Letter from FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III, to Scottish Minister Kenny MacAskill
August 21, 2009
The Honorable Kenny MacAskill, MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Justice
Scottish Government
St. Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
EH13DG
Dear Mr. Secretary:
Over
the years I have been a prosecutor, and recently as the Director of the
FBI, I have made it a practice not to comment on the actions of other
prosecutors, since only the prosecutor handling the case has all the
facts and the law before him in reaching the appropriate decision.
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, having
been the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the investigation and
indictment of Megrahi in 1991. And I do so because I am outraged at
your decision, blithely defended on the grounds of "compassion."
Your
action in releasing Megrahi is as inexplicable as it is detrimental to
the cause of justice. Indeed your action makes a mockery of the rule of
law. Your action gives comfort to terrorists around the world who now
believe that regardless of the quality of the investigation, the
conviction by jury after the defendant is given all due process, and
sentence appropriate to the crime, the terrorist will be freed by one
man's exercise of "compassion." Your action rewards a terrorist even
though he never admitted to his role in this act of mass murder and
even though neither he nor the government of Libya ever disclosed the
names and roles of others who were responsible.
Your
action makes a mockery of the emotions, passions and pathos of all
those affected by the Lockerbie tragedy: the medical personnel who
first faced the horror of 270 bodies strewn in the fields around
Lockerbie, and in the town of Lockerbie itself; the hundreds of
volunteers who walked the fields of Lockerbie to retrieve any piece of
debris related to the breakup of the plane; the hundreds of FBI agents
and Scottish police who undertook an unprecedented global investigation
to identify those responsible; the prosecutors who worked for years--in
some cases a full career--to see justice done.
But
most importantly, your action 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. You could not have
visited the small wooden warehouse where the personal items of those
who perished were gathered for identification--the single sneaker
belonging to a teenager; the Syracuse sweatshirt never again to be worn
by a college student returning home for the holidays; the toys in a
suitcase of a businessman looking forward to spending Christmas with
his wife and children.
You
apparently made this decision without regard to the views of your
partners in the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for
the Lockerbie tragedy. Although the FBI and Scottish police, and
prosecutors in both countries, worked exceptionally closely to hold
those responsible accountable, you never once sought our opinion,
preferring to keep your own counsel and hiding behind opaque references
to "the need for compassion."
You
have given the family members of those who died continued grief and
frustration. You have given those who sought to assure that the persons
responsible would be held accountable the back of your hand. You have
given Megrahi a "jubilant welcome" in Tripoli, according to the
reporting. Where, I ask, is the justice?
Sincerely yours,
Robert S. Mueller, III
Director
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