Washington Urged for Release of Lockerbie Monster

This current regime in Washington really enjoys having it both ways. In one breath they claim to be outrageously outraged that the Lockerbie bomber was released yet at the same time was OK with releasing Abdelbaset al-Megrahi on "compassionate" grounds.

How about a little compassion for the victims' families?

Barack Obama's administration urged Edinburgh to base the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds, it has emerged.

Newspapers had quoted a letter from Richard LeBaron, deputy head of the US Embassy in London, to Scottish first minister Alex Salmond.

It read: "If Scottish authorities come to the conclusion that Megrahi must be released from custody, the US position is that conditional release on compassionate grounds would be a far preferable alternative to prisoner transfer."

Mr Salmond told Sky News this morning that the American government's position was that they did not want Megrahi to be released - but preferred a compassionate release over a prisoner transfer deal.

"Presumably the reason that they were so opposed to the prisoner transfer agreement is on roughly the same grounds as the Scottish government had for opposing that agreement - because it was signed initially at the same time as an oil deal was being signed in the famous deal in the desert," he said.

Elsewhere, former prime minister Tony Blair was forced to deny he had paved the way for Megrahi's release during a meeting with Libya's leader Colonel Gadaffi.

"There was no deal in the desert," Mr Blair's spokesman told the Sunday Mirror newspaper. "His release was entirely a decision for the Scottish executive."

This comes after the fiction being peddled earlier this week that Obama was going to "grill" David Cameron, who had nothing to do with the deal, over the release.

COnsidering Obama's anemic approval ratings, how well will this go over with the American public? Oh, never mind, the media here will simply ignore the story.

Meanwhile, certain senators now preening for the cameras and bashing BP are having it thrown back at them.

US POLITICIANS demanding to know if BP lobbied for the release of the Lockerbie bomber were yesterday accused of taking a fortune in donations from the oil giant.

President Barack Obama is said to have received $71,051- around £46,000 - and his secretary of state Hillary Clinton $6700 from the firm that both have savaged since the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Clinton has led the calls for the SNP government to explain their decision to send cancer-stricken Abdelbaset al-Megrahi home to Libya last August.

Other US politicians said to have received BP donations include two senators leading a special hearing trying to establish if BP lobbied for Megrahi's release to help the firm win lucrative drilling rights in Libya.

BP insisted the money was donated by individual staff members.

Last night, the US politicians faced SNP accusations of hypocrisy.

SNP Msp Michael Matheson said: "It's astonishing that after all the rhetoric ... that those senators attacking BP have benefited from their donations.

"It exposes some of the sheer political opportunism currently being played out over the tragic events at Lockerbie and in the Gulf."

Justice secretary Kenny MacAskill insisted he freed Megrahi on compassionate grounds and that BP had no contact with Holyrood.

He again refused to attend the senate hearing on Thursday provoking US fury. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey senator who is chairing the hearing, received $2000 in 2008 for his senate campaign.

Last week, he said: "If BP are found to have gained access to Libyan oil reserves by using a mass murderer as a bargaining chip then ... any money they make off of that oil is blood money."

New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand called for "greater transparency".

But documents show that she received a $750 donation this year.

Thanks to Hot Air for the link. Commenter Wyatt notes the delusional slob at LGF calls me a "wingnut liar" for daring to mention this. He gets very upset when anyone mentions something that embarrasses the current occupant of the White House.

Maybe he should just spare himself the misery and ride his bike off the Santa Monica Pier.