DougR, McGrath had already pointed out a few posts before yours that Megrahi had withdrawn his appeal. The last link I provided enlarged on that. It might have been better to follow the link before asking your question.

But since you asked, I don't think Megrahi's release will require a change of thread title. If it's the reference to his imminent freedom you're thinking about, that's still likely to happen. The sequence of events is 1) Megrahi is visited in jail by Scotland's justice minister, who has no obvious reason for taking such an exceptional step. 2) Megrahi withdraws his appeal, to the huge relief of the US admin (and because of that, to the supine UK government too). 3) Scotland's justice minister decides Megrahi should be released to die with his family.

The first two have already happened, the third is still likely, although withdrawal of the appeal has opened the way for another option: transfer to a Libyan jail to serve out the rest of his sentence nearer to his family (or to die from cancer if that comes sooner).

If you're worried about the fall-guy bit, the fact that his conviction will stand doesn't affect that. As I have pointed out already, even the prosecution case against him acknowledged that he was not the architect of the atrocity and could not have done the deed on his own. (Another guy was prosecuted alongside Megrahi, but that guy was found not guilty.)

You have tended to confirm, DougR, my impression that many Americans who have waded in on this matter really know very little about it. Which doesn't alter the fact that there are some very well informed American commentators too - but they don't seem to get much airtime, either side of the Atlantic.

(Thread drift to answer DougR's other question: The horse-pucky comment was made here in response to Steven Perlstein and Robert Samuelson writing this in the Washington Post in June 2007: "It is impossible to predict when the magic moment will be reached and everyone finally realizes that the prices being paid for these companies, and the debt taken on to support the acquisitions, are unsustainable. When that happens, it won't be pretty. Across the board, stock prices and company valuations will fall. Banks will announce painful write-offs, some hedge funds will close their doors, and private-equity funds will report disappointing returns. Some companies will be forced into bankruptcy or restructuring.")