US-UK-Scotland-BP Weirdness

[Enkidu Warrior]

A US senator has asked the Scottish government to reconsider its decision not to send officials to a hearing into the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

In a letter, Frank Lautenberg said he was "pleading" with First Minister Alex Salmond to help shed light on claims that BP had influenced the release.

Mr Salmond has declined an invitation to send his justice secretary and a medical expert to Washington.

The UK Foreign Secretary said the release was "wrong and misguided".

William Hague wrote to US senators on Saturday, after former UK Justice Secretary Jack Straw also chose not to attend the Washington hearings.

Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, who was convicted of blowing up a Pan Am jumbo jet over the town of Lockerbie in 1988 in which 270 people were killed, was freed by the Scottish government on medical grounds last August.

In his letter to Mr Salmond, the New Jersey senator expresses frustration at what he portrays as the UK and Scottish governments blaming each other for this row.

He says the grief of victims' families has been "amplified" by allegations of improprieties surrounding the release.

Mr Lautenberg said: "I am pleading for direct representation from the Scottish government at our hearing next week to help us seek answers.

"Your co-operation in sending a knowledgeable person will help establish a credible record of what transpired."

US politicians are concerned that the decision to free Megrahi may have been tied to an oil deal involving BP.

On Friday, Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill defended his decision not to attend the US hearing.

He said he was "accountable to Scotland" and had "no information to provide" on any BP oil deal.

In his letter to the senators Mr Hague criticised the release of Megrahi, but said it was "legally and constitutionally proper" that the decision was one for the Scottish government.

Mr Hague has previously acknowledged that BP did lobby the previous Labour government in favour of a prisoner transfer agreement between Britain and Libya.

But Mr Hague pointed out that Megrahi was freed by the Scottish government on entirely separate, compassionate grounds because the prisoner was deemed to be terminally ill.

Prime Minister David Cameron met Mr Lautenberg and three other senators from New York and New Jersey, where many of the Lockerbie bombing victims came from, during his visit to Washington this week.

He said he had seen no evidence that the Scottish government - which made the decision to free terminally ill cancer patient Megrahi on compassionate grounds - had been "swayed" by lobbying from BP.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10748665

This whole business seems totally mixed up to me. First of all the record is pretty transparent on what actually happened. Did BP lobby in favour of the prisoner transfer agreement? Yes. Did this agreement have anything to do with Megrahi's eventual realease? No - the Scottish government rejected the transfer, only agreeing to an eventual compassionate release, rightly or wrongly, without reference to the obviously dodgy agreement cooked up by the UK government at BPs (and the US oil companies - more later) urging.

Secondly, do they seriously expect UK or Scottish ministers to testify in front of Congress? Did we get annexed while I wasn't paying attention or something? Scottish ministers don't have to answer to London about matters within their jurisdiction, and they certainly don't have to answer to Washington. Courtesy aside, if America doesn't like the decision they can either take us to an international court (oh the irony), invade or just shove it. The Scottish government has made statements on this matter and if Congress expects foreign cabinet members to fly over, swear an oath to a foreign legislature and be interrogated as though the US Congress held some authority over them, then they need to be politely reminded of their place in the world. Although if the US would like to send over the likes of Rumsfeld and Rice to testify under oath to the House of Commons about the Iraq war maybe we could call it a fair trade.

Finally, given the above, how can anyone be swayed by the transparent attempt to make out BP to be some sort of slightly more upmarket al-Qaeda. Why are the many US companies involved in the Gulf of Mexico spill and the shady Libyan lobbying getting a free pass? Why was BP suddenly renamed BRITISH Petroleum in the aftermath of the spill? Why am I, as someone who would quite happily dance on BPs grave, so turned off by the ugly and grossly hypocritical campaign against them?

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Yep American arrogance at work again.

We should have summoned Bush to the Iraq war enquiry.

 

[nonconformist]

Yanks screwed us in the original inquiry, we screw 'em now.

 

[Truronian]

I reckon we should send over Billy Connelly.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

We already sent George Galloway and he pwnd.

 

[Silurian]

We already sent George Galloway and he pwnd.

Send gorgeous again in exchange for Bush on Iraq

 

[Quackers]

I think trying to make a link between BP - Lockerbie Bombers release - and the oil spill is stupid.

They think the British government created BP to destroy America's pristine beaches and release it's terrorist enemies?

 

[Ekolite]

It almost seems as if the American government is trying to turn the people against the British. Trying to build false ascociations between for a start Britain and BP, which is mostly American these days, and then between BP and the release of Lockerbie - trying to make out as if BP somehow pulls the strings in Scotland. It's only a matter of time before they claim that the oil spill was a terrorist attack orchestrated by the Scottish government...

Maybe we're to be Iraq v2. I bet that North Sea oil looks tasty.

 

[Godwynn]

When dealing with the United Kingdom, we prefer the talons holding the arrows.

Also, your BP oil made it so this eagle can't fly and we have to clean it.

 

[Silurian]

Another terrorist incident against eagles

Exxon Shipping president Frank Iarossi said: "The clean-up is not proceeding well. Believe me, that is an understatement. We have a mess on our hands."

 

[ParadigmShifter]

I'm pretty sure eagles don't hang out on beaches in the southeastern US.

 

[Godwynn]

I'm pretty sure eagles don't hang out on beaches in the southeastern US.

But it is reaching Britain.

 

[Silurian]

looks like a vulture

Should the US president go to Scotland to answer questions about say piper alpha or any future event.

 

[Ayn Rand]

We hurt American interests and now they are hurting us back. Even friends have to teach each other a lesson from time to time

 

[GinandTonic]

We hurt American interests and now they are hurting us back. Even friends have to teach each other a lesson from time to time

Who's we

 

[EnglishEdward]

 

[Godwynn]

It is neither "my", nor our "BP".

I don't own shares in it.

Ask yourselves what were the nationalities of those
who made the decisions before the oil spill occurred?

Typical blame shifting by island inhabitants.

"We didn't start World War I, it was all the Jerries fault!"

 

[Kraznaya]

Why is Airstrip One being so uppity again?

 

[Silurian]

Why is Airstrip One being so uppity again?

So you think the US president should stand before the Scottish parliament to answer questions.

 

[Glassfan]

The US legislators answer to their constituents here, who feel they have never had justice over their loved ones killed in the Lockerbie bombing. That terrorist bomber Al Megrahi, sentenced to life imprisonment, was freed on humanitarian grounds with apparently only three months to live, was hard to swallow in the first place. But now that he's free and has apparently undergone a miraculous recovery and may live on for decades is outrageous to us.

Foreign nationals asked to testify before Congress do so voluntarily, a tradition that goes back to the Titanic inquiry nearly a century ago. Scottish officials have declined and can't be forced. They might have some difficulty explaining how they were duped into letting Al Megrahi go.

BP is certainly on the hot seat here in the US, due to the Gulf oil spill causing massive environmental destruction, animal die-off and economic dislocation. We are currently enduring their spin commercials on radio and TV. If that corporation helped get Al Megrahi free in order to improve business relations with Lybia, then that would also be outrageous. Scottish officials and BP executives have denied any wrongdoing, and we know officials and executives never lie, so you're all probably correct, there's no need for an inquiry.