Leaving aside the questions about the legitamacy of the trial and the verdict itself, a lot about this campaign is questionable. The motives are clear but the logic behind the campaign is at best convulted, at worst a glaring example of hypocrisy and self-righteousness.
Firstly, take the following quote from the Boycott Scotland website:
Most especially after the horrific events of 9/11, the world needs to be reminded that terrorism must be punished and never rewarded. Terrorists must never be shown compassion or mercy, for these people have no respect for human life. The British, who ironically have themselves been victim to numerous acts of terrorism on their own soil, seem to have forgotten.
Who was responsible for the majority of the "numerous acts of terrorism" in the UK? That'll have been the IRA. In their heyday, where did a significant amount of their external funding come from? Er, that'll have been the US, especially the East Coast (this BBC article is from 2001 but it says it all really). I don't recall families of the Omagh/Enniskillen/Harrods/Warrington victims calling for a boycott of MacDonalds or shopping trips to New York.
Secondly, given the war in Iraq and the motives behind it, the following is difficult to read with a straight face:
You have shown to the international community that your government and the United Kingdom as a whole will stop at nothing to pursue the neverending and relentless acquisition of oil revenues.
I doubt that any country in the West can claim the moral high ground when it comes to their government's actions in the "acquisition of oil revenues" (or any other commercial interests), but it's especially difficult to accept criticism of this sort from across the Atlantic. Does anyone honestly believe the war in Iraq is unrelated to the millions of barrels of oil that lie under the deserts there? If the overthrow of Saddam Hussein was supposed to pave the way to Iraqi's having control over their own oil wealth the war might have attained at least a patina of justification. This simply isn't the case:
Negotiations are under way for Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners decades ago in the Iraq Petroleum Company, now joined by Chevron and other smaller oil companies — to renew the oil concession they lost to nationalisation during the years when the oil producers took over their own resources. The no-bid contracts, apparently written by the oil corporations with the help of U.S. officials, prevailed over offers from more than 40 other companies, including companies in China, India and Russia.
Noam Chomsky: It's the Oil, Stupid
Boycott BP by all means but at least be consistent and boycott any oil company that has acted in a morally questionable way, then see how difficult it is to fill your tank and keep a clean conscience.
The storm surrounding al-Megrahi's release is sure to rumble on and there are doubtless questions that need to be answered about it (and indeed his trial itself). This campaign will answer none of these questions.
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