UK Contra/BP?: Another Kennedy in Massachusetts?

[amicus]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/08/21/britain.lockerbie.deal/index.html

(CNN) --

Britain on Friday rejected claims made by the son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi that the release of the Lockerbie bomber was linked to trade deals between Libya and Britain.

Saif al-Islam Gadhafi made the comments in an interview with Libyan channel Al Mutawassit, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported. The interview was conducted while the younger Gadhafi was flying from Scotland to Libya on Thursday with Abdelbaset al Megrahi on board, according to AFP.

Al Megrahi had been serving a life sentence for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in which 270 people, including 189 Americans, were killed. Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill freed him after doctors concluded he has terminal prostate cancer and estimated he has three months to live.

"All British interests were linked to the release of Abdelbaset al Megrahi," AFP reported Gadhafi as saying, citing the Al Mutawassit broadcast.
\
"In all commercial contracts, for oil and gas with Britain, (al Megrahi) was always on the negotiating table," Gadhafi said, according to AFP, adding that then-Prime Minister Tony Blair raised al Megrahi's case each time he visited Libya.

~~~

According to news reports from Britain, the British Government in 2007 first said 'no' and then 'yes', a few months later. Libya is the location of the largest oil reserves in Africa and BP, British Petroleum, is the alleged recipent of contractual agreements in return for the release of the Lockerbie Bomber.

*****

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/27/massachusetts-voters-face-kennedy-election/

While Kennedy's widow Vicki and nephew Joe Kennedy have both been mentioned as possible contenders, the odds are they won't run, which means either in January -- unless Massachusetts lawmakers reverse their 2004 decision to hold a special election to determine a vacant Senate seat -- or in November 2010, voters will face the prospect a Kennedy-less Senate.

If a Kennedy runs at this point, Marsh said, it will likely be Joe Kennedy, who has previously held a U.S. congressional seat.

"Certainly given how much people loved Ted Kennedy and the fact that Joe Kennedy was a popular congressman here in Massachusetts, it would make it one of the most competitive races in Massachusetts, no doubt," she said

~~~

MSNBC's Chris Matthews, touting the now 59 votes of the Democrat controlled Senate concerning the Health Care issue, is pushing for a 'special appointee' to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy's seat, saying, "We can't wait until the election in January, we need that vote sooner than that!"

The pot is boiling both on the National and International front even more as an interview with the Iraeli Prime Minister repeated they will not tolerate a Nuclear Iran and will act Unilaterally if the UN and the US do not take steps to stop the production of nuclear grade fuel.

Life goes on...

Amicus

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Ami,
Within the Judicial Law of Scotland, this person would have been released from prison no matter what he had done, be it petty shoplifting or whatever.
The only real controversies in this is (1) was this an oil for prisoner deal and (2) why did they give him a free ride back to Lybia for the spectical of a returning terrorist hero?

Was there an oil deal? It seems so even though the prisoner was available for release. I like to think of the UK being oppertunistic and using his legal release for their own benifit. That seems like good politics to me.

As far as allowing him to return to Lybia as a hero I'm sickened by the whole affair.

 

[oggbashan]

Ami,

As far as allowing him to return to Lybia as a hero I'm sickened by the whole affair.

IF Libya had accepted his return in the spirit in which it was made, i.e. as a compassionate release to allow a dying man to die at home with his family, then many Scots might have accepted it.

What hurt Scotland and the whole of the UK was Libya's welcome of a convicted mass-murderer as a National hero. That was Libya's decision (and probably Colonel Gaddafi's personal decision).

The result is that many Scots and UK citizens are sickened by Libya's actions and the misinterpretation of the compassion enshrined in Scots Law.

I think that the decision can be defended but Libya's reaction should be condemned.

Og

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

The result is that many Scots and UK citizens are sickened by Libya's actions and the misinterpretation of the compassion enshrined in Scots Law.

I think that the decision can be defended but Libya's reaction should be condemned.

Og

There's the justification, Og. I can agree with it.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6817355.ece

What I can't agree with is the slap in the face by the Lybians in using him as a returning hero. This only shows that Gaddafi hasn't changed and still supports international terrorism.

 

[oggbashan]

...

What I can't agree with is the slap in the face by the Lybians in using him as a returning hero. This only shows that Gaddafi hasn't changed and still supports international terrorism.

I can't trace the reference but I understand that Al Meghari is actually a distant relation of Gaddafi.

Og

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

I can't trace the reference but I understand that Al Meghari is actually a distant relation of Gaddafi.

Og

A Foreign Office minister told Libya in February this year that Gordon Brown did not want the Lockerbie bomber to die in jail, according to an official minute released today.

Abdulati Alobidi, the Libyan Minister for Europe, told how he had warned Bill Rammell, a Foreign Office Minister visiting Tripoli, that Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi should not be allowed to die in a Scottish prison.

"Mr Alobidi confirmed that he had reiterated to Mr Rammell that the death of Mr Megrahi in a Scottish prison would have catastrophic effects for the relationship between Libya and the UK," the note released by the Scottish government said.

"Mr Alobidi went on to say that Mr Rammell had stated that neither the Prime Minister nor the Foreign Secretary would want Mr Megrahi to pass away in prison but the decision on transfer lies in the hands of the Scottish ministers."

The note relates to a meeting in March between Scottish officials and a Libyan government delegation including Mr Alobidi.

Al-Megrahi, who is dying of cancer, was released last month on compassionate grounds, prompting protests in the United States and a bitter spat between the UK and Scottish governments over the sequence of events leading up to his release.

That led to today's near-simultaneous release of documents in London and Edinburgh, which was meant to clear the air but appears likely to make the row even worse.

Ten letters released by the UK Ministry of Justice and Foreign and Commonwealth Office appeared to back Downing Street in its insistence that no explicit pressure had been applied on the Scottish government to release or transfer al-Megrahi.

But there was plenty of evidence to suggest that the UK tacitly supported such a decision, including what appears to be a U-turn by Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, who went back on a previous pledge to have al-Megrahi specifically excluded from a prisoner transfer agreement being negotiated with the Libyans.

Also released today were two letters from the Foreign Office, including one from Ivan Lewis, Mr Rammell's successor at the Foreign Office. Mr Lewis also insisted that the final decision would be up to the Scottish government, but encouraged Mr MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary, to consider the Libyan demand for al-Megrahi's release.

The Scottish government released more than 100 pages of documents, including the minutes from a succession of meetings with Libyan government delegations.

Among the documents published by the Scottish government were notes of a meeting between Mr MacAskill and Megrahi at Greenock prison and advice from Scottish officials on the prisoner transfer agreement.

And it goes on for another full page...

 

[amicus]

Hello again, Jenny_Jackson...been ages since I smiled at your avatar, welcome back...

I didn't expect the prisoner release/exhange, would be a large event, but the information coming out of Britain and Scotland seemed to reach a fever pitch of denials and as more rhetoric was spread, it does force one to consider that some kind of arrangement or 'deal' was made.

again...welcome back...good to see you again..

Amicus

 

[oggbashan]

Part of the reason for the spate of denials, counter accusations, counter denials etc. is that the decision was made by the government of the Scottish National party which has replaced Labour as the party of government in Scotland.

The Labour Party, Gordon Brown's party, wants to demonise the Scottish National Party and distance itself from any part of the decision. Unfortunately it is obvious that the UK's Labour Government and Gordon Brown himself had discussed the possible release with Colonel Gaddafi while claiming that they had no influence on the process. It doesn't help that Gordon Brown and many of his ministers are Scots.

The Scottish government are documenting all the pressure that the Labour Government had been putting on Scotland. The Labour Government are being upstaged because each of their denials are being shown to be terminological inexactitudes by the next release of documents from Scotland.

It is bad news for Scotland; bad news for the UK's labour government; bad news for the UK's relationship with the US and apparently Colonel Gaddafi is enjoying fanning the flames.

Og

 

[amicus]

One is forced to consider that the one time, 'bad boy' of Libya, who was apparently brought to heel, ceased exporting arms and expanding nuclear ambitions, may, with the inflow of cash for oil, become a 'player' on the world stage once again.

It is of course, oil, that since the 1930's, has fueled the wealth of the Arab States and given them the wealth to 'buy into' international terrorism. A tangled web as Great Britain, the United States and the former Soviet Union, along with other world consumers of petroleum, all had and have vested interests in keeping oil flowing through the Suez and the Persian Gulf....

Not that it ever was simple to understand...but it seems more complicated as time passes.

Amicus

 

[oggbashan]

It is oil that has kept Colonel Gaddafi in power for the last 40 years.

Once sold, oil has no politics.

Og

 

[R. Richard]

It is oil that has kept Colonel Gaddafi in power for the last 40 years.

Once sold, oil has no politics.

Og

Not quite. Different grades of oil require different amounts of processing. Light, sweet crude [Saudi Arabia] may be very valuable to a county. Heavy, sour crude [Mexico] may be much less valuable to a county. Value = political power.

 

[amicus]

I(t seems the US Government has taken a position as Chief of Staff Emanuel and Secretary of State Clinton spoke to both the British and Scottish politicians concerning the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

However...the content of those communications is not being divulged by any of the parties concerned...

Hmmmmm....?

Amicus