Word: megrahi
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...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...
...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...
...what I meant by 'national interests,' " Justice Secretary Jack Straw wrote in February 2008, during an exchange of letters about al-Megrahi with Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond. "Developing a strong relationship with Libya, and helping it to reintegrate into the international community, is good for the U.K." He added, "Libya is one of only two countries to have ever voluntarily and transparently dismantled its weapons of mass destruction program. Having sponsored terrorist attacks in the past, it is now an important partner in the fight against terrorism." (Read "Lockerbie Bomber Returns to Cheers in Libya...
...Libya repeatedly warned Britain of "catastrophic effects" for their relationship if al-Megrahi died in jail - the alarmist phrase also emerges in the minutes of the March 2009 Glasgow meeting. Ministers in Westminster duly conveyed these threats to Edinburgh. Labour and the Scottish Nationalists are fierce opponents. "The British government have a better relationship with [Libyan leader Colonel Muammar] Gaddafi than they do with Scotland," says Ed Owen, a former special adviser to Straw. But Scottish politicians could not ignore the overlap between Scottish and U.K. interests. Instead, they devised a plan to release al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds, rather...
...Owen believes "the British government became so deeply embedded in the negotiations [to solve the al-Megrahi problem] that they lost sight of the likely domestic political response and the wider diplomatic context," including the predictable anger of the U.S. A Sept. 1 letter written by Richard LeBaron, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in London, to authorities in Scotland withholds consent for Washington's "government-to-government" correspondence to be made public but reiterates "the United States Government's consistent and long-standing view that Mr. Megrahi should serve out his prison sentence in Scotland...