Dear Tipsters,
For Mike and others. Here is the end of the Blitzer interview again. You can
decide the balance between the law and judgment.
Stuart
MacAskill: In Scotland, we deal with these matters through the court system. We
do not possess a system of vengeance or vigilantism. If my son or daughter were
taken in a manner like that, I would expect to be replicated what happened. The
Scottish police to investigate, the Scottish prosecution system to bring him to
account and the Scottish court system to act. That is what was done. As I say,
judgment was done. He has been punished. But he now faces a sentence we don't
possess in Scotland. We do not have the death sentence. Had he not been...
Blitzer: All right.
MacAskill: ... terminally ill, he would have remained in a Scottish prison. He
now faces a sentence that I can't vary, but we're prepared to show clemency in
the final days to his family, despite the fact that he didn't show that to ours.
Blitzer: Mr. MacAskill, you realize that for the rest of your life, this was
your decision. You're going to have to live with this decision for the rest of
your life. This was a major decision, probably one of the most important, if
not the most important political decision you have ever made. Are you
comfortable knowing that from now on, the name Kenny MacAskill, Scottish
justice secretary, will be linked to the release of this mass murderer?
MacAskill: I'm proud to serve as the cabinet secretary for justice in the
government of Scotland. This is a decision I did not seek to make. It's a
decision I would not have wanted to make. But it was a decision that had to be
made. An application was made by him, and an application for prisoner transfer
was put in by the Libyan government. The buck, as you would say in America,
stops with me. I have made that decision following due process, following the
laws and guidance that we have in Scotland. And I believe that living up to the
values and the humanity that we possess in Scotland. Many will disagree. Many
do agree. I know that it divides opinion in the world as it divides opinion in
the family. But my responsibility was to make that decision, and I did so on
the basis that in Scotland, we want justice done, but we want compassion
possessed and capable of being shown. Two wrongs never make a right.
_____________________________________________________
Sent via Web Access
"Floreat Labore"
"Recti cultus pectora roborant"
Stuart J. McKelvie, Ph.D., Phone: 819 822 9600 x 2402
Department of Psychology, Fax: 819 822 9661
Bishop's University,
2600 rue College,
Sherbrooke,
Québec J1M 1Z7,
Canada.
E-mail: [email protected] (or [email protected])
Bishop's University Psychology Department Web Page:
http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
" Floreat Labore"
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