A few days before Christmas in 1988, a Pan Am jet bound from London to New York was blown to pieces by a terrorist bomb that detonated over Lockerbie, Scotland. No fewer than 270 people died, including 189 Americans.
Only one person, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, was convicted for this shocking atrocity. Yet today, he is living peacefully, a free man, in Libya.
That is thanks to a decision by the Scottish government in August 2009 to release al-Megrahi to the Libyan government just eight years into a life sentence. Saying that because of his terminal prostate cancer, he had less than three months to live, Edinburgh let him go on grounds of “compassion.” But so far, he’s lived six times longer than forecast.
The question is why the authorities were so eager to ease the final days of a mass murderer, and thanks to a report by the British Cabinet Office, al-Megrahi’s victims now have an answer: The British government wanted him turned over to Moammar Gadhafi
to preserve a lucrative oil-drilling deal withBP, while cultivating better relations with the Libyan dictator.
Although the final decision was in the hands of the Scottish government, concluded the report, the government of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was alarmed by Libyan threats of “significant consequences if al-Megrahi were to die in a UK (United Kingdom) jail.”
So the government decided to “do all it could,” short of overtly pressuring Scotland, to secure al-Megrahi’s freedom. And what do you know? It worked.
The report confirms what was already pretty well established. Last year, Jack Straw, who was Britain’s justice minister at the time, acknowledged that BP and trade concerns were a big factor in his government’s policy. “I’m unapologetic about that,” he said.
In the aftermath of his transfer, the Obama administration was accused of having approved the deal. In fact, a State Department officer had written a strong letter to the Scots opposing clemency “in light of the scope of Megrahi’s crime, its heinous nature and its continuing and devastating impact on the victims and their families.”
The letter also urged an “independent and comprehensive” inquiry into the inmate’s health. It recommended that if released on compassionate grounds, he should not be allowed to leave Scotland. But these entreaties were ignored, and al-Megrahi was greeted by jubilant crowds when he arrived back home.
In time, the man responsible for slaughtering 270 people will depart this world. The shame of those in Edinburgh, London and Tripoli whose decisions set him free, however, will linger.
