TTBM: While the reports remain unconfirmed at this time, and we're still awaiting word from the British Foreign Offices and the new Libyan government, but it appears that Abdel Baset al-Megrahi has been declared dead.
For those unfamiliar with this case, al-Megrahi is the only person convicted of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie on the behalf of the Libyan government. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, but was released in 2009 to return to Libya for compassionate grounds, in regards to his terminal cancer (which was expected to claim his life within three months). Upon arrival, he was treated to a hero's welcome, and was hailed by Ghaddafi.
In the immediate aftermath of the civil war, Western media located al-Megrahi in his home in Libya, a feeble and sickly man. And now, with his passing, the questions will once again surface. Should he have been released, to succume in the land of his birth surrounded by his family in reasonable confort, when his actions resulted in the deaths and continued pain of so many? What negotiations went on behind this release? And the big question of whether he was actually involved in the bombing, a question that was never truly answered.
I'm somewhat hesitant about writing this here, as I have concerns about the response that the comments that follow will contain. Those who I have known for years on this forum know my field, and this falls right into it. I cannot bring myself to crow the demise of the man, because that is not who I am. All I can do is hope that, for some of the families, some slight bit of closure is reached.