I'm pretty sure at some point the US will get over this, it's just right now it's still stinging a bit. I would compare this to if the US released a member of the IRA who was almost dead from cancer. I am sure the English would be hey thanks tons poopheads.
Well, under the Good Friday agreement of 1998, many convicted IRA and Loyalist terrorists were released before serving their time, actually.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belfast_Agreement
Not a comfortable thing to negotiate but, you know, eleven years on and the likes of the Real IRA are dinosaurs (although still malevolent enough to cause us all a bit of worry now and then. There's no point in being complacent.)
My brother, who is from Northern Ireland, once scoffed: "Don't tell me that Tony Blair doesn't talk to terrorists. Of course he talks to terrorists!"
As for the special relationship, I can only imagine most Americans are saying, 'Gordon who?'