A Pan Am Boeing 747
There has been speculation in the British press that last year’s release of the convicted bomber of Pan Am Flight 103 (the “Lockerbie Bombing”), Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, was done so to allow BP to sign an oil contract worth billions with Libya. The UK prime minister, David Cameron, got grilled today at the White House by the press (or should I say the British press. What passes for the American press was too busy mindlessly covering the two leaders’ favorite beer. I wish I was joking.)
According to the Times of London:
The British government decided it was “in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom” to make Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, eligible for return to Libya, leaked ministerial letters reveal.
Gordon Brown’s government made the decision after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. These were resolved soon afterwards.
Al Megrahi was released by Scottish authorities last year on “humanitarian grounds,” when he was said to only have three months left to live. Almost twelve months later, Al Megrahi is has almost fully recovered from his alleged prostate cancer and doctors say he could live for another 20 years.
I will always remember Pan Am Flight 103 because my brother Allen was on his way home from Germany for Christmas leave around that time and the thought that he might have been on that fateful flight really scared me. To hear that the UK may have coughed up this convicted killer of 270 people just to win an oil deal for BP truly makes me sick.