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thomas davison

Lockerbie bomber Al Megrahi freed by conniving politicians in squalid pursuit of a fast buck. Oh, the shame
By Stephen Glover
PUBLISHED: 00:02, 21 May 2012 | UPDATED: 07:33, 21 May 2012
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The death of Abdelbaset Al Megrahi in Libya should remind us of one of the most shameful episodes in modern British history. It has involved nothing less than the subverting of British justice for commercial gain.
Megrahi was a convicted mass murderer who was cynically traded by the last Labour government in return for commercial opportunities in Colonel Muammar Gaddafi�s Libya. If this seems an almost incredible charge, I am afraid it is one that can be sustained by ample evidence.
Megrahi was released from prison by Alex Salmond�s Scottish National Party government in August 2009 on supposedly compassionate grounds. It was confidently stated that he had only three months to live.
The reason he was officially let go by the Scottish, rather than the British, government was that the crime of which he had been convicted in 2001 � the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988, which caused 270 deaths � had happened over Lockerbie in Scotland, and so he had been imprisoned north of the border.
Hero's welcome: Megrahi arrives back in Tripoli with Colonel Gaddafi's son Saif in 2009 to be greeted by cheering crowds
At first sight, the unwary may have believed this was a Scottish-only decision driven by humanitarian concern for a dying man. I recall Lord Mandelson, then unofficial deputy prime minister, pompously declaring that it was �completely implausible� and �offensive� to suggest that the British government had connived in Megrahi�s premature release.
But very soon evidence emerged which convinced even the unwary that this was exactly what had happened. As Megrahi flew back with Saif Gaddafi to a hero�s welcome in Libya, the son of the Libyan dictator told him that his name had been �on the table in all commercial, oil and gas agreements we supervised during this period�.
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Soon it transpired that a Foreign Office minister, Ivan Lewis, had written a letter to the Scottish government a couple of weeks before Megrahi�s release, encouraging it to free him under the Prisoner Transfer Agreement which Tony Blair had signed with Col Gaddafi in 2007 allowing for the exchange of prisoners between the two countries.
Then, in early 2011, explosive evidence contained in American diplomatic documents was published by the WikiLeaks website. These showed that within a week of Megrahi being diagnosed with prostate cancer in October 2008, another Foreign Office minister, Bill Rammell, had written to his Libyan counterpart advising him how this could be used as grounds for securing the terrorist�s compassionate release from prison.
American documents also disclosed that, as Justice Minister, Jack Straw had spoken to Alex Salmond, the Scottish First Minister, about the case, which had led British government officials to believe Megrahi would soon be set free. It had been earlier separately revealed that Mr Straw wrote in a letter in December 2007 to a Scottish minister that it was �in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom� to make Megrahi eligible for return to Libya � which is tantamount to saying he should be set free.
In short, there is lots of evidence to suggest that the decision to release him was driven by London more than Edinburgh. One should also seriously doubt whether any officials north or south of the border really thought that the terrorist had only three months to live. He certainly appeared pretty hale and hearty when greeted by an exultant Col Gaddafi on his return to Tripoli nearly three years ago. I believe that what was represented as compassionate release was in fact the final payback by the Labour government for all the commercial opportunities granted to Britain since Col Gaddafi had his famous meeting in a tent with Tony Blair in March 2004.
Deal in the desert: Huge oil contracts were awarded after 2004 talks between then Prime Minister Tony Blair (left) and Libya dictator Colonel Gaddafi (right)
As a direct consequence of that meeting, Anglo-Dutch Shell and BP were awarded huge new contracts in Libya, and dozens of other British companies moved into the country to scoop up lucrative business. Britain also sold weapons worth tens of millions of pounds to Gaddafi which were later turned on the rebels who, irony of ironies, we ended up helping to overthrow the dictator last year. One sop offered to Gaddafi by the Blair government before the 2004 meeting was the forced rendition arranged by MI6 of Abdel Hakim Belhadji and his wife from Bangkok to Libya.
Belhadji was imprisoned and tortured by Gaddafi. He is now suing Jack Straw, Foreign Secretary at the time of his abduction.
What was done to him was obviously disgraceful and immoral. But Gaddafi hankered after another prize � Megrahi. And so the Labour government became involved in another, no less immoral, piece of skulduggery.
As one of his last acts as prime minister, Tony Blair signed the Prisoner Transfer Agreement with Gaddafi in June 2007. Of course, he subsequently visited Libya on several occasions to talk to his friend Gaddafi and try to make a little money for himself.
Just how many Libyan prisoners were there languishing in British jails? The Libyan interest in signing the agreement was obviously only in Megrahi. Although the British government at first stated he would not be covered by the deal, it was soon made clear by Mr Straw that he would.
Death bed: But Abdelbaset Al Megrahi's battle with cancer last far longer than doctors predicted
Some people � for example Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter died at Lockerbie � have argued that Megrahi was not guilty of the bombing of Pan Am 103, and have even suggested that Iran, rather than Libya, may have been responsible.
But this has never been the stated position of either the British or the Scottish governments. They did not release him from prison on the grounds that he was innocent. How could they have done, given that he was convicted by a properly constituted court in the Netherlands in 2001?
So the suggestion of innocence is beside the point. A convicted terrorist was released on the false grounds that he had three months to live, although the real motivation was that the government wished to oblige its friend, the monster Col Muammar Gaddafi, for commercial reasons. The shame of it!
This disreputable deal was an offence to the feelings of the relatives of those who died at Lockerbie, the majority of whom happen to have been American. They could not, and cannot, understand why a man convicted of killing their nearest and dearest should have been set free.
It is also an offence against justice and the rule of law to release a convicted mass murderer on spurious grounds so that a tyrant could be appeased and British companies go on coining money. Libya drew the last Labour administration, and Tony Blair in particular, into a very dark place. A government which had once boasted of its �ethical foreign policy� found itself associated with practices that have no place in a civilised democracy � torture, rendition and undermining the precepts of justice � all in the name of making a quick pound.
Abdelbaset Al Megrahi is dead. So too is Col Gaddafi. But the British politicians who connived with them, as well as the MI6 officials who did dirty work on their behalf, are free and alive � and it seems that they will never be asked to account for their actions.

Milli and his cohorts are unable to accept the truth that they bankrupted the country and left a legacy of destruction in education immigration the NHS, the EU and benefit system so there is no chance theY will tell the truth about the release of this evil monster! in fact those responsible should be jailed.

Nothing would surprise me with that pair of Blair and Straw,also gives you an insight into Millipede,who would give a job to Blair,without a second thought,dont any off them have any shame, no not really they all want to get rich at your expense.

thomas davison · Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:39 am Post subject:

It is written in the Koran that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were pagans, infidels and sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave, and that every Mohanneddan who was slain in this warefare was sure to go to paradise.