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...facts. So the British government in Westminster and the semi-autonomous Scottish administration in Edinburgh could reasonably have expected the torrent of documents they published on Sept. 1 to kill off the wilder conspiracies surrounding last month's release of the convicted Lockerbie bomber, Libyan Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi. And those documents - letters among Westminster, Edinburgh and Tripoli; minutes of meetings; and reports on everything from al-Megrahi's failing health to the hefty policing costs that would be incurred if he were released in Scotland - certainly did illuminate the decision-making process that led to al-Megrahi...
...from proving that al-Megrahi's fate was determined solely by the Scottish judicial system that imprisoned him - as politicians in Westminster and Edinburgh have vigorously asserted - or that compassion alone dictated the Libyan's release, the documents suggest a process every bit as murky as conspiracy theorists might have imagined. While the British government made a public show of neutrality on the issue, saying any change in al-Megrahi's status was a matter for Scotland, it turns out that a British minister once gave assurances to Libya that neither Prime Minister Gordon Brown nor his Foreign Secretary, David...
...Taliban campaign to target religious and political leaders. Analysts say that the notoriously vicious new leader of the Pakistani Taliban Hakimullah Mehsud is keen to assert himself after assuming the leadership of the organization. But there is also speculation that any new campaign might be the work of al-Qaeda. Last week, Saudi Arabia's deputy interior minister survived an al-Qaeda suicide bomb attack in the port city of Jeddah. (See pictures of Osama Bin Laden...
...That's at best a moot point. The Prime Minister criticized Libya's jubilant homecoming ceremonies for al-Megrahi but has yet to comment on the decision to let al-Megrahi go. Brown "stands accused of double-dealing, on the one hand apparently saying to the Americans they wanted Megrahi to die in prison, but on the other hand saying privately to the Libyans that they wanted him released," said Conservative Party leader David Cameron, calling for an inquiry into the affair. Brown angrily rejected that interpretation of events: "On our part, there was no conspiracy, no cover...
...Perhaps for that reason, Libyan officials seem almost indifferent to the West's ire over al-Megrahi. In fact, on Aug. 31, Minister of International Cooperation Siala told reporters in Tripoli that Libya thinks now is a good time to ask Britain to investigate an assassination plot several years ago against Gaddafi - a plot which British officials deny ever existed. For its part, Britain wants Libyan officials to divulge information about the murder of British police officer Yvonne Fletcher, who was shot outside the Libyan embassy in 1984. What happens next between Britain and Libya could reveal whether al-Megrahi...