Sovereignty 101 for Arab countries

Scottish ministers and officials will not attend a US Senate hearing over the release of the Lockerbie bomber. I'm not particularly concerned with the details of the case, but I liked the response given to the United States, one which Arab states should take note of as it demonstrates what a sovereign country behaves like when its laws are questioned. Now compare this with the way Iraq's legal system is, the land where Hammurabi first passed his laws, and see the temerity with which the English or the American occupiers come to "teach" Iraqis how to govern themselves. It makes me want to cry. Well, not really. But I don't like it anyway.

"Clearly, the Senate Committee has responsibility to scrutinise decisions taken within the US system, and Scottish ministers and public officials are accountable within the Scottish Parliament system. That is the constitutional basis of our democracies.

"The Scottish Parliament's justice committee has already undertaken a full inquiry into the decision on compassionate release, and the Westminster Scottish affairs committee has also examined the issue in terms of the formal inter-governmental relations that exist within the UK. That is right and proper."