By some merciful, magnanimous stretch, maybe there could be a scintilla of compassion for that terminally cancerous, convicted Lockerbie bomber recently released from a Scottish prison. Maybe. A scintilla, mind you.
But the ultimate outrage was the jubilant, flag-waving homecoming that greeted Abdel Baset al-Megrahi in his home country, Libya. Celebrants were bused in to the military airport in Tripoli. It was beyond disgusting and appalling.
It was also a reminder of the civilizational divide still separating the West and many Muslim countries. And Libya, it was thought, was someone we could now reason with.