Muammar Gaddafi: back in the pack with Libyan terrorist’s release
Published: 27 August, 2009, 20:16
Edited: 11 September, 2009, 09:32
Muammar Gaddafi, escorted by a female bodyguard, lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow on November 1, 2008 (AFP Photo / Alexander Nemenov)
(17.6Mb) embed videoThere's mounting pressure in the U.S. and UK on the British and Scottish governments to reveal if a deal was struck with Libya over the release of the Lockerbie bomber.
Abdel Baset Al-Megrahi was convicted of planting a bomb on a passenger jet that ended up crashing in the skies over Scotland, killing 270 people. Now Scottish authorities released the terrorist on compassionate grounds because he is suffering from terminal stages of pancreatic cancer. But many are wondering whether there were other reasons, and probably oil-rich Libya is just very good at manipulating the West.
Ruth Wedgwood, Professor of International Law at John Hopkins University, says she has no basis to dispute Al-Megrahi’s illness, but she doubts it is appropriate to express compassion to someone responsible for the death of 270 people.
The professor is sure that the reception Al-Megrahi got in Tripoli, a heroic homeboy coming home and being greeted with applause there, shows that the Scots were, at a minimum, a bit naïve about what could come after.
The more the UK says “it is not about oil”, the more clearly it is on the table. Not only the UK, but many other European countries are interested in Libyan oil.
“The oil issue is too obvious to comment on it. Prince Andrew has been to Libya three times in the last year to talk oil,” she said.
As a conclusion, she said “Muammar Gaddafi has great ambitions, he is very erratic and the very fact that he so surprised the States and Brits by how he would received Al-Megrahi shows that he is still a wild card in international politics.”
27.08.2009, 18:03
1 comment
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Dan are you 100% sure that the man is guilty? There are questions that we in Scotland cannot get answers to like why were US Diplomats Senators and members of Congress including top military people told not to travel with Pan Am weeks before the atrocity? This was carried out with the full knowledge and agreement of Libya and Iran, this in many Scots' opinion made it an act of war and if this jumbo jet had came down on London or New York, it would have been treated as such. I notice that you mention Scots a couple of times. Being Scottish does not make you a bad person anymore than being English does. Margaret Thatcher and the Tories were unelected in Scotland but they ruled us for 18 years.
Prime Minister Brown was conveniently on holiday (in Scotland) when the Scottish Justice Minister came to his "independent" decision to release the Murderer and on his return to England the unelected Prime Minister Brown who is also a Scot denied that he had any influence on the decision. His other co conspiritor and deputy (also unelected) Lord Mandelson also denied that he had any influence on the decision to release the convicted mass murderer even though he had been on a private jet with Gaddafis son a few weeks before. I am disgusted at the machinations and lies promulgated by this unelected group that are in charge of my country and this latest episode where they expected us to believe that they did not do a secret deal with Gaddafi. It beggars belief. Roll on next June when they will answer to the electorate and be kicked out. The release of a mass murderer after being sentenced to life imprisonment while he is still living makes our justice system a laughing stock throughout the world and encourages terrorist to commit outrages in England in the knowledge that the UK government will release them if they have the backing of Oil rich tyrants like Gaddafi.
Gaddafi and other dictators must be celebrating their victory over the Western justice system, even if it was politically enabled. They have cracked the system so the question now is can the judicial systems be uncorrupted. In this world, enough money/oil can buy essentially anything. Hopefully this was a case of extreme ignorance and not a bribe. Although it does walk like a duck and quack like a duck it is still possible that it is not a duck. Deepest sympathy to the families/relatives/friends of the innocent victims.