By now we’ve all heard the news that Scottish authorities have decided to release the only man ever convicted for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103; Britain’s worst terrorist attack that killed 270 people, many of them American students.

Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, a Libyan, was released on grounds of “compassion.” This is clearly an outrage. A convicted terrorist who took part in the killing of more than a quarter of a thousand people is unworthy of compassion. And to add insult to injury, upon his return to Libya, al-Megrahi was welcomed as a hero with Libyans bused to the airport to greet him and one of Qadhafi’s sons part of the welcoming entourage.

His release was done in defiance of strong U.S. opposition. Secretary of State Clinton called it “absolutely wrong.” British Conservative leader David Cameron also expressed unequivocal opposition. Spare me. Releasing Megrehi after just 8 years, or releasing him at all, was “absolutely wrong.”

But who was the mastermind of that attack? al-Mahrehi was after all just the executioner not the orchestrator or financier. The man behind the attack was none other than Libyan leader Qadhafi:

The same Qadhafi who is now believed by the West. The same Qadhafi who was visited by Tony Blair, Condi Rice and recently John McCain. The same Qadhafi who was honored with a state visit to France.

Why doesn’t the West call for the ICC to demand the arrest and conviction of that head terrorist Qadhafi? Because Libya sits on billions of barrels of oil and al-Magrahi is an easy target to go after while Qadhafi could pay his way back to respectability.

So if one is going to indulge Qadhafi, then spare me the empty outrage over the admittedly awful release of al-Magrai.