's feelings? Why, that dastardly Bernie Madoff! Release the starved wolfhounds upon him, for it will make some people happy to see vengeance punishment done to such a villain!

[Count Chocula]

I don't have any sympathies for the US government getting pissed off about this, particularly after the conduct of the American government after the shoot down of IR 655.

Basically the US government just got a taste of the crap it's dished out onto other countries for decades, and is finding out it doesn't taste so good.

This is of course, beside the point that the man's conviction was apparently on pretty shaky grounds.

You're equating the DELIBERATE bombing of a civilian aircraft with the mistaken-identity downing of an Iranian airliner by the Vincennes, which had just finished an engagement with Iranian gunboats and could not make contact with an aircraft originating from an airport that serviced both Iranian civilian and military aircraft? An incident for which the US acknowledged its mistake and made reparations? You're retarded.

And if you can't understand the impact of a convicted and imprisoned terrorist bomber's "compassionate" release by a Western state, to Muslim revolutionary fanfare, and its impact on AQ and PLO recruiting, you're an idiot.

[Elfdart]

I see the FBI director is throwing a tantrum over the release of the "terrorist". Of course the US Government has room to complain since for over thirty years it has openly harbored Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, who blew up a civilian jetliner. If Robert Mueller wants to send a message that "terrorism" is unacceptable, he might also look into the dozens of people kidnapped and tortured to death by his own government.

[Simon_Jester]

And if you can't understand the impact of a convicted and imprisoned terrorist bomber's "compassionate" release by a Western state, to Muslim revolutionary fanfare, and its impact on AQ and PLO recruiting, you're an idiot.

War is not always a zero-sum game. In this case, I think any positive effect the enemy get from having a guy with three months to live because he's dying of groin cancer return to Libya is small enough that it doesn't justify keeping him.

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

To further expand on my earlier point, if the only point of prisons is not to rehabilitate or deter crime, but to give the majority of people in the nation represented by the State satisfaction, then there's no logical reason why 'Guilt' should come into the equation at all. From the parameters that a Few should be sacrificed so that the Many are happier, you might as well lynch gays and jews to keep the Far Right pacified.

[Jadeite]

You're equating the DELIBERATE bombing of a civilian aircraft with the mistaken-identity downing of an Iranian airliner by the Vincennes, which had just finished an engagement with Iranian gunboats and could not make contact with an aircraft originating from an airport that serviced both Iranian civilian and military aircraft? An incident for which the US acknowledged its mistake and made reparations? You're retarded.

Apparently you didn't bother reading that entire page you linked:

The United States government issued notes of regret for the loss of human lives and in 1996 paid reparations to settle a suit brought in the International Court of Justice with respect to the incident; they have however never admitted wrongdoing, nor apologised for the incident.

....

According to Iran, the U.S. had previously issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) warning aircraft that they were at risk of "defensive measures" if they had not been cleared from a regional airport and if they came within 5 nautical miles of a warship at an altitude of less than 2000 feet." IR 655 had been cleared from a regional airport and was well outside those limits when it was attacked. (§4.62)

Even if the aircraft had been an Iranian F-14, Iran argued, the U.S. would have had no right to shoot it down. The aircraft was flying within Iranian airspace and did not, in fact, follow a path that could be considered an attack profile, nor did it illuminate the Vincennes with radar. (§4.60-4.61) Furthermore, regardless of any mistakes made by the crew, the U.S. was fully responsible for the actions of its warship under international law. (§4.56)

And then they all got medals, with no punishments handed down at all. At least PA 103 had 4 US intelligence officers aboard, which makes it about equivalent to whenever we kill an entire crowd of civilians in Afghanistan/Pakistan trying to kill one person of interest.

And if you can't understand the impact of a convicted and imprisoned terrorist bomber's "compassionate" release by a Western state, to Muslim revolutionary fanfare, and its impact on AQ and PLO recruiting, you're an idiot.

I think the regular annihilation of wedding parties and bombing of rural villages provides them with better PR than this.

[Simon_Jester]

To further expand on my earlier point, if the only point of prisons is not to rehabilitate or deter crime, but to give the majority of people in the nation represented by the State satisfaction, then there's no logical reason why 'Guilt' should come into the equation at all. From the parameters that a Few should be sacrificed so that the Many are happier, you might as well lynch gays and jews to keep the Far Right pacified.

You know, it's quite possible that in civilized countries today, gays and Jews outnumber the group of people who would actually enjoy seeing them lynched...

[Narkis]

To further expand on my earlier point, if the only point of prisons is not to rehabilitate or deter crime, but to give the majority of people in the nation represented by the State satisfaction, then there's no logical reason why 'Guilt' should come into the equation at all. From the parameters that a Few should be sacrificed so that the Many are happier, you might as well lynch gays and jews to keep the Far Right pacified.

You know, it's quite possible that in civilized countries today, gays and Jews outnumber the group of people who would actually enjoy seeing them lynched...

So, lynch the Far right to keep gays and Jews pacified? That's not such a bad idea...

[Master of Ossus]

Let me be the first to say woop-dee fucking doo that he got a hero's welcome in some shithole country that no one gives a fuck what the people in it think. Preventing a hero's welcome is just appeal to emotion bullshit. Numerous total shitheads get heroes' welcomes just as undeservedly.

That doesn't mean that it's something we should encourage. Let's not mince words, here: Scotland's actions allowed others to celebrate murder and an act of terrorism.

I don't know why you are pretending that this has something to do with fairness while at the same time objecting to compassionate release. It is frankly a sad statement upon humanity when we view compassion as some type of weakness when so many of the worlds problems are based entirely in the lack of empathy for other human beings.

So in other words it's "fair" to "compassionately release" murderers? It is weakness in a society that allows convicted murderers to roam free and be rewarded and celebrated specifically for committing murder. As for your sniveling about this release being "compassionate," it's compassionate to release any criminal; surely you recognize that "compassionate release" doctrine (to the extent that it's even desirable in a society to remove the determination of punishment from judges and juries that are closest to the facts of the case and that are appointed to make that determination) involves a balancing of the severity of the crime and the foreseeable consequences of releasing him with the strength of the motivations for letting the person walk. I fail to see how any reasonable observer can ignore the severity of Megrahi's crimes, particularly given that Scotland knew ahead of time that he would be celebrated in Libya for those crimes.

[Master of Ossus]

Turns out 'justice'/= 'vindictive punishment'. I mean, Jesus Christ, it's not like he's home-free or anything. Cancer isn't sunshine and lollipops to live and die with.

Nonetheless, he is getting to enjoy the reverence of large crowds of people because he murdered hundreds--something he wouldn't have been able to do had Scotland simply continued to enforce his sentence.

It's pretty hilarious that your argument is 'We ought to lock people up to make some other people feel better.' I mean, if there's no other worldly reason to keep this guy in jail, why not just pointlessly punish everyone who's generally hated to soothe people's feelings? Why, that dastardly Bernie Madoff! Release the starved wolfhounds upon him, for it will make some people happy to see vengeance punishment done to such a villain!

What a creative strawman. Continuing to enforce a sentence against someone who committed a crime is not to disregard the law in favor of making people "feel better." Justice must necessarily respond to victims' rightful feelings of injury, and it's comforting to people to know that criminals who intentionally killed members of their immediate family are imprisoned for it.

To further expand on my earlier point, if the only point of prisons is not to rehabilitate or deter crime, but to give the majority of people in the nation represented by the State satisfaction, then there's no logical reason why 'Guilt' should come into the equation at all. From the parameters that a Few should be sacrificed so that the Many are happier, you might as well lynch gays and jews to keep the Far Right pacified.

This is an absurd strawman. First, I never claimed that the "only" point of prisons was to give the majority of people in the nation represented by the State satisfaction--the majority never even enters into it--I merely recognize that victims gain benefits from knowing that the perpetrators of crimes against them were prosecuted and punished by the state for their actions. Moreover, prisons can play lots of roles at once--deterrence, punishment, rehabilitation, and to alleviate victims' anguish at crimes perpetrated against them. None of these goals are furthered by allowing Megrahi to go free, and indeed all of them are at least arguably compromised by this decision. Finally, just because I recognize that victims should be comforted by the justice system doesn't mean that we should allow people to commit crimes against criminals--this is so absurd I don't even understand where you're getting it from.

[Dark Hellion]

Let me be the first to say woop-dee fucking doo that he got a hero's welcome in some shithole country that no one gives a fuck what the people in it think. Preventing a hero's welcome is just appeal to emotion bullshit. Numerous total shitheads get heroes' welcomes just as undeservedly.

That doesn't mean that it's something we should encourage. Let's not mince words, here: Scotland's actions allowed others to celebrate murder and an act of terrorism.

I don't know why you are pretending that this has something to do with fairness while at the same time objecting to compassionate release. It is frankly a sad statement upon humanity when we view compassion as some type of weakness when so many of the worlds problems are based entirely in the lack of empathy for other human beings.

So in other words it's "fair" to "compassionately release" murderers? It is weakness in a society that allows convicted murderers to roam free and be rewarded and celebrated specifically for committing murder. As for your sniveling about this release being "compassionate," it's compassionate to release any criminal; surely you recognize that "compassionate release" doctrine (to the extent that it's even desirable in a society to remove the determination of punishment from judges and juries that are closest to the facts of the case and that are appointed to make that determination) involves a balancing of the severity of the crime and the foreseeable consequences of releasing him with the strength of the motivations for letting the person walk. I fail to see how any reasonable observer can ignore the severity of Megrahi's crimes, particularly given that Scotland knew ahead of time that he would be celebrated in Libya for those crimes.

So... internet tough guy bullshit it is. People have celebrated terrorism and murder all the fucking time. Look at the killing of Dr. Tiller and the religious right. Let's look at the bigger picture, the guy is fucking dying. He is already damn near dead. He isn't allowed to "roam society". He's going to die in pain in a bed in the middle of a fucking desert. That sure is a great reward. Especially considering he may not be guilty, as has been shown previously in the thread. Being a big man is so damn important when you look at these facts isn't it?