Kudos to the Dying

Scotland did the right thing to let Abdelbaset Ali Al Megrahi go home to die. That Lybians, like exuberant Arabs in all tribal areas, would make a big deal is a given. That the fanatics to whom it's important would view this as a "victory" is irrelevant. That Israel, my homeland, and America, my home, should view this as deeply troubling at the very least is not the issue. The only issue, which the Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond must defend, is whether, from a Scottish point of view, the decision to release this convicted, unrepentant terrorist was in sync with the notion of compassionate release.

I am in favor of the Scottish Minister.

In Judaism, rach'manut -- the concept of pity or mercy -- is tied to the subjective Jewish experience. Minister Salmond, whatever other aspersions or back-office conniving might be attributed to his actions, made a decision on what was compassionate from the temporal, Scottish point of view.

While I might theoretically like to let Megrahi's prostate gland swell and burst, sinking his alleged manhood and body into a festering and painful maelstrom of blood and death, I'm not in charge. And it's not about revenge, it is about justice. And justice, while it should be blind as the cynical American right might claim it to be, must also be compassionate.

Minister Salmond was and is correct. And in showing mercy in the face of farcical response and cynical use of the situation, the Minister shows that one must be true to oneself, regardless of how it might be perceived, or reacted to, in another's culture.

Full marks to the Scottish Parliament for doing what it believes is just, instead of what America or others might seem vengefully expedient.