On Lockerbie bomber’s release: an oil deal?

A Sabotage Of Justice | The New Republic

Today al-Megrahi is free, as the Scottish Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill assures us that he “now faces a sentence imposed by a higher power.” Will MacAskill or perhaps Gordon Brown represent the dead at the gates of mercy? Was it not rather a gift to Gadhafi on the near-eve of his 40th anniversary as tyrant of Libya, an event that Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, was scheduled to attend. The despot acknowledged the intercession of Brown with Scotland for the prisoner’s freedom. Brown and his associates, pre-eminently the Baron Mandelson, have denied this. What they have not at all denied is their argument here, there and everywhere that there are, as the Times pointedly put it, lucrative business deals for Britain with Libya. Read the article by the incomparable John F. Burns in Sunday’s Times, devastating proof that both Tony Blair and Brown were in cahoots on this (in)human transaction. Or, as Lord Trefgarne (can these names be real?) intoned, “Megrahi’s release had raised hopes that the Libyans would ‘move a bit more swiftly’ on those deals.” Oh, joy.

The article in question is this one:

A Scottish government spokesman defended the decision, saying that Mr. MacAskill had consulted with the United States government and families of the victims, many of whom had supported the release. “Compassionate release is not part of the U.S. justice system but it is part of Scotland’s,” the spokesman said, according to the BBC.

But the British government’s record appeared to be providing the most ammunition to those who question its assertion of an independent decision in the case. Mr. Blair and Mr. Brown each intervened in the negotiation of a prisoner transfer agreement with Libya, with Mr. Megrahi its most obvious beneficiary. While those negotiations were going on, Libya awarded Britain a major oil contract, a $900 million deal involving BP, and dangled the prospect of others.

Before:
Gadhaffi’s son asks why so angry about Lockerbie bomber’s release.
More details on Lockerbie bomber’s health asked.
Victims from Lockerbie bomber against Gadhafi’s visit to NJ.