Word: libya
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...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 Miliband, "would want Mr. Megrahi to pass away in prison." This revelation, embedded in one of the newly released minutes of a meeting between Scottish and Libyan officials that was held in Glasgow in March 2009, has been confirmed...
...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...
...Three years ago, Gaddafi opted to invest his excess oil revenues in a sovereign wealth fund called the Libyan Investment Authority, which has rocketed in value thanks to soaring oil prices on the world market. The fund has about $65 billion in capital, part of which Libya has used to build five-star resorts in African capitals and to run Afriqiyah Airways, which crisscrosses the Mediterranean to European cities...
...With their country being wealthy, Libyans are relatively happy - even though they have little free speech and no democratic elections. Health care and education are free, and the prices of staple foods are controlled. Unlike Libya's neighbors, Egypt and Algeria, the country has "no big urban proletariat with very little money," says Dalton, who sees little threat to Gaddafi's continued rule, despite his astonishingly long reign. (See pictures of Africa...
...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...