What Was Really Behind the Lockerbie Bomber’s Release?
The mass murderer's release may have been motivated by lucrative oil deals and anti-Americanism rather than compassion for a dying man. (Also read Claudia Rosett: Libyan Grotesqueries.)
Great Britain is on the defensive as criticism intensifies over the release from prison of the bomber of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing 270 people. British newspapers have been rife with speculation that the release of Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, who is said to be suffering from terminal prostate cancer, was motivated by lucrative Libyan oil deals and even anti-Americanism rather than compassion for a dying man, as was originally claimed.
Megrahi, who had served only eight years of a life sentence, was released from a Scottish prison on humanitarian grounds on August 20. He returned home on a private jet to an officially orchestrated hero’s welcome in Libya.
Megrahi’s release has been widely condemned on both sides of the Atlantic. In Britain, David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, condemned the release as “wrong” and the product of “completely nonsensical thinking.” In the United States, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs described the scenes of jubilation in the Libyan capital of Tripoli as “outrageous” and “disgusting.” And the families of the victims are understandably dismayed.
The Scottish justice secretary, Kenny MacAskill, said his decision to release the mass murderer was prompted by “humanity.” Speaking at a packed press conference in Edinburgh, MacAskill said, “In Scotland, we are a people who pride ourselves on our humanity. It is viewed as a defining characteristic.”
But MacAskill’s critics are not buying the claim that MacAskill was acting alone, especially after Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi praised British Prime Minister Gordon Brown as “my friend” and thanked the British government and even Queen Elizabeth for their part in securing Megrahi’s freedom.
The London-based center-right Daily Telegraph said MacAskill’s decision was more about asserting Scottish nationalism than about Scottish altruism. “But you only had to listen to MacAskill to understand the perspective from which he was operating, and it owed little to either the rights of the victims or the finer points of Scots law. He seemed to regard each question as a challenge to maximise use of the word ‘Scottish’ in the answers. Scottish values, Scottish justice, Scottish compassion, Scottish way of doing things. … To which he might have added Scottish naivety, Scottish shame.”
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Soeren Kern is Senior Analyst for Transatlantic Relations at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group.
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95 Comments
1. eman:Something Obi Wan said about “scum and villainy” comes to mind.
Aug 22, 2009 - 9:37 am 2. Angry White Dude:Interesting now how the British press that glorified Obama during the election now find smug satisfaction at his weakness as President!
This is what happens when America’s leader falls all over himself to make our enemies like us. I’m afraid much worse is to come.
Angry White Dude
Aug 22, 2009 - 9:42 am 3. Steve:If the British are cynically profiting (making a killing) on the killing of tourists, I hope tourists keep that in mind and stay away from Britain, especially Scotland.
Aug 22, 2009 - 9:43 am 4. Wil:Eight years in jail for a man who murdered hundreds of civilians in an infamous fashion, also causing nearly $1 billion in damages and expenses?
Some kind of oil deal is the only thing that makes any sense.
Aug 22, 2009 - 9:54 am 5. progressoverpeace:Isn’t the whole point of a life sentence being to insure that the person dies in jail?
The Brits and the Scots ought to hang their heads in shame, and those who participated in this absolute travesty should take Megrahi’s place in jail, as they have committed an atrocious attack on the West, in the service of the arab/persian/muslim world they seem to care about more than the West.
Aug 22, 2009 - 10:08 am 6. Calvin Ball:Unlike all of the Exxon and Haliburton conspiracy theories, there is a pretty solid link to a big oil company in this case. Meanwhile in Brazil, the Obama administration is providing a bailout for their oil industry. Back home, we’re told to inflate our tires, because big, bad Exxon is big and bad.
Imagine the spittle at Kos if this were Exxon getting a terrorist sprung. I’m not expecting much of a reaction there over this.
Aug 22, 2009 - 10:29 am 7. jimpres:Next we, the USA, will be apologizing to Kadafi for allowing his subject to be imprisoned in Scotland. Amereica looks and acts weak on the world stage. Those who died for this country would be ashamed.
Aug 22, 2009 - 10:36 am 8. Fred Beloit:How do you like Scotland now, Mel Gibson?
Aug 22, 2009 - 10:41 am 9. DrGianRico:Unfortunately, the exigencies of geopolitical realities reared its ugly head with the release of this mass murderer. UK’s need for Libya’s oil decided the fate of Megrahi long before his release. He may have been sacrificed as a scapegoat to secure the opening of diplomatic relations for Libya. He may have been released to guarantee Britain’s continued ability to import Libyan oil. No doubt with the tacit( albeit secret and distasteful)approval of the US Govt. Hence a letter of rebuke, but no recall of the US Ambassador or severing of relations. The US also has a Big Oil presence in Libya. This precluded any thought to the grief and sensibilities of the victims’ families. The Scottish justice secretary may have couched his reasoning in altruism or nationalism, but his action to be sure was not unilateral or singular. He had the guidance and approval of the Home Secretary and Prime Minister. The previous remuneration to victims’ families by the Libyan Govt. were all part of this arrangement. Ultimately, and unfortunately we are reduced to being pawns in the machinations of world politiccs.
Aug 22, 2009 - 10:44 am 10. Delia:@ 1.
“You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.” -Obi Wan Kenobi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr0ZyMPFJeU
Aug 22, 2009 - 11:05 am 11. Marie Claude:May-be Lybia wasn’t the real “backer” of Lockerbie but Palestinians and HBZ, backed by Iran !
“In June 2000, a transfuge Iranian secret service confirmed the involvement of the mullahs in this matter as had already been said.
On 24 February 1992, the Sunday Times published a secret report of the PLO claimed that Iran, not Libya, was behind the Lockerbie bombing which made 270 deaths in December 1988. The explosion during the flight of an airliner Pan Am, have been ordered and financed by Ali Akbar Mohtashami in retaliation for the destruction by the Americans of a civilian Iranian Airbus over the Gulf in July 1988 (see below Our revelations about this case). Lockerbie bomb was made by Khaisar Haddad, known as Abu Elias, a Lebanese Christian. The PLO considers qu’Abdel El Baset Ali Megrahi and Mohamed El Amin Khalifa Fhimah, two Libyans suspected by the Americans and British to be”
“This trace was abandoned in 1990-91 when it was necessary to integrate Syria to the “Coalition of the 1st Gulf War.” PFLP-GC is also suspected in the case of the bombing of the UTA DC10, which exploded over the Ténéré desert, causing 170 deaths, 19 September 1989″
Both the US and France (cuz we had hostages in Lebanon) found convenient to put the act on the Lybians, and Khadafi was aiming his arms and trade boycott to be released, but none had interest to show its weakness in this occurence, it was decided that Lybia, only, would endorse the terrorist act, that after a “fake” trial” 2 Lybians would be condamned, that Khadafi would endorse the pay-back to the families
(but that he recovered with the exchanges of the Bulgarian nurses, that EU re-paid-back to Kadhafi.
So this affair is a “messy”, or a “malicious” diplomaty gambling
Aug 22, 2009 - 11:16 am 12. Marie Claude:uh ? where are my posts ?
La déposition d’un ingénieur en électronique suisse pourrait remettre en cause la responsabilité de la Libye dans l’attentat
The testimony of a Swiss electronics engineer could re put into question the responsibility of Libya in the bombing
http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/20070827.FIG000000327_lockerbie_un_temoin_capital_affirme_avoir_menti.html
Aug 22, 2009 - 11:28 am 13. bibio44:I dunno. We’ll have to see if these lucrative oil deals materialize. In the meantime, we should remember that the Scots lost countrymen also, And, at the time as I recall, families of the victims praised their treatment by Scottish authorities, saying it was far better than the treatment they received from the US authorities.
Aug 22, 2009 - 12:04 pm 14. Mary Jo:Scotland the Brave — NOT!!
Aug 22, 2009 - 12:04 pm 15. BettyBlue:Boycott the United Kingdom. Don’t by their products, watch the BBC or spend your tourist dollars there.
Aug 22, 2009 - 12:31 pm 16. BettyBlue:Perfidious Albion, indeed!
Aug 22, 2009 - 12:35 pm 17. redball6:Again: Fret now yes, the “O” Clock runs down 2 Nov 2010. So too the Democrat Party fortunes for twho knows how long. The Alinkyites can stick it where the sun don’t shine
Aug 22, 2009 - 12:53 pm 18. Evil Pundit:the country is still right of center. check 6
I wonder if any of this is payback for Obama’s snubbing of Gordon Brown earlier this year?
Smart diplomacy.
Aug 22, 2009 - 1:39 pm 19. Michael:Marie Claude,
I believe you may well be correct.
On a similar note, I’ve long wondered about Syrian involvement in the suicide bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, in 1983.
Sigh – “There is nothing new under the sun.”
Aug 22, 2009 - 2:23 pm 20. Don:Orchestrated or not, Muslim’s invariably celebrate when they get over on the “infidels”. I reciprocate and celebrate when a Muslim blows him or herself up; when the Muslim on Jihad only takes out other “innocent” Muslims in the effort to get back at the infidel it’s priceless. If only non-Muslim governments were less finicky and orchestrated similar celebrations commemorating fewer Muslims on the planet, maybe the nonsense would cease. Sometimes you just have to fight fire with fire. You would think the Scots, known for their common sense and good reason, would have offered the miscreant an assisted suicide.
Aug 22, 2009 - 2:23 pm 21. Stephen Fox:Yes, sorry to all for this from a (not Scottish) Brit.
Aug 22, 2009 - 2:26 pm 22. Stephen Fox:Marie-Claude, reservations about the guilt or innocence of Megrahi and Libya are not relevant here. If there was doubt, it should have been tested in court. The appeal which was coming up will not now occur. None of us know how that would have gone.
Releasing Megrahi on grounds of compassion was trashy and wrong. But not surprising, I’m sorry to say, knowing the state of the legal system in the UK.
BettyBlue, the best I can say is many of us here despise the BBC and Mr Broon. I believe the latter will not make it through the next election.
Aug 22, 2009 - 2:35 pm 23. misanthopicus:There are many ways to acknowledge the return of Churchill’s bust to London – and the relese of that Lybian jerk is actually the message behind this act.
And this situation is yet another consequence of having someone of Obama’s ineptitude in the White House – in case you haven’t noticed yet, we are not liked more by the world with him as president, we are despised more.
Aug 22, 2009 - 3:36 pm 24. misanthopicus:Yes, we can -
In defense of the British – they gave us Monty Python!
And below is #13/bibio44 chaneling them in this matter:
[...] We’ll have to see if these lucrative oil deals materialize. In the meantime, we should remember that the Scots lost countrymen also, And, at the time as I recall, families of the victims praised their treatment by Scottish authorities, saying it was far better than the treatment they received from the US authorities. [...]
Yes – a few more like bibio44 and this country will be again what our enemies always dreamt us to be -
Aug 22, 2009 - 3:42 pm 25. Marshall Massengale:In keeping with this spirit of compassion for those visiting acts of terrorism against innocent people, why doesn’t this same Secretary of Justice of Scotland grant posthumous absolution to Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany for his complicity in having torpedoed the ss Lusitania during WW1 and to Adolf Hitler for the bombing of London during WW2.
Aug 22, 2009 - 4:29 pm 26. Marie Claude:from the article http : // www . iran – resist . org / article324 . html
Jacques Duplouich from le Figaro se contente de rapporter les dernières évolutions de cette affaire :
“La justice écossaise a-t-elle jugé « le » vrai responsable de la tragédie de Lockerbie” ?
La justice écossaise a-t-elle jugé « le » vrai responsable de la tragédie de Lockerbie ? Le doute s’installe au Royaume-Uni. De nouveaux éléments du dossier et une révélation sensationnelle viennent tarauder le bien-fondé du verdict qui, en janvier 2001, a condamné le Libyen Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi à 27 ans de détention pour 270 meurtres : les 259 passagers et membres d’équipage du vol PanAm 103 et 11 résidents du village de Lockerbie, en Écosse.
sorry in french, but google can translate
Aug 22, 2009 - 4:30 pm 27. George S.:welcome to Londonstan
Aug 22, 2009 - 5:57 pm 28. Vega:“President Barack Obama has been a helpless bystander in the Megrahi case.”
Not only in THIS case but in ALL (his) cases to the date! If only he be a different man, more like (or at least close) “Reagan-like” and had ANY guts, what he should do is to send two or three military jets and force that Libyan plane off its destination course and make sure that that terrorist would NOT receive a hero welcome at home!
Aug 22, 2009 - 5:58 pm 29. no fear Obama:I guess the Queen of England didn’t listen to Obamas iPod full of himself speeches.
Should have given her a bottle of Scotch.
Aug 22, 2009 - 6:53 pm 30. Wallace:“Meanwhile, some British news outlets have hit upon what may turn out to be the real story behind this story, which is the almost universal perception that U.S. President Barack Obama has been a helpless bystander in the Megrahi case.”
Smart diplomacy: Epic FAIL
That’s what you get for smooching dictators’ ass and insulting your allies or giving DVDs to “appreciate” your closest allies.
Aug 22, 2009 - 7:16 pm 31. BettyBlue:I’m sure there most be more Brits like you, Stephen, and I do hope Broon doesn’t make it through the next election cycle.
And you are right in your response to Marie Claude; if there was any doubt about the guy’s guilt, it should have been taken to court, and handled there. This “compassion” stuff is nonsense.
Aug 22, 2009 - 7:20 pm 32. Joe:Skittish Scottish
Aug 22, 2009 - 7:29 pm 33. Ruebacca:Recall the ambassador. Expel the English ambassador. Shutdown all diplomatic offices in the UK.
Every English-Scottish cabinet minister and there families are now persona-nongrata. English work visa in this country need to need to be revoked.
And put the screw to BP. BP sucks as an oil company anyway they have pipeline shutdowns and refinery fires all the time.
Aug 22, 2009 - 7:46 pm 34. Julian:SCOTLAND FOR INDEPENDENCE !! Get them away from us, we should not be associated with these backwardly political idiots. It just shows you how politically immature they are to run a country. I do not know anyone in the UK who is NOT disgusted by this action, we are all in shock. wow JF from Banbury, UK
Aug 22, 2009 - 7:54 pm 35. Bear:11.Marie Claude
I heard that theory cited a few places over the years…always seemed the most plausible to me. Thanks for the posts
Aug 22, 2009 - 8:11 pm 36. JHM dba "Internet Critic":Neocomradess C. Rossett has served up this spicy dish of tripe and bologna, a neo-traditional stand-by of Rio Limbaugh cuisine, a good deal more tastily.
In addition to noting the intrinsic superiority of C. Rossett’s neo-cookin’, the student ought to award the little lady at least fifteen (15) extra points for not fallin’ into the anti-anti-American sandtrap that Neocomrade S. Kern positively wallows in.
It would have been only too easy for Mizz Claudja to harp on that note: many of her _Wall Steet Jingo_ scribbles do little else.
Few things are more to be encouraged than that the wombscholars and their guruettes and their gurus should rise above the level of mere instantaneous “Just say ICK!”
Neocomradess C. Rossett has pointed the PJM dupes and marks towards the Upward Way admirably.
Maybe she deserves 25 points. Even if the kiddie konservatives pay her no heed, for naturally one scarcely expects them to.
“Tis not in mortals to command success.
But we’ll do more, Sempronius; we’ll *deserve* it”
[ http://tinyurl.com/lt8njf ]
Happy days.
Aug 22, 2009 - 8:13 pm 37. DVG:OK, how about a taste of real cynicism?
Mr President of the world ok’d the deal.
Oh sure he midly proclaimed his dismay. Through a spokesperson.
I do not believe the Scots are that lame. There is more to this story than has been let out. I am of the opinion Pres B Hussein Obama has closer ties to Islam than he has allowed to be public.
This president is anything if not obtuse.
It may come to be common knowledge that this man is quite devious in his true intentions.
Aug 22, 2009 - 8:53 pm 38. Brooks:Marie Claude and her ilk really ought to stick to figuring out stuff like how to trade the lives of French Jews for tobacco, chocolate and nylons. You have to work with the skill set you have.
Aug 22, 2009 - 9:37 pm 39. SukieTawdry:So, when exactly does the world start loving us again?? One of our supposed best buddies just teamed up with one of our worst adversaries–with the Gaddafi’s back in all their glory now that GWB is no longer in charge–to poke us in the eye with their middle finger. This is not what I was promised.
Aug 22, 2009 - 9:39 pm 40. dubrovnov:How do we know that Megrahi really has terminal prostate cancer and is expected to die within a few months? Count me as a skeptic. I am sure that his death will be announced in the not too distant future, but how will we know that to be the truth?
Aug 22, 2009 - 11:10 pm 41. Nobama 2012:This whole disgusting event smells like a sewer. One does not have to be a paranoid conspiracy nut to be skeptical.
Eurabia has arrived!
Can you say Bloody Bodies for Oil?
Aug 22, 2009 - 11:30 pm 42. vivo:As usual, NOBODY has the rights facts, nobody knows what’s going on. So I’ll just sit and wait a few days and see what happens. Some truths will surface and so a bunch of rumors. Hopefully enough facts to make a final judgment.
Aug 23, 2009 - 1:04 am 43. nev:I think the decision was a mistake, but there was no deal. This was a decision made by the Scots. I can’t see how the victims’ families would have been helped by him dying in jail, but I do see emotions running high.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8215920.stm
Aug 23, 2009 - 2:13 am 44. Michael:You just have remember that the only motivation for anything that Gordon Brown does is personal and party politics. The release of this Libyan was done to discomfit the main rivals of Labour in Scotland – the Scottish National Party, the current ruling party.
Aug 23, 2009 - 2:32 am 45. Michael:Gordon Brown only acts for personal and party political reasons. This shambles was designed to discomfit his rivals in Scotland – the SNP.
Aug 23, 2009 - 3:21 am 46. Marie Claude:Brooks:
“Marie Claude and her ilk really ought to stick to figuring out stuff like how to trade the lives of French Jews for tobacco, chocolate and nylons. You have to work with the skill set you have”
Allright baby brooks only knows one single part, that one that his masters hammered in his kiddy ears, but that doesn’t stand a real investigation, Bonjour Herr Göbels !
Now, some people here don’t try to imagine that the “official” facts that are given to the medias are weird and don’t question a logical understanding of the “hidden” policies, though ME is an abyss for falsh tales, None shows its stakes but like in a poker game, the ones they pretend to hold
Betty Blue, hope the knitting your making is fancyful, otherwise I don’t give a damn F* of it
Aug 23, 2009 - 3:51 am 47. Pragmatist:How right Vivo we dont have all the facts but one FACT we do have is that it was a left wing moonbat ‘libtard’ who made the decision to let him go either the moronic UK Govt led by moonbat Jock Gordon McBroon or the cretinous SNP Govt led by moonbat Jock Alex Salmond . Either way it was a JOCK and either way they are left wing moonbat ‘libtards’ . Now that is a FACT.
Aug 23, 2009 - 4:13 am 48. seansarto:I think the “FBI” needs to look into the National Grid Company, the British Power Company which owns a great deal of the power grid in the Northeast through recent acquisitions, (2002+)…Can you say affiliations with the Clintons? That is, if the “FBI“aren’t already covering up for these blokes, which is likely, knowing the FBI’s interests, capabilities and credentials and how it all ties into New England “elitism”. And don’t forget Obama’s father’s origins.
(The Jersey corruption scandal might have something to do with it….maybe clearing a path for more investments?)
Discuss…Do something.
Aug 23, 2009 - 4:29 am 49. Sapwolf:“The Telegraph” conservative?
A center-left paper called the “Independent”?
Only in the UK.
Is that Adhan I hear?
Aug 23, 2009 - 5:05 am 50. Joe:As an American, I am proud of FBI Director Mueller for writing the letter to Kenny MacAskill. He has the courage of his convictions and as far as I am concerned, is the only one representing our country who has any real depth. Thankfully, the poor silent victims had a voice through this man. He was not afraid to speak out for Justice!
Aug 23, 2009 - 5:12 am 51. A. Nonymous:Perfidious Albion has been, and always will be, virulently anti-Semitic. This is just one more example of it.
It seems to me I remember somebody in the Obama administration asserting that Britain was just another country, and therefore nothing special to us. Maybe he was onto something?
Aug 23, 2009 - 6:43 am 52. BettyBlue:Knitting? Knitting? What’s knitting got to do with it, Marie? (never knitted a stitch in my life!)
I stated I agreed with another poster, that, if there were real doubt about this man’s guilt, it should have been brought up in court; that “compassion” was the wrong way to handle this, and you become all pouty and angry and start throwing around cuss words! (Tsk, tsk!)
Do you think that it should not have been brought up in court? That it’s wrong for courts to decide matters of guilt, or innocence? This seems a rather odd position to take. Isn’t that the sort of thing courts exist to do?
Aug 23, 2009 - 7:21 am 53. BettyBlue:Seriously, Marie, when you start playing the naughty-word card, and the Nazi card (saluting another poster as “Herr Goebbels”) it’s really time to take a break.
Aug 23, 2009 - 7:24 am 54. Marie Claude:Betty-Blue,
please, note that I didn’t make the big junmp , no Hitler name came in, hmm goldwin is still “resistant”
Aug 23, 2009 - 7:35 am 55. Kaddafi delenda est:The sad irony of this Faustian bargain (clearly lost on Brits) is that Kaddafi was the IRA. Kaddafi financed, supported, trained and armed the IRA for decades.
Up to 6,000 innocents were killed or injured with Libyan supplied guns and explosives. And many IRA bombs employed the same Semtex that destroyed Clipper Maid of the Seas.
IRA victims still seek to hold Kaddafi accountable for those countless bloody atrocities.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/29/northernireland-libya
Kaddafi’s IRA proxies might still be murdering innocents at will, if not for the heroic efforts of the Lockerbie victims’ families to sanction and isolate Kaddafi.
/but no good deed goes unpunished
Aug 23, 2009 - 7:59 am 56. Kaddafi delenda est:nev @ #43 sneered: “I can’t see how the victims’ families would have been helped by him dying in jail, but I do see emotions running high.”
Here we see a perfect example of the dysfunctional moral compass that flew Lockerbie justice into ruin.
The oil deals secured by Megrahi’s release are apparently worth the emotional price of inflicting this awful agony– on victims’ widows, orphans and aging parents. Gosh, if only the “emotions” weren’t so unreasonably “high.”
The shame of cheering Libyan mobs– not the agony WE inflict upon the victims’ loved ones– is all many find objectionable.
That appallingly nihilistic calculus is precisely what oiled the Scots grotesque Faustian bargain.
/nemo me impune lacessit… Kaddafi delenda est
Aug 23, 2009 - 8:09 am 57. Kaddafi delenda est:Did the UK trade the Lockerbie bomber for oil contracts?
Of course they did! The Libyans have been quite up front about this deal for some time. The UK did plenty of horse trading in the Lockerbie affaire’– but not just the UK. This was done across the board in the EU.
The “compassionate release” lie was a thin veil for the real quid pro quo. The Lockerbie bomber’s release is one of several payments on Kaddafi’s terrorist extortion demands that secured release of (what Saif Ghadafi admitted) were brutally prison raped and tortured EU nurse hostages.
=======
FLASHBACK 2007: Qaddafi Wants Money and Lockerbie Attacker for Nurses’ Release
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=75328
Muammar Qaddafi has officially stated his conditions for the release of the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death in Libya, a website of the Libyan opposition claims.
Cited by the Bulgarian national radio, the site claims that Qaddafi has sent an official note to the EU country members and the US, requesting compensations for the families of the HIV-infected children and the release of the terrorist from Lockerbie… The UK should help with the release of the Lockerbie bomber, the note also says. He could be released because he has already served his sentence, or he could receive amnesty, or be extradited to Libya, Qaddafi suggests.
=====
This bald-faced hostage extortion payoff does not bode well for Iran’s three American hostages. Westerners should expect more of this old school hostage extortion game in the future… because it clearly works.
/once again, terrorism pays… handsomely
Aug 23, 2009 - 8:14 am 58. Brian Richard Allen:The viciously anti-Semitic/Arabist Limeys (by any other name) and come to that most every other of the universally-ingrate sorry subjects of every other of the Europeon Neo-Soviet’s squalidly fasciSSocialist on-and-offshore satellite states (not one of whom — but for around two hundred post-Barbary Pirates years of the willing sacrifice of America’s Blood and of our Treasure — would have known a single second’s liberty or likely even life itself) have never missed and will never miss an opportunity to demonstrate their envy-motivated, hatred-engined and rage-driven anti-Americanism.
And didn’t in this instance, either.
Brian Richard Allen
Aug 23, 2009 - 8:31 am 59. Brian Richard Allen:Lost Angels – califobambicated 90028
And the Far Abroad
26. Marie Claude: sorry … french.
Got that right!
BA – LA – CA — and Far Away
Aug 23, 2009 - 8:37 am 60. Mike G:One can only imagime the terror felt by these now silent victims as the plane broke up and they plummeted to their deaths. A proper return of Megrahi to Libya would have been done from 31,000 feet without a parachute.
Aug 23, 2009 - 8:44 am 61. Anonymous:@Kaddafi delenda est:
I wasn’t “sneering”, though you certainly sound as though *you* are sneering. I said I thought it was a mistake, and so it was, and precisely for the reasons you cite. I was trying to take a balanced view, and point out the extreme unlikelihood of the devolved Scottish Government making some deal with Libya over this very fraught issue. But it’s at this point that I realise I’m in the middle of rabid opinion and “internet conspiracy theories”.
Aug 23, 2009 - 8:49 am 62. nev:@Kaddafi delenda est:
I wasn’t “sneering”, though you certainly sound as though *you* are. I said I thought it was a mistake, and so it was – and precisely for the reasons you cite. But I was trying to take a balanced view, and point out the extreme unlikelihood of the devolved Scottish Government making some deal with Libya over this very fraught issue. But it’s at this point that I realise I’m in the middle of rabid opinion and “internet conspiracy theories”.
Aug 23, 2009 - 8:50 am 63. Kaddafi delenda est:nev @ #60 whined: I wasn’t “sneering”
aw, poor you. Less a “sneer” than a smug “snif”, huh. Thanks for clearing that up.
Clearly, you’re numb to the ad hominem inherent in griping over victims’ families reactions (”rabid” indeed). Notwithstanding, your aloof posture invites my equally gratuitous… pffl.
But thanks for re-balancing your quibble. Anything substantive to add? No? I thought not.
/dismissed
Aug 23, 2009 - 9:11 am 64. Gracie:I agree with “Kaddafi delenda est:” …and… “DVG”..combined
No use using more words…
Aug 23, 2009 - 9:12 am 65. nam:Americans pretend to be ‘Christian’ but don’t know the meaning of compassion. now of course it’s a conspiracy, man
Aug 23, 2009 - 9:19 am 66. Emanuelle Goldstein:#65 Nam: Well, we certainly know that Islamists don’t know the meaning of compassion. Just ask the families of the Pam Am 103 bombing, the families of the 9-11 bombing, the USS Cole, Mumbai, Daniel Pearl, Nick Berg, and all the other examples too numerous to list here.
Aug 23, 2009 - 9:54 am 67. sodacrackers:Part of the reason Obama got in is that so many people wanted the world to love us. Now our friends (England) turn their back on us and we turn our back on our friends (Israel), and the rest of the world, whom he so wanted to love us snickers behind their hands at him. Shows what happens when people have no real values to speak of.
Aug 23, 2009 - 9:58 am 68. Marie Claude:59 Brian,
what is your charabia BA LA CA ?
got an idea, but it ain’t politically correct
if so, la réponse de la bergère au berger, a guess ? right in the middle
Aug 23, 2009 - 10:26 am 69. Still Bill:Kenny MacAsill is sewer scum. Gordon Brown is septic tank scum. Prince Charles is rat feces scum. Queen Elizabeth is garbage can scum. Scotland is a very large whore house. Great Britain is a disgrace to civilized human beings. Reinstate the death penalty you whimpering weenies. Kill savages! Don’t show them any compassion.
Aug 23, 2009 - 10:51 am 70. Kaddafi delenda est:[idiotarian @ #65 spat: "Americans pretend to be ‘Christian’ but don’t know the meaning of compassion. now of course it’s a conspiracy, man"]
The Lockerbie atrocity was a conspiracy (no “quotes” needed) to commit mass murder. Moreover, the above cited evidence demonstates that Megrahi’s early release was also a conspiracy– to pervert justice by way of extortion and bribery in high places.
The false “compassion” for a mass murderer of 270 innocents (among them infants like Jonathan Ryan Thomas of Michigan in Seat 32K of Clipper Maid of the Seas) is not what Christ had in mind.
“And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!” [Matthew 18:5-7]
But you keep applauding evil. See what kind of karma that brings you… “man”
Aug 23, 2009 - 11:03 am 71. Kaddafi delenda est:Down the memory hole: The Lockerbie bomber received exquisite care inside his “prison”– aka, The Kaddafi cafe.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/1868930.stm
Kaddafi even bought Megrahi’s wife and children an estate in Glasgow so they could be near him.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/2487091.stm
This “compassionate release” excuse must be exposed for the rancid, stinking, fetid lie that it is.
Aug 23, 2009 - 11:20 am 72. JFM:Marie Cluade
Without France, Khadafi would be probably dead since denial of overflying Franch territory to the raid over Tripoli meant more fuel, less bombs and more planes having to abort missions due to mechanical problems. A couple years later Khadafi thanked France by blowing a Boeing from a French company with many French nationals on board.
Aug 23, 2009 - 11:57 am 73. DVG:As per my previous supposition re our eh hem president…from the Guardian UK
a direct quote “Fears that the US could retaliate against the British government were eased when Whitehall sources disclosed that the White House had made no complaint to Downing Street, reserving its ire for the Scottish administration.”
So Gordon Brown was given free reign.
And how convenient this was when the US Congress and B Hussein Obama were all on vacation and unavailable for the press to grill. ( Like they would have even asked the most basic of questions. ie Did you know and did you object? )
Disgusting.
Aug 23, 2009 - 12:37 pm 74. Gracie:#65
Yeah, Chrisitans have no compassion….unlike those peace loving, god fearing/loving Muslims…puke
Oh please…If our current adm was against the transfer of Megrahi it would not have happened…
SEE – 56/57 , 37 they have it right on.
…#73…you’re right too. Convenient huh???
save your outrage for Obama… Don’t blame the Brits..heck, BHO snubbed Brown on american soil, AND English soil… England shouldn’t care what we think..
Aug 23, 2009 - 1:48 pm 75. Marie Claude:JFM, I thought you were on your prolongated Eden trip
Kadhafi isn’t a saint, but he isn’t the man that had all the responsabilities of all the terrorist attacks, especially the ones that some secret services conveniently wanted to put on his back.
Now d’ya know why France didn’t want to let the american planes cross her territory, CUZ, in the occurence, our secret services knew that the allegations that Khadafi was sponsoring a supposed terrorist attack on Germany’s ground (against Jews) were invented by Mossad, that wanted that the US interven in its place.
OK, Khadafi was “helping” the Palestinians cause, (though he expelled them from his territory), Israel wanted to punish him, but couldn’t make it herself without attracting the whole Arab ire on her, so a scenario was put in place so that our “brave” and a bit “naive” American friends took their complain with empathy. You know that our services are well connected on Arabs conspirations for good reasons, (it spared us some terrorist attacks)
I have sources somewhere in my library that have proofs of that
I don’t want to defend Khadafi’s cause, he made some bad tricks to our army in northern Chad…
but I think that his “peculiar” character, was a good opportunity to set some “evil” options on him
Aug 23, 2009 - 1:49 pm 76. Marie Claude:“Khadafi thanked France by blowing a Boeing from a French company with many French nationals on board.”
Not Khadafi but the Iranians, idem, for the problem of HBZ and Palestinians, seem that Iran was/is a too bigger fish, that none wanted/still don’t want to connect the links to her,funny nah !
Aug 23, 2009 - 1:56 pm 77. JFM:Marie Claude
I will type sloowwwly so you understand it: it is not about Palestininans and Jooooooos it is about that you saved his sorry ass and got dead compatriots as your reward. I for one would be mad about it but obviously the French are such Good Christians they just put the other cheek. Other people could think it is just thirst for oil, cynicism and cowardice.
Aug 23, 2009 - 2:09 pm 78. Marie Claude:funny, some posts are swallowed !
“later Khadafi thanked France by blowing a Boeing from a French company with many French nationals on board.”
it ain’t Khadafi but Iran
some bad relations with HBZ and Palestinians agendas made it
Aug 23, 2009 - 2:13 pm 79. Marie Claude:JFM, does
“The Making and Unmaking of a Mossad Officer” Victor Ostrovsky
ring a bell for you ?
http://www.lequotidien-tn.com/detailarticle.asp?IDX=48404
“Immédiatement après les bombardements américano-anglo-allemands en Libye, le Hezbollah mit fin aux négociations autour des otages qu’il retenait au Liban, et il en exécuta trois, dont Peter Kilburn, un Américain. Quant aux Français, ils furent remerciés de leur attitude de non-participation dans l’attaque anti-libyenne par la libération, à la fin juin, de deux journalistes français retenus en otages à Beyrouth. (Comme de juste, une bombe “perdue” avait endommagé l’ambassade de France lors du bombardement de Tripoli…)”
JFM, nothing is really black, nor white, but the Villans aren’t aware of the “secret” motivations
Aug 23, 2009 - 2:56 pm 80. BettyBlue:Not to mention, JFM, how the French fought to save Yassir Arafat’s worthless life, when he was dying from that oh so mysterious final illness of his. And how Suha Arafat gets to live in luxury in a French hotel, on money snaffled away from the Palestinians. (Really, if they want to show how much they lurve the Palestinians, why don’t the French get her to cough up some of it, for her own people? Naaaaah, it’s all about the Palestinians and the Joooooos.)
Wonder what plan, if any, France has for dealing with all those restive “youths” who are so busy burning it down?
Aug 23, 2009 - 4:11 pm 81. Marie Claude:http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/deception.html
excerpt :
“The French and the Spanish, though, were not buying into the new stream of information. To them, it seemed suspicious that suddenly, out of the blue, the Libyans, who’d been extremely careful in the past, would start advertising their future actions. They also found it suspicious that in several instances Mossad reports were worded similarly to coded Libyan communications. They argued further that, had there truly been after-the-fact Libyan communications regarding the attack, then the terrorist attack on the La Belle discotheque in West Berlin on April 5 could have been prevented, since surely there would have been communications before, enabling intelligence agencies listening in to prevent It. Since the attack wasn’t prevented, they reasoned that it must not be the Libyans who did it, and the “new communications” must be bogus. The French and the Spanish were right. The information was bogus, and the Mossad didn’t have a clue who planted the bomb that killed one American serviceman and wounded several others. But the Mossad was tied in to many of the European terrorist organizations, and it was convinced that in the volatile atmosphere that had engulfed Europe, a bombing with an American victim was just a matter of time Heads of the Mossad were counting on the American promise to retaliate with vengeance against any country that could be proven to support terrorism. The Trojan gave the Americans the proof they needed. The Mossad also plugged into the equation Qadhafi’s lunatic image and momentous declarations, which were really only meant for internal consumption…”
Other people could think it is just thirst for oil, cynicism and cowardice.
But you did say it, and it’s not the first time…
definitly, you’re not a reliable source worth of shipping !
Aug 23, 2009 - 4:24 pm 82. Marie Claude:betty blue in her best : shrewing !
Really we fought for Arafat health ? nah, his wife had (still has ?) an expensive home in Paris (on the palestinian expenses, dunno as it was said that she was born from a rich family), so that made that the couple could travel until there and benefit of our “expensive” health care, I reassure you, they paid the full price, but he could have gotten into Israel for the same cares, it was likely after the “Camp David” agreements, but, unfortunately for us, the Arafat family didn’t invest in a luxous apartment in Jerusalem, too bad otherwise someone would have said terrible things on the Joooooos !
Aug 23, 2009 - 4:43 pm 83. seansarto:Obama’s father was once jailed and tortured by the British.
His father then came to the US through a program that was spearheaded by the Kennedy’s.(Which now makes him a bit of a baby cuckoo pushing the Kennedy’s from their nest…Watch yer back Maria…)
Upon returning to Kenya, Obama’s father became involved in the oil industry.
IRA reparations from Libya? How would the implications of such affect the arms deals of the US?
Also, I don’t think it is too incredulous for the reasoned mind to accept that the British imprisoned many innocent Northern Irish citizens for leverage against the IRA as a strategy of occupation… (See the Special Powers Act).What is strange is the propagation of such policies in the US and collusion between the US federal “elite” and the British on these issues (The Patriot Act)…That British agenda exerts such a presence on the US domestic and foreign policy.
And what to make of sorta strange case of Joe Doherty?
Like I said somewhere else: “Those nations which endeavor their populace on islands, need more fanatical gesture to justify their viciousness in order to defend themselves from the vulnerabilities of extortion by those of continental demeanors. Be wary of such.”
Discuss…
Aug 23, 2009 - 5:30 pm 84. seansarto:The British had the advantage in Nort Ire. to say, railroad the promising cousin of a member of an alleged IRA soldier to coerce the IRA to start making deals…Thus the cousin who had kept away from the troubles and showed promise in Unversity, their life would be ruined under the Special Powers Act as a means of extortion. Since the kid didn’t do anything, all they had to do was just pick them up off the street. This was all in the modern era.
The British are not the “nice, nice, proper folks” that all the pomp, circumstance and Paltrow makes them out to be. They are just as much barbarous and conniving as the next coldplay.
Discuss…
Aug 23, 2009 - 5:56 pm 85. Still Bill:Scotch whiskey tastes like urine. I don’t and won’t drink the crap.
Aug 23, 2009 - 7:13 pm 86. Jerry:All the tongue movements and finger tappings about releasing this convicted mass-murderer serves President Obama’s goal of emasculating America. If enough examples of American impotence can be accumulated, then Americans will finally say, “Well, what can we do?” It is this attitude that the President wishes to engender.
There has been no substantial support for any principled stand on human rights since Obama has entered office! Why?! Because this is what he wants. In his world of thought, there are no principles worth committing energy or thought to. It takes away from the goal of reforming America into “one among many.” Nothing special – not in terms of ideals or commitments.
The problem is that the world has depended upon America to save its sorry backsides. Now everyone is running scared and learning to ignore America as proof to Obama’s lack of interest in their affairs.
We have come again to the time in history when “every man did what was right in his own eyes.” Such an attitude ignores all injustices – the perfect solipsism that will lead to the perfect storm.
Aug 23, 2009 - 7:47 pm 87. seansarto:Scotch was Obama Sr.’s toddy..and he drove straight off inta the great beyond with it….”Dreams of my Father”…
Aug 23, 2009 - 8:04 pm 88. Anonymous:What’s the difference between Neville Chamberlain and Kenny MacAskill? When the appeaser Neville Chamberlain found out that he had been duped by Hitler, he resigned. Kenny MacAskill is too much of a low-life scumbag to resign after Qadaffi duped him. Boycott scotch whiskey and all things British! If you like a good drink, Tennessee “sippin” whiskey will make you forget about that crap coming out of Scotland.
Aug 23, 2009 - 8:51 pm 89. Pragmatist:One thing is certainly a FACT it was a moonbat JOCK that authorised it either the moonbat SNP JOCK Alex Salmond or the moonbat NuLiebour JOCK Gordon Mc Broon. Either way its a SCOTTISH disaster.
Aug 23, 2009 - 10:08 pm 90. Anonymous:What’s the difference between Neville Chamberlain and Kenny MacAskill? When the appeaser Neville Chamberlain found out that he had been duped by Hitler, he resigned.
Actually he didn’t resign. Parliament forced him to resign over the handling of German invasion of Norway. However, when appeaser Chamberlain, a tough man underneath, found he had been duped, he decided that appeasement was over and that next time it would be war.
Aug 24, 2009 - 3:44 am 91. JFM:What’s the difference between Neville Chamberlain and Kenny MacAskill? When the appeaser Neville Chamberlain found out that he had been duped by Hitler, he resigned.
Actually he didn’t resign. Parliament forced him to resign over the handling of German invasion of Norway. However, when appeaser Chamberlain, a tough man underneath, found he had been duped, he decided that appeasement was over and that next time it would be war.
Aug 24, 2009 - 3:44 am 92. kourosh:The simple answer to your question is: Money.
Now more than ever democracy promoters and fighters around the world realize that when it comes to money all principles (if there was any to begin with) are compromised by the West. People realize that the West uses democracy as a tool to put pressure on dictators, and then come around and make deals with the terrorists and dictators. Case in point is Iran and the fact that Europe is in bed with the murderers and terrorists for 30 years now (ask German, Siemens, and Nokia) and occasional articles and reports about the struggle of the people for justice mean nothing when it comes to money.
The best example of this fact is today’s Time’s article entitled:
“In Brouhaha Over Bomber Release, Libya Holds Powerful Bargaining Chip”.
The Brouhaha?? Why bother terrorists when you can make oil deals with them? Is that why you are saying, Time?
After few Oily excuses and using words like Russian, immigrants,…the Time’s article ends with this very thoughtful sentence:
“Compared with all that, the freedom of Megrahi might have been a concession some could live with.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090824/wl_time/08599191825900
Go Figure.
To those of you asking for the MacAs-kil’s head, I say so what even if he resign and even if a few more are gone? The deals are already made. Ask BP (British Petroleum). So sleep tied and don’t worry. This is how the West is operating and that is why all so-called liberals (hidden Marxists) were after GW’s head, because he at least was talking about promoting democracy and freedom
Aug 24, 2009 - 8:54 am 93. Spratster:Wasn’t John McCain in Libya just the other day.
Aug 24, 2009 - 4:03 pm 94. moeursalen:I’m reminded of the words of Louis Ferdinand Destouches: Judge low and you will judge well. It seems to apply here, with regard to al Megrahi’s release.
Aug 24, 2009 - 5:31 pm 95. BadGirl12:The visceral response of the Waters-ite to her fellow subway riders might be an altruistic concern for the obesity-related illnesses the mother and children might face and for the carbon footprint of Pringles production, or it could be an ‘ick’ reaction to rolls of fat and artificial ranch flavoring. ,
Oct 22, 2009 - 6:07 pm