Surprise Surprise Surprise…
From The Daily Mail.com
By Jack Doyle and Peter Allen
Last updated at 7:00 PM on 4th July 2010
The doctor who predicted the Lockerbie bomber would die within three months of his release from prison faced calls to apologise to victims’ families last night.
There was outrage after it emerged Professor Karol Sikora had admitted Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi could live for another ten years or more despite diagnosing him with terminal cancer.
Campaigners reacted with fury to his comments which they said raised new questions about the decision to send him back to Libya.
Megrahi at home in Tripoli with his family by his side. Some relatives of victims of the 1988 bombing claimed he was never as sick as he claimed to be
Tory MP Ben Wallace, a former member of the Scottish Affairs Committee, said: ‘The doctor that carried out this diagnosis owes his regret to the families of the victims.
‘He should apologise to the victims for contributing to the release of a mass murderer, who is clearly alive and well in Libya.
‘Throughout this whole sorry affair the victim has been put last behind trade deals, Scotish Nationalist posturing and dubious medical diagnosis.’
Cancer specialist Prof Sikora admitted it was ’embarrassing’ that Megrahi has lived much longer than expected
Megrahi’s release from his Scottish prison cell last August – on the orders of Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill – was mired in controversy.
Some relatives of victims of the 1988 bombing claimed Megrahi was never as sick as he claimed to be, and criticised the release on so-called ‘compassionate grounds’ as an unforgiveable mistake.
The Scottish Government claimed there was a ‘firm consensus’ among medical experts that he would die within twelve weeks.
But there was widespread speculation the move was in fact part of an Anglo-Libyan trade deal – and unrelated to his terminal prostate cancer – after it emerged UK government ministers had pushed for his release.
Cancer specialist Prof Sikora, who assessed the 58-year-old, admitted in comments published yesterday it was ’embarrassing’ he has lived much longer than expected.
He told The Sunday Times: ‘There was always a chance he could live for 10 years, 20 years… But it’s very unusual.’
And he admitted: ‘It was clear that three months was what they were aiming for. Three months was the critical point.’
‘On the balance of probabilities, I felt I could sort of justify (that).’
He denied he came any under pressure to deliver the diagnosis, but admitted: ‘It is embarrassing that he’s gone on for so long.’
‘There was a 50 percent chance that he would die in three months, but there was also a 50 percent chance that he would live longer.’
He later clarified his comments, saying there was an ‘enormous variation’ in how cancer progressed.
Abdel Baset al-Megrahi arriving at an airport in Tripoli in August 2009 after being released from his Scottish prison cell
He told the Daily Mail: ‘I really thought he would die much sooner than he has. All indications were that the disease was progressing rapidly.’
‘It would have been very convenient if he had died within three months but he hasn’t and I will have to live with that.’
The suggestion that Megrahi, the only person convicted over the deaths of 270 people in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103, could live another decade, was rubbished in Tripoli.
Sources said he was now relying on alternative medicine to battle prostate cancer, and would be unlikely to be alive next month to mark the one year anniversary of his release.
Dr Jim Swire, who lost his 23-year-old daughter Flora in the attack, said Sikora was wrong to issue a second prediction that Megrahi would die within four weeks.
Megrahi’s release- on the orders of Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill – was mired in controversy
He accepted Megrahi’s condition may have improved markedly from expensive treatment paid for by Libyan government
‘I would imagine the world’s best experts on prostate cancer were called in by Tripoli to advise on this case.
‘My personal criticism of Karol Sikora would be that he was unwise when he said Megrahi might have only four weeks to live. I thought it was very unwise for anyone to put themselves in the same situation the second time, particularly something that was very difficult to predict.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1291939/Anger-Lockerbie-bombers-doctor-admits-terrorist-live-years-despite-earlier-month-diagnosis.html#ixzz0slCVXVxS
Oh really! Now what a SURPRISE this is!
We had a discussion on the topic in the immediate aftermath of the release of the scumbag, and all I can say about it by now is hate to say I told you so.
Compassionate release my ass!!! And Kenny Macaskill should be shot by firing squad for this.
The whole thing stinks, and smacks of some kind of a dirty deal with the government of that devious dirtbag and scurrilous knave Omar Kadaffy. I’ll put my money on an oil deal. What’s the big fuss? There is money to be made. It won’t be the first time the politicians sold out the electorate, the very people they have a sworn duty to protect and keep safe. The people can protest but the only thing these failures as servants to the citizens is to be tossed out of office on election day.
Big Frank, the deal was made because of BP’s interests in Libya.
Yep, the safety from jihad and sharia of law-abiding British citizens sure means nothing compared to licking dunked-in-camel-dung bedouin sandals for a little deal for crude exploration, in lands whose inhabitants are so goddamn incompetent and stupid that they cannot even pump their own damn oil out of the ground without help from the allah-, sharia- and mahound-rejecting infidels they despise so much.
There isn’t an ounce of credibility in the muslim world remaining, yet we must take them ‘dead’ seriously. Sick. Pun intended. The physician’s diagnosis for this hypochondriac is just a symptom of this pathetic disease, and it could be amusing if it weren’t so deadly. Beyond the outrage, doesn’t that photo remind you of anything? Think “Sands of Passion” – Episode 1 (ff3:15).
God willing – hey, it’s their inshallah fatalism – Megrahi doesn’t last the week and the joke is really on him.
The joke is on us no matter how long he lives. We should have realized the threat a very long time ago. The fact the west is only now opening sleep filled eyes, means the fight will be far longer and costly in blood and treasure than it ever needed to be.