The chap was a patsy to begin with.
The real villains went free long ago.
& all this talk about Scottish justice.......
:hand:
This deal was hammered out long ago, and it's very well connected.There is much more to be said on this matter. Here is but a taste:
[quote]Bomber row could bring down Scots government
By Campbell Gunn
THE decision to release convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi could bring down the Scottish Government.
Opposition leaders are now understood to be seriously considering calling for a vote in the Scottish Parliament on the issue.
Tomorrow, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill will make a statement to the recalled Parliament and answer questions from MSPs.
However, no vote is scheduled for the end of the session and Opposition leaders will wait until it is over before deciding whether to call one.
Likelihood
The likelihood is this would be a vote of “no confidence” in Mr MacAskill following the full return of Parliament after the end of recess, next week.
In that case First Minister Alex Salmond would consider it a vote of no confidence in his Government, as he cannot be put in the position where Opposition parties say who can and who cannot be members of his ministerial team.
All three main Opposition parties — Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats — opposed Mr MacAskill’s decision so the 47 SNP MSPs would be heavily outnumbered in any vote.
Last night, former Labour first minister Jack McConnell pointed out the families of the 270 killed at Lockerbie had been given guarantees decisions were for the courts and would be made on the grounds of justice alone.
“Damaged”
“The events of the last few days have damaged Scotland,” Mr McConnell said. “They have damaged the reputation of our justice system at home and abroad and they have damaged the reputation of our country internationally.
“Even if, and it is a big if, there was a case for additional compassionate treatment, allowing al-Megrahi to be welcomed home in Libya as a free man should have been the last option on the list.
“There were other options that could have been applied if the Scottish Government had the will.”
He added the sight of Scottish flags welcoming home a convicted bomber to Libya had shamed Scotland and the damage done would take years to recover.
“The Scottish Parliament has a responsibility to take action to repair some of the damage done.
No endorsement
“I believe the Scottish Parliament should make clear that this decision was not made by the people of Scotland and that it does not have the endorsement of the Scottish people.
“It is now too late to change the decision made by the current Scottish Government but the voice of the people can be heard through their Parliament.
“We owe it to the victims to make clear that this mistake does not have the support of the nation as a whole.”
Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray said Alex Salmond’s misjudgement showed he was not up to the job of first minister.
“Alex Salmond cannot wash his hands of the Libyan reaction and the international consequences of his decision,” Mr Gray added.
Reputation damaged
“He has seriously damaged Scotland’s reputation and exposed us to international criticism.
“To claim the SNP spoke for Scotland is an insult to the Scottish people. It is arrogant and blinkered — even some SNP MSPs thought it was the wrong decision.
“Gaddafi has praised the Scottish Government, but Alex Salmond has shown weakness throughout this affair. He is not up to the job of first minister.”
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Bill Aitken said, “Because of the ineptitude of Alex Salmond’s SNP we faced the stomach-churning sight of our flag on parade in Tripoli, a mass murderer given a hero’s return and mounting concern over our relations and standing with the USA.
“This week, Scotland’s Justice Secretary was dubbed ‘The Toast of Tripoli’. How sad for Scotland that the SNP has reduced our country to this.
“So I say this to Alex Salmond and his SNP Government — when you sent the Lockerbie bomber back to a hero’s reception, you did not act in my name.”
thesundaypost.co.uk/news1.htm[/quote]
That smell in the air?
Its called…damage control.
Sometimes it works…sometimes it doesn’t.
Storm in a teacup. it will have no long term effect on Scottish politics for the simple reason that there’s no credible alternative to the conservative SNP while Labour continues to crash and burn. People don’t do single issue politics for long.
Sometimes there is more than one issue though so then it would not be a single issue.
Where I come from, a government that follows the law is a good government.
Gobsmacked by the open letter from the director of the FBI to the Scottish justice secretary demanding more respect for the rule of law . . . by breaking Scottish law and keeping a dying man in prison.
Yes, but those issues would not be with the SNP.
Once the media has ceased to give a shit about this, which won’t be long, it will fade from view. Not for everyone, obviously, and I’m not saying the ripples won’t hit the shores, but ‘bring down the government’? I’ll believe it when I see it. Which I won’t because I’m right. Hmph.
The saga is growing. Now the Queen is getting dragged into the mix:
[quote]Fury as Colonel Gadafi thanks the Queen as Lockerbie row escalates
Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi yesterday dragged the Queen, Prince Andrew and Gordon Brown into the row over the release of the Lockerbie bomber.
He thanked all of them for “encouraging” the Scottish government to free terminallyill Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi.
The move came after Libya ignored the PM’s letter asking for “sensitivity” and the need to avoid a hero’s welcome for the bomber’s return home. In a further act of defiance, Col Gaddafi was shown talking to and hugging a joyous Megrahi on Libyan TV yesterday.
The row deepened as Lord Mandelson was forced to defend the Government against allegations that Megrahi’s release was linked to trade with oil-rich Libya.
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Emerging from hospital after prostate surgery, Lord Mandelson robustly denied the claim from Col Gaddafi’s son, Seif al-Islam, who the Business Secretary had met on holiday in Corfu this summer. Lord Mandelson condemned the suggestion that Megrahi’s case was raised over talks about oil and gas as “wrong, completely implausible and quite offensive”.
Earlier, Col Gaddafi thanked “my friend Brown” and the British Government for their part in securing Megrahi’s freedom. He praised the “courage” of the PM and the Scottish government for “having proved their independence in decisionmaking despite the unacceptable and unreasonable measures that they faced”.
He also thanked the Queen and Prince Andrew - who has made several visits to Libya - for their part in urging Scotland to take “this historic and courageous decision”.
His comments came as opposition MPs said ministers had “serious questions” to answer over Megrahi’s release.[/quote]
And then there is also the story about Gaddafis son buying the 10 million pound home in the north of London within the last few days.
Colonel Gaddafi’s son buys £10m Hampstead mansion
Just a coincidence.
[quote=“TainanCowboy”]The saga is growing. Now the Queen is getting dragged into the mix:
[quote]Fury as Colonel Gadafi thanks the Queen as Lockerbie row escalates
Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi yesterday dragged the Queen, Prince Andrew and Gordon Brown into the row over the release of the Lockerbie bomber.
He thanked all of them for “encouraging” the Scottish government to free terminallyill Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi.
The move came after Libya ignored the PM’s letter asking for “sensitivity” and the need to avoid a hero’s welcome for the bomber’s return home. In a further act of defiance, Col Gaddafi was shown talking to and hugging a joyous Megrahi on Libyan TV yesterday.
The row deepened as Lord Mandelson was forced to defend the Government against allegations that Megrahi’s release was linked to trade with oil-rich Libya.
Advertisement - article continues below »
Emerging from hospital after prostate surgery, Lord Mandelson robustly denied the claim from Col Gaddafi’s son, Seif al-Islam, who the Business Secretary had met on holiday in Corfu this summer. Lord Mandelson condemned the suggestion that Megrahi’s case was raised over talks about oil and gas as “wrong, completely implausible and quite offensive”.
Earlier, Col Gaddafi thanked “my friend Brown” and the British Government for their part in securing Megrahi’s freedom. He praised the “courage” of the PM and the Scottish government for “having proved their independence in decisionmaking despite the unacceptable and unreasonable measures that they faced”.
He also thanked the Queen and Prince Andrew - who has made several visits to Libya - for their part in urging Scotland to take “this historic and courageous decision”.
His comments came as opposition MPs said ministers had “serious questions” to answer over Megrahi’s release.[/quote]
And then there is also the story about Gaddafis son buying the 10 million pound home in the north of London within the last few days.
Colonel Gaddafi’s son buys £10m Hampstead mansion
Just a coincidence.[/quote]
What chapter of Gadafi’s Green Book on Arab Socialism refers to buying 10 million dollar homes?
Ghadaffi is just rocking the boat a little. I honestly can’t see that buying a house has anything to do with this.
The piece you link do sayd nothing about the central theme in this affair, which is that when you have a policy regarding release of mortally ill prisoners, you have to stick to it. It’s as simple as that.
Note that the UK relatives of the victims applaud the release of the bomber as they believe that he was not the mastermind, and that the mastermind Ghadaffi should be going to jail instead.
Given the amount of oil he’s sitting on, that’s not going to happen.
[quote=“Mr He”]Ghadaffi is just rocking the boat a little. I honestly can’t see that buying a house has anything to do with this.
The piece you link do sayd nothing about the central theme in this affair, which is that when you have a policy regarding release of mortally ill prisoners, you have to stick to it. It’s as simple as that.
Note that the UK relatives of the victims applaud the release of the bomber as they believe that he was not the mastermind, and that the mastermind Ghadaffi should be going to jail instead.
Given the amount of oil he’s sitting on, that’s not going to happen.[/quote]
Most of the quotes from British relatives I read seemed to doubt the Libya connection at all, and leaned more heavily to the Iran/Syria/PFLP conspiracy.
[quote=“MikeN”]Most of the quotes from British relatives I read seemed to doubt the Libya connection at all, and leaned more heavily to the Iran/Syria/PFLP conspiracy.[/quote]MikeN -
While I do not believe that the relatives have access to any information not readily available to any of us, I think you are correct.
Personally, while I believe that the released terrorist was involved in the bombing, it is becoming clearer that he was not one of the group ultimately responsible for the bombing. I also think the blame for that lies closer to the groups you mention.
[quote=“TainanCowboy”][quote=“MikeN”]Most of the quotes from British relatives I read seemed to doubt the Libya connection at all, and leaned more heavily to the Iran/Syria/PFLP conspiracy.[/quote]MikeN -
While I do not believe that the relatives have access to any information not readily available to any of us, I think you are correct.
Personally, while I believe that the released terrorist was involved in the bombing, it is becoming clearer that he was not one of the group ultimately responsible for the bombing. I also think the blame for that lies closer to the groups you mention.[/quote]
Do you also believe he is dying?
[quote=“Stray Dog”][quote=“TainanCowboy”][quote=“MikeN”]Most of the quotes from British relatives I read seemed to doubt the Libya connection at all, and leaned more heavily to the Iran/Syria/PFLP conspiracy.[/quote]MikeN -
While I do not believe that the relatives have access to any information not readily available to any of us, I think you are correct.
Personally, while I believe that the released terrorist was involved in the bombing, it is becoming clearer that he was not one of the group ultimately responsible for the bombing. I also think the blame for that lies closer to the groups you mention.[/quote]
Do you also believe he is dying?[/quote]
As for me, don’t know and don’t really care. If he is, let him die in a prison hospice and ship the body back.
nzherald.co.nz/world/news/ar … 921&pnum=2
Al-Megrahi’s trial took place in 2001. His colleague was freed, but he was jailed for 27 years (in Scotland, because Pan Am 103 came down in Lockerbie). As time passed, however, the case began to unravel.
The Maltese shopkeeper who had identified al-Megrahi, Tony Gauci, turned out to be living in Australia, supported by several million dollars the Americans had paid him for his evidence.
The allegation the timer for the bomb had been supplied to Libya by the Swiss manufacturer Mebo turned out to be false. The owner of Mebo, Edwin Bollier, revealed that he had turned down an offer of $4 million from the FBI in 1991 to testify that he had sold his MST-13 timers to Libya.
One of Bollier’s former employees, Ulrich Lumpert, did testify at al-Megrahi’s trial that MST-13 timers had been supplied to Libya - but in 2007 he admitted he had lied at the trial.
And this year it was revealed Pan Am’s baggage area at London’s Heathrow airport was broken into 17 hours before Pan Am 103 took off. (The police knew that 12 years ago, but kept it secret at al-Megrahi’s trial.) The theory the fatal bag was put on a feeder flight from Malta became even less likely.
Giving more and more credence to the Iran/Syrian/Libyan connection for the bombing.
The only conclusion that fabricated and withheld evidence gives credence to is the fact that neoconservatives will stop at nothing to achieve their political agenda.
Yeah…I guess you really are Spook.
For years progressive thinking people have known this case was a shambles.
But there are idiots around who believe people in power don’t lie and don’t have agendas.
What gets me is the people who find this release sick and calling for a pathetic boycott are the same people who support bombs dropping on weddings in various parts of Asia.
There is no difference between a bomb blowing up innocent people on a plane or a bomb killing innocent people at a wedding.
From this week’s Private Eye;
LIBYAN TAKEAWAY
Earlier this year the Eye predicted that the Scottish courts would hear only a small part of the appeal of Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi before it would be abandoned and he would return to Libya to die with his family. Meghari’s release was on the cards for some time.
That was ensured by Jack Straw, the justice minister, sticking up two fingers at parliament’s human rights committee and rushing through the prisoner transfer deal with our new best friend, Muammar Gaddafi. After all, the deal suited all the main players, cementing relations with Libya as well as halting an appeal that threatened to prove a major embarrassment to both the UK and US governments. News last week that Megrahi was to be returned on ‘compassionate grounds’, because he was dying of cancer, briefly raised hopes that his appeal could continue in his absence. But that was never going to be allowed to happen, and Megrahi, who had always said he would never return to Libya until his name was cleared, duly dropped his appeal.
IN THE PAY OF THE CIA
The casualty is justice and the truth about the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, which claimed 270 victims. For as readers of the Eye’s special report by Paul Foot in 2001 are well aware, Megrahi’s trial was a travesty. There were the testimonies of two witnesses who were paid huge sums by the CIA – one a notorious liar and paid informer, Abdul Giaka, who first put Megrahi in the frame; the other the Maltese shopkeeper who identified him as the man who bought clothes said to have been packed round the bomb. He had been shown photographs of Megrahi.
Some forensic evidence appeared to have been tampered with and much evidence withheld – including the fact that there had been a serious breach in security in Heathrow at the Pan Am baggage area in the early hours of 21 December 1988, the day of the bombing. A padlock on the door had been professionally cut and the area open to intruders. Coupled with the testimony of baggage handlers about two extra cases going on board – one matching the description of the bag said to have carried the bomb – this would have featured heavily in Megrahi’s appeal.
THE SYRIAN CONNECTION
And then, of course, there were the similarities to the modus operandi of a Syrian-backed terrorist cell operating out of Frankfurt, including altitude-sensitive timers, which the judges did not allow Megrahi’s defence team to raise at trial. Because the appeal in Edinburgh has been dogged by delay, none of these troubling issues have been aired. And now, short of the public inquiry demanded by the families of the victims, they never will be.
Allowing the only man convicted of the bombing to be returned to Libya has produced howls of outrage on both sides of the Atlantic. (That is, apart from the rare voices of the UN observer at the trial and some of the British victims’ families, who have studied every aspect of the case and believe there has been a miscarriage of justice.) That outrage would be better focused on the governments and justice systems that have ensured we have all been denied the full truth about Lockerbie.
Well, this would make it pretty official that the British government are, in fact, scum:
[quote]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.
The letters were sent two years ago by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to Kenny MacAskill, his counterpart in Scotland, who has been widely criticised for taking the formal decision to permit Megrahi’s release.
The correspondence makes it plain that the key decision to include Megrahi in a deal with Libya to allow prisoners to return home was, in fact, taken in London for British national interests.[/quote]
Isn’t al-Megrahi on the verge of death and pretty much incapacitated? I don’t see how releasing him or keeping him in prison makes any difference if he already has one foot in the grave.