Today, the worlds focus will be on the Scottish Parliament, waiting with anticipation to see the outcome of a special debate. A crisis debate is how some are describing the event in the media, an emergency debate.
Will the bomber topple First Minister, Alex Salmond, and his minority SNP government? The Parliament has been recalled from its Summer recess to debate the controversial decision by Justice Minister, Kenny MacAskill, to free the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing incident.
Should the debate lead to the First Minister deciding that he will "go to the country", and that is a possibilty but not a certainty, then ironically the terrorist bomber will have brought down the Scottish government.
The leaders of the opposition party's are already indicating their unhappiness with that decision before hearing Kenny MacAskill giving his explanations in the Parliament.
This morning I spoke with a friend who is a member of the Scottish parliament who indicated that as she met with constituents the vast majority, with one exception, were extremely unhappy with the decision and were hoping that the world would understand it was not the decision of the Scottish people.
Having visited the Parliament many times in my visits with politicians, one thing that has impressed me has been the debating chamber itself. Looking around the walls one can see the cut outs in the shape of anonymous people. Symbolically it is a constant reminder to those debating of two things.
1. The people of the nation are looking in at them as they debate the crucial questions.
2. The debaters need to look out to the people of the nation who they are meant to be representing.
Today, there will be a wider perspective on this symbolism. Today, not just the nation, but the world looks on as Scotland looks out on a world debating the implications of the controversial decision.
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Comments
It was also a bit naive not to expect the welcome to be as it turned out to be.
There are Scots who felt extra badly when they saw the Scottish flag (the st. Andrews Cross) being waved as part of the celebrations in Lybia.
Some British politicians have put a spin on it that it was not organised by the authorities but was a spontaneous happening by the ordinary people. HOWEVER, that seems unlikely as the welcome was at a military airfield which would not have been open to any one unauthorised.
I would hope that the thinking, rational world (is there even such a thing?) would realize that it was Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill and not the people of Scotland that set this murderer free. If nothing else, the Scots deserve the sympathy of every US citizen (come on people, think "Vietnam", think "Iraq", think "Kent State" if you want to find some embarrassments at home) for having such a moron in a position of power.
MacAskill, however, deserve our unanimous derision.
mmmm is this any different to the concerns raised by American politicians about Lybia giving a hero's welcome to a terrorist??? and on that bases should we have been advocating boycotting any American companys etc as some are advocating for Scotland?
No, you are right Bill, we need to be more civilised than that.