> tonight "worldfocus" -- the relee of the only man convicted of blong up pan am flight 103 caud controversy but the pictures of s triumpha return to libya have iggered outrage. tonigh we have the fallout. a radical idea to ttle the liban. legalize afghanistan's opium trade turning poppies into medicine insad of heroin. ghan farmers would earn more money and the taliban would t a lot less. st in all the focus on afghanistan's elecon was richard holbroooke's lates mission to neighboring pakista we didn't miss it and have report on what may be a ne american strategy. and inne italian city, there's no busins like cheese businesshere parmesan is so highly valued you caliterally take it to theank. >> from the world's leadin

reporterand analysts, here is what's hapning from around the world. this is orldfocus." made ssible in part by the following funders jor support has als been providedy the peter g. peterson foundation dedicated to promotg fiscal responsibility and aressing key enomic challeng facing america's future. >> good evening. i'martin savidge. already under fire even fore they made it official yestday anallowed a convicted terrorist to fly home to lya to die. e outrage only deepened toda after these pictures of byans lebrating abdel baset al mrahi's release were broadcast around the world al meghi, of course, was convicted for the 1988 bbing of p am 103 over lockerbie scotland. the teor attack killed 270 people.

and today, once again, my peopleere demanding to know just why hade been set free. this matter of justi is once agn our "lead focus" tonight. >> reporr: abdel baset al megrahi should not be welcomed ba to tripoli, that s the message, the warni to libya om president obama in america. the demand responsible for the deaths of 270people, the biggest terrorist atck in britain was treated more lik a celebry or royalty changed into a dark suit, he was met off of thelane and then repeatedly gged by colonel gadhafis o son in fr of jubilant crowd. this morning the foreign secretary david miband said the sght of a ma murder getting a hero's welcome is deeply distresng. gave the go-ahead f the compassione release sa the celebrations were neithe oper, wise or appropriate. but in tripoli a speaker at the

youth rally was triumphant. >>ranslator: this m has been distinguied by the safe retu of our other, abdel set al megrai, a new great victory add to the strength of his revolution. it's greatness, it's policy, its historic path and in its leader colonel gadhafi. >> reporter: but it's be the flying of the scottish sold ire flag in celebration at the airporthat's angered politicians of all the oppotion parentsn scotland, who all now condemn the decision the sm to relse al megrahi just eight yrs into his life sentce. >> i'mctually speechless. i think i describe him as beyd appropriate. think this is not -- not a nice thi at l. it's particulay bad i think to see the scottish solice flying because whateverou want scotland to be associated with it's not those scees we've seen in libya. >> scotland announced is morning itas releang himor compassionateeasons and then

still outrage. which came. >> reporter: most of the ckerbie bombing were american and on u.s. television st night th condemnationf th isoner release was clear, before al megrahi even arrived home the sta department it announced it had put pssure on the libyan government. >> i think obviously in light of the release, we have had a number of conversations th the vernment of bya. obviousl he will move back to lia, and we certaiy believe that as a convicted criminal, he's not entled to a ho's welcome. >> reporter: dlomatelations between libyand the u. which had en improving cod be threened by these scenes. this year is t 40th anniversary of t al fatah revotion in lib and colonel gadhafi is clear using al megrahi retu as a propaganda coupe despite the fact that this man is a convict murder who is termally ill and expected to die within three month >> that was mes blake of itn reporting.

>>the british aren't just talking about w unhappy they e about the way the libyans handleali al megrahi's return home. they may be prepared to sothing about it. prce andrew, the duke of york, had been expected toisit libya -- and perhaps meet withoammar gadhafi early next month. the idea was to prome trade. but now, there are reports tt the visimay be off. in afghanistan tay, a day afr the voting, both the leadinpresidential contenders, incumbent hamaid kari and opposition cdidate abdullah abduah, were both claiming victory. but abdullah also ised serious concerns about theegitimacy of the te. >> a l of irregularities whi have taken placehould have been prevented and shouldn't have happened. so the are a lot of complaints about irregulaties throughout the country. there are repos of rigging. >> the fir results are excted tomorrow. of course,lmost everyone agrees that if the u.s. ssion in afghanian is to succeed, it

will require more than just militaryight. afghanistan remas a deeply impoverished country andany of its 33 millioneople need work and income. one way they me money there is by growing poppies which are used in e production of opium and heroin. poppy growing is one othe main soces of income for the taliban. and thunited states, turally, is anxious to stop it. but now another idea h emerged, to have theovernment subsidize poppgrowing and use it to produce painedication that the world desperaly eds. it's our in-depth otlight report, and it comes tight from gmany tonight and deutsche welle. >> reporter: this opium field in afghanistan is bei distributed solely for the benefithe cameras. tural fact, opium. opium provides the raw material forhoirn. in recent years, illegal opum farming has beenn the rise. the illal drug business i the taliban's main soce of income and it hel finance its war machine. >> we havehe opportunity -- >> reporter: t u.s. is

epping up the presre on its military alflies afghanistan to take actn against illegal opium fming but many fear this will incree the likelihood of attacks against international truce. however, there i a solution to e problem. afghanistan's large-scale poppy cultivation could put to an alternative a legal use. to produce medicines, such a morphine. could apply for a state tls farm popes. the senate cocil and inrnational security and development think-tank have called for a poppy for medicine program, which would allow farmingmunities. to provide ralommunities withconomic opportities. >> in the earnings of farmers would receive fr correcti morphineould have strped th of hein. again, let'semember who is making the money out of this drug. it is isn't the ordinary rmers. the guys w make the money are those at the top end of t chain, the officis andthe drug's barons, who are getting rich, you know, beyond their

world extremes from ths. so this is, again, creates a sustaible revenue year and year out for the farming communities which e at moment doest exist. >>eporter: previous attempts to tack illegal opi farming have failed. to many afgha farrs depend on poppy ctivation for their liveliods and are not convind the options are viable. >> translar: where i re to grow wheat instead i have a harvest of 100 kyos at most that is barely enough for two months. i can t over 20 kilos of opium from the same piec of land and that's a lotf money. >> reporte and in frce of rafication of the opium fields pushes farmers into the arms of e taliban. this could be avoid if farmers were to grow poppies for medicinal puposes. lol suppt for the pject is looking promising. >> we already have strong affirmations from couple of trib eldershat they'd be happy to see th occur within their villages. they really a redactable poem and they want to do -- they want to ensure that the benefit of

thrillage cos first. sohey buynto thiss a village, they would do anything within their pow to sece it. >> reporter: the proposal for ize morphine production taki placein afgh factories. the proje have already been successfully implemented in turk, which is now thein morpne supplier to the u.s fromeurop and like afghanistan, turkey used to is a seriousproblem of ilgal opium faming. the turkish mdel might just work in afgnistan. not ly wuld lcensing that ntrolled cultivation of poppy to produce medicines such as morpne help boost the afghan economy, itill also remed a world wide shortage. in many developing countries, such as pakistan's, patients are left to suffer as a rult of the hi cost of medici or lack of avaability. countries like afgnistan could be supplying, says former germa ar doctor. . translator: a rise in morphine production would he reduce prices in deveping

countries, and that uld help make it available to many more people. exporting it would bring money into the country. it wld be sold. it wouldn't be ven away. and the money could beused in afghanistan to boost the economy. in's very hig nemployment hor. new jobs uld be created. there's so many rasons why this could work. >> reporter: butrouble is tha the u.s. refus to approve legalization of opium poppy cuivation even though supporters of this optiosay it could be the answer to ma of afghistan's problems. >> that was deutsche wle reporting fr afghanistan. shld the united states continue efforts to get riof afghanistan'poppy crop, or buy itp for medical use? you can see what one of our blogger's take on that vy issue by visitg our website, that's worldfocus.org. across theorder from afghanistan, in northweste pakistan, an american drone missile attack today rortedly killed 1people. intelligence officls quoted by

e associated press says that the taet was a taliban commander believ responsible for a series of attacks both sis of the border. no word yeif he was killed. it's gotten virtuallno attention, we wanted ttell you night about an important american dlomatic mission th's been going on this week in pakista america's special presentative to pakistan d afghanistan, richarholbrooke's been holding a series of meetingshere -- and not just with top governme officials. ani mcnaught of al jazeera english reports from islamabad that holbrooke rched out to conseative muslim leers -- and goan earful once he did. >> reporter: u.senvoy richd holbrooke's final public address ipakistan had a familiar bush era ring >> it is different kind of r with a differe kind of enemy. an enemy that straddlethe border of the two cntries and poses equ threats to afghanistan, pakistan,nd the united stes. >> reporte but this was a different kind of sit. apart om the usual calls on the president and foreign minister, the u.s. envoy reested meetings with

far-right conservati religious groups. groups - they to us - america usually oided. >> this waa new development. it was a surprise fous. >> reporr: but after the surprise, history leons. tradionally anti-american in policy, these groupsulled no puncheat their meetings. >> translator: for 14 ars you gi the fightersf this region the be military training money could buy. you armed and garlanded themo fight the sovis. you have creed the mess here. so why are you coming he complaining us. it is your mes >> reporter: richardolbrooke also asked to meet jamaat-e-islami. ile the organization rallied it's anti-american prosts on the stres outside. jaat presented a critique of u.s.olicy and conduct. from the contentious.s. drone missile strikes in the triba areas, to the cuural onslaught from the west corrupng muslim

youth, to pakistan beingragged into the ahan conflict. pakistan politic analyst tareq pirza says despite the rhetoric, these meetings we potical good sense. >> thesere pragmatic poticians. they can play to the galleri, they can satis the public, ma public statements which are apparently aagonistic to the unit states but at the same time they can taciy support the pocies. . >> and on the american se? >> here they a trying to crte an impression, a least, that we are not auk walkin away. we are partners for long time. owever broad and incluse the engagementhis time, america has yet to convince pakistan people. public opion in pakistan mains suspicious of america' motives and goalin the region, suspicious of its relatiship wi india, and most of all feels thathis constructive engagement is likelyo end,

once pakistan cees to be of strategic use to america all political groups he asked the u.s. to use soft per and onomic growth to resolve the intractable confct that contues to spread through this region. anitmcnaught, al jazeera in islamabad, paktan. >> if yowant to get a sense what american diplomats woing in pakistaare sometimes up agnst, consider this account we came across earlier ts week in "the new yo times." it desibes a recent meeting between the obama adnistration's new under secretary of state forublic diplomy and public affairs, that's judith mchale, and a pakistani journali. accoing to the "times," she told him howmerica wants to ild bridges to the muslim world. his response, quotin should know that we hate a amerans. from the bottom of o souls, we te you."

and now to o weekly roundtab. our look back at some of t week's mosimportant international newstories. tonight 'll discuss. the esidential election in afghanisn. can it be considered success? what comes next? the ongoing curity nightmare in iq. at least three more people were killed in a bombing at a mart ne baghdad today. and then controveral decision to let that lian man convicted in the bombing of pan anlight 103 go homto die. y were the obama administration's protests ignored? joining us this week a charles sennott. he is the executive editornd vice president of "globalpos" and dagmar aalund. she is the depy international editor of "the wall stet journal." welcomto the two of you. >> tha you. >> all right, let's stt with afghanisn. a lot of americ money, a lot of american lives was iested inaking this election possible. very low turnout. and then you hadhe president hamid karzai who clas it was a eat success. chare, was this really a success?

are to believe that? >> it was success but it didn't go as bad as many it feared it might. i think that in the endf the day, this elect had two things ppening. it was a political contest. and we all sort ofnow where this es. it's going to end with karzai re-elected other collectiveisdom isaccurate. but -- but it's also a contt in which wre really testing the oma administration's new counterinsurgenty poly. they id they would increase the troops by 21,000. we're in the migtsz of that. we'red in the middle of the offensive. ey sayhey want to bri securityo see this democrac really take roe. and you know, it didt didn't suck snead thatnd certainly raises questio. >> isn't there deal here, supposedly? we tell the afghan people, we'l try ma it secure as possible. but yo obligati is to ce ou and vote. right. well, i think one thin we brought out in ouarticles is how- inome wayless the taliban has had success and

they've trned the fcus of this ection to you know --t's violence versusotes so i's not so muchho is goingto win. is it going to work? and so that they have hasome succs and they definitely, seems like the voter turnout has be small, partly because of is disrtion and bombing. >> how do we know that it's fear thatept people from voting? mae they just didn't likehe system or the candidate offer >> no, i think the evidence that it was fear s there on the ground. from what we heard from our corrpondents, you know lobalpost" asas an excellent correspoent in cabum wh very uniquely gets to travelthe cotry and that was jane mckenzie and poiing out to us is in the southvoter turnout was ve low. in the south, in theeast, the taliban s great control. that's where they real got pashtubelt and that' where they hold the most sw. thei voter turnout was l, particular among omen, who really d not come to the polls. whereas in the north, whe you

have a mor tarj eke ethic background the taliban has le sw. the polls wer pcked. and this isort of, you know, to the extent we need to watc this race, and i don't than we do, because as isay, i think karzai wins t, but it does favor abdullah. is is the former foreign minister, abdullah abdullah, who willbenefit from thisow voter turnout the south. >> but what do this lowoter turnout predict so far as the future in this country in howwe are gng to get out of this war? >> right. we, i think as you were mentiong, you know there some fatigue in places, like iraq,ith our long engagent, the u.s., our allies. and thinkthiselection's important becausi don't think some people areaying mae t windo is to theso large fo getting is on track. so i think this eleion is a very importa point for that. >> well, you mentioneiraq, and i want to turn t that now, because we had thatorrible ate place in ghdad where youad hundreds of people who we killed a wounded. d again i don't want to keep

beating this into e ground, but another place where we have lost a loof american lves and spent a great deal of american money. and it seems to be coming unglued. >> sure. they're connected, i ink. i mean, the rson that were so far behind in whatthe u.s. and thenternational partners hope to achieve afghanistan is becse the u.s. turned its fos to iraq. i thk that's widely perceed even whin the military leership as a miake. it was aistake to take our eye off of afghanistan it hurt us in afghanistan. but in raq,we had the suesses of the surge which we being trpeted and general peaeus i believe did have succes i do think the surge really did help secure baghdad, and in important ways. d now as we shift our foc to afanistan, we're wahing a slideback in iq. and they areconnect. we're overstreted military athis poin i don'tnderstand why the drawwn isn't happening on a greater speed in iraq. but i als think this bombing, it's really important to reflect

onhe anniversary of th -- this bombing fell very close to the annivsary of six years ago. when the u.n. bombing. and if youlook back to the six years agon iraq, i's extrrdinary how far the country has come. i also feel -- was therfor vering that bombig, those were the dark,ark days of iraq's history. and now things arebetter. >> but how do know we aren't going backo those days? >> ion't think you can say. and there areome points cing as the u.s. draws down. for insnce, the eleions in januy, parliamenty elections, i think th's a point a lot of people will watch to see abt the vial nsive. >> well, want to turn, before run out of timeto lockerbie, and the release of abdel baset al megrahi the scottish leership there decided it was okay to pardon hip because his medical condition. >> that great scottish ame, megrahi. >>megrahi. what about this decion to let him go? >> yeah, this was deeply

disturng video. when you watche -- >> we' talking about,what, the return to ipoli? >> the rturn to tripoli. when you watcd those people there on the trmac celebrating and wang scottish flags, mean that's hardfor an americ audience in particular to handle. and i do think it is disturbing. but i alsohink there is someing that reals itlf in thiselease. and that is a different understanding of -- of crime and punishmentor terrorism in europe than there is in amica. in arica, this i relatively new to us comparedto, for example, britain, which had a 30-year struggle with t i.r.a. of course. or spain, had that long struggle. fran with thealgerians. >> but it was -- you know, it was over hundred aricans, 150 i think. >> but the release says something about. europe just looksat terrism androsecution i think in i very diffent context. yove spernt more ti in

europe i wonder if you agree. >> i thnk it's not just rrorism and in other cminal cases like rder. evil. metimes a much shorr sentence than in the u. >> but en they must beaken aback by the response. well,yeah. >> by e response and the celebration. >> and i think ts also shows is scotland, which about ten ars ago, got the right to make independent decions on some things, li this -- >> o course they rlly play up now. >> rig. >> the big moment on the world stage. >> right, right and getng a lot of criticm. and especially the way the news kindf leaked they're getting cricism for the ndling of it in general. >>e've got to end it there. dagmar aalund, charles. >> thank you. ñ

to managthe severe patients and therefore reduce prentable deaths. >> poor areas of the wld, like africa, are coidered particarly vulnerable because they are least likely to bable to developr even distribute a vacc e.in and there's rd tonight that fiveeople who contracted the h1n1 virus on the isnd nation of mauritius, off the east cst of aica, have died. in south arica, in chile, officials say e death toll from t disease now stands at 128. but th say its spread there is now slowing. world wide, estimated 1,800

peop have died of swine flu. that'sonsidered to be a relatively lowumber. but it up more than 20% from the week before. new zealand was onof those western cific countries warned today about the spad of the swinflu. but that's aarently not what's on the mind of many lks there tonight. anotr topic is corporal punishment. a nationwide referendum tha ended today, nearly 88of new zealanders voted "" when asked this question, "ould a smack as part of gd parental correction be a crimal offense?" the is already a law on the books in new zealandhat prohibits parents from hitti their children. me parents think the law is intrusive, tt it's a private familyatter. and that's what inspired tay's rerendum, which is nonbinding. tell us what you think, shou governments makeaws about how to punish children? or it is a private matte goo worldfocus.org to share your opinion. we heard from many oyou last night about scotlans decision to free theockerbie plane bomb. most of you strongly disagre. effie wrote, "though i am a

believer in second cnces, i also believe it is wrong f a terrorist ofhis magnitude to be freed. what does the scottish vernment think it will achieve?" but a woman whe nephew was killed september 11th told u "i applaud the juds' decision. only by showing such compassn can live in the world we say we want. justice must be mpered by compason." finally tonight, a sry you might nd a little "cheesy," literally. in theorthern italian city of reggio emilia, lal bankers have found a uniquway to help farmers weather the curren economic crisis. the bankers have formed so-called "cheese bank" accepting git wheels of the region famed parmesan cheese as collateral for loans. if you thinkhat sounds a ttle silly, consider this, a single wheel of this cheese n be worth more than $400. algether, it's estimated these ults could hold nearly $200 llion in cheesy deposits. no word on wheer wine or bread

banks are to follo that's "rldfocus" for a iday night and this week. i is a sudden hankeri for crackers. i'martin savidge in new york. as always, we invi you to visit our websi, that's worldfus.org. have a good nighand a good weekd. "worldfocus" imade poible in part by the following funders -- "worldfocus" imade poible in part by the -- captions by vitac www.vitac.co > major support has also been provided by the pete g. petersonfoundation, dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and addrsing key economic challenges facing america's future.