Anyone actually do any research into this thing before launching into Glenn Beck style judgementalism?
A lot of people believe this man was not guilty - the one person who testified that he sold clothes (fragments of which were found) to him allegedly had been paid $2Mil for testimony. Also, the same person was not sure of his appearance but had seen pictures of him in magazines. Thirdly, the owner of the company whose circuit board fragment they had found has publicly said he was offered $4 Mil by the FBI to testify as well but refused. Not to mention that it was reported 17 hours before the flight that the luggage had been broken into - but the police lost the report, which was also not brought up in trial.
Regardless, even if he was guilty of buying kids clothes from a merchant that were found in the suitcase with the bomb, perhaps the Scottish didn't want to stoop to the same level of scum that they convicted. Also, this probably saves them a high amount in healthcare costs.
The victims families are justifiably outraged, as this is the only person they can point fingers to because of his (rightful or wrongful) conviction by the Scottish but I think he was convicted because they had to have a conviction (the other person that went to trial was released).
As for the reaction other Americans not directly involved with this sad incident, not surprising to see a lack of compassion from them in general.