Scotland's Catholic Church leader says gov't ministers should not "crawl like lapdogs" before U.S.

Cardinal attacks US over Lockerbie bomber reaction Cardinal O'Brien said the Scottish government had done nothing wrong The leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland has attacked the US over the release of the Lockerbie bomber.
August 8, 2010

Cardinal Keith O'Brien said the Scottish government was right to free Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi last year on compassionate grounds.
US lawmakers want Scots politicians to explain their decision to a committee, but the cardinal said ministers should not go "crawling like lapdogs".

He said Scotland had a culture of care, while the US was fixed on vengeance.

In an interview with BBC Scotland, Cardinal O'Brien said Americans were too focused on retribution. "In many states - more than half - they kill the perpetrators of horrible crimes, by lethal injection or even firing squad - I say that is a culture of vengeance," he said. "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth - that is not our culture in Scotland and I would like to think that the US government, and these states that do still have capital punishment, would learn something from us."

The cardinal said Americans should "direct their gaze inwards" rather than scrutinise how the Scottish justice system worked.

He said the use of the death penalty meant the US kept "invidious company" with countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran.

He also backed the Scottish government's decision not to give evidence to American senators investigating Megrahi's release.

"The Scottish government has made the decision and the Scottish government is answerable to the Scottish people - not the US government or US citizens. "We shouldn't be crawling out to America, or having them come here and questioning us on our own territory."




Read the full article at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-10905562