Tim Sumner

blood for oil, Libya, Lockerbie, Mohmed al-Megrahi, Pan Am Flight 103, terror

U.K. Used Lockerbie Bomber as Bargaining Chip; Brit gov’t traded British and American blood for Libya’s oil

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270 were murdered in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988. Among them were 180 Americans and 52 citizens from the United Kingdom.

The Times of London reports (hat tip to Fox News):

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 [emphasis added mine] 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. Edward Davey, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said: “This is the strongest evidence yet that the British government has been involved for a long time in talks over al-Megrahi in which commercial considerations have been central to their thinking.” … READ THE REST.

Megrahi’s prostate cancer “was diagnosed in September 2008,” more than a year after the British government decided to include him as a bargaining chip in oil negotiations with Libya. This makes Scotland’s Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill appear even more like a willing dupe when he accepted a ‘3 months to live’ prognosis that was never made by the “four consultants who examined Megrahi.”

CIA, DOJ, Eric Holder

Congressman Pete Hoekstra to AG Eric Holder: ‘Don’t Make the CIA the Fall Guy’

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On the NRO’s Corner, Robert Costa writes:

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R., Mich.), the ranking Republican member of the House Intelligence Committee, tells NRO that the Obama administration’s national-security apparatus is in “free fall” and showing “no adult leadership.”

After the CIA’s release of documents on enhanced-interrogation techniques, Hoekstra is concerned about how the Department of Justice and Attorney General Eric Holder will respond. But he does express confidence in CIA director Leon Panetta, an Obama appointee.

“I do know that Leon feels passionately about his workforce,” says Hoekstra. It was reported earlier this week that a frustrated Panetta confronted the White House in private about the administration’s handling of the document release. Hoekstra says he “tends to believe that the screaming matches and threatening to quit are probably accurate of Leon’s feelings. I find it ironic that his best friends are Republicans on the Hill.”

Panetta, he adds, “is not getting a lot of support from the president. Eric Holder has declared war on his personnel. … READ THE REST.