BP had Lockerbie bomber set free for oil deal

[KissMy]

Lockerbie bomber 'set free for oil'

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 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.

 

[waltky]

Mebbe he wants a job with BP...

Former Libyan foreign minister could reveal all about Lockerbie
Thursday 31st March, 2011 - Moussa Koussa, who has gone to Britain apparently as a defector from the Gaddafi regime, first hit the headlines in 1980.

He was the secretary of the Libyan People's Bureau in London, more or less equivalent to Libyan ambassador. Britain declared him persona non grata (diplomatic jargon for kicking him out) after two Libyan opposition figures had been murdered in London and he told the media that this policy of eliminating "stray dogs" would continue.

I was the newly appointed head of the relevant department in the FCO, and was just getting to know him. His Diana Ross hairdo marked him as a revolutionary, and he had already set out his personal programme as an undergraduate at Michigan State by writing a thesis in adulation of Gaddafi. We had plenty of problems, and my recollection is of a man who tried to solve them rather than to make more. Others have said they found meeting him a terrifying experience. What responsibilities he had at the time of the murder of Yvonne Fletcher in 1984 and the Lockerbie atrocity in 1988 I do not know. From 1992 he had a responsible position in Tripoli, first briefly as deputy foreign minister, then as head of the external intelligence service, then in 2009 as foreign minister.

He was probably involved from the very beginning with the rebuilding of Anglo-Libyan relations, starting in the mid-90s with the ending of support for the IRA, and continuing with the negotiation of compensation for Yvonne Fletcher and for Lockerbie, and the handover of the two Lockerbie suspects for trial. He stayed in the shadows, however, until his name became well known in connection with Anglo/US/Libyan intelligence co-operation after 9/11, and negotiations for Libya to abandon weapons of mass destruction in 2003. British officials who dealt with him seem to have found him a good negotiator, which confirms my impression from 1980.

Why did he choose to go to Britain? It seems likely that he hopes to call in some favours in return for the positive role he played in recent years. He is certainly well regarded by those who had to deal with him. The alternative of going to America would be more problematic, particularly as Libyan opposition figures in exile there are much more vocal and accuse him of responsibility for innumerable crimes – "the envoy of death". They have strong support from the families of the American Lockerbie victims and politicians who champion their cause, as we have seen over the Abdelbaset al-Megrahi affair.

More Former Libyan foreign minister could reveal all about Lockerbie

See also:

Libyan rebels sold Hizballah and Hamas chemical shells
March 31, 2011, Hezbollah, Hamas Purchase Chemical Weapons From Rebels

Senior Libyan rebel “officers” sold Hizballah and Hamas thousands of chemical shells from the stocks of mustard and nerve gas that fell into rebel hands when they overran Muammar Qaddafi’s military facilities in and around Benghazi, debkafile’s exclusive military and intelligence sources report. Word of the capture touched off a scramble in Tehran and among the terrorist groups it sponsors to get hold of their first unconventional weapons.

According to our sources, the rebels offloaded at least 2,000 artillery shells carrying mustard gas and 1,200 nerve gas shells for cash payment amounting to several million dollars. US and Israeli intelligence agencies have tracked the WMD consignments from eastern Libya as far as Sudan in convoys secured by Iranian agents and Hizballah and Hamas guards. They are not believed to have reached their destinations in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, apparently waiting for an opportunity to get their deadly freights through without the US or Israel attacking and destroying them. It is also not clear whether the shells and gases were assembled upon delivery or were travelling in separate containers. Our sources report that some of the poison gas may be intended not only for artillery use but also for drones which Hizballah recently acquired from Iran.

Tehran threw its support behind the anti-Qaddafi rebels because of this unique opportunity to get hold of the Libyan ruler’s stock of poison gas after it fell into opposition hands and arm Hizballah and Hamas with unconventional weapons without Iran being implicated in the transaction. Shortly after the uprising began in the third week of February, a secret Iranian delegation arrived in Benghazi. Its members met rebel chiefs, some of them deserters from the Libyan army, and clinched the deal for purchasing the entire stock of poison gas stock and the price. The rebels threw in a quantity of various types of anti-air missiles.

Hizballah and Hamas purchasing missions arrived in the first week of March to finalize the deal and arrange the means of delivery. The first authoritative American source to refer to a Hizballah presence in Benghazi was the commander of US NATO forces Adm. James Stavridis. When he addressed a US Senate committee on Tuesday, March 29, he spoke of “telltale signs of the presence of Islamic insurgents led by Al-Qaeda and Hizballah” on the rebel side of the Libyan war. He did not disclose what they were doing there.

http://www.debka.com/article/20811/

 

[whitehall]

You want to blame an oil company? Scotland released the bomber after a letter from Obama supported it. Later Obama denied authorizing the letter and still later he denied the denial. Meanwhile the tingle up your leg so-called US mainstream media pretended they never heard of Lockerbee.

 

[waltky]

Gaddafi captures Koussa's queen...

Libya: wife of defecting foreign minister captured in firefight
1 Apr 2011 - The wife of the Libyan foreign minister who defected to Britain earlier this week has been seized by Colonel Gaddafi and is being interrogated by his "internal security" officials, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

She is thought to have been captured amid eyewitness reports of a fierce gunfight at Col Gaddafi's central Tripoli compound as the regime stepped in to stop further defections. Yesterday, local residents recalled how the most fierce firefight yet seen in central Tripoli had erupted within hours of the regime confirming that the Foreign Minister had defected. "The blocks in that area are the homes to high ranking official of the state who must live close to Col Gaddafi. People say that some of them were trying to flee with their families when they came under attack from the guards," said a local resident. "They gave as they got but there was a panic that the regime had to cover up."

"In the morning they were still cleaning up the blood," he said. "It was a big operation." Gunfire is not unusual after dark in Tripoli as residents use newly issued Kalashnikov AK-47 weapons to "celebrate" victory claims on state television. But witnesses said the prolonged battle around the Bab al-Azzizia neighbourhood was the worst fighting in the capital since the rebel uprising was crushed last month. "It wasn't just AK-47 celebratory firing off, it was heavy exchanges, a proper battle," another onlooker said. Potential defectors were yesterday under pressure to make public statements of loyalty to the regime and Gaddafi double the number of guards on leading figures and their families, according to one aide. Relatives said that suspect bureaucrats were being questioned by internal security.

Shurki Ghanem, a former prime minister who heads the state oil company and had been said to have defected after leaving for Tunisia with the Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa, issued a statement in Tripoli saying that he was still in office. Omar Durdah, the head of the overseas intelligence agency, told State television that he had not left the country. "I am in Libya and will remain here steadfast in the same camp of the revolution despite everything," Mr Dorda said. "I never thought to cross the borders or violate commitment to the people, the revolution and the leader."

The family of Moussa Koussa, the Libyan Foreign Secretary, were previously thought to have also fled to Britain. His wife's detention in Libya is likely to be part of an attempt to stop her husband from helping MI6. The Libyan foreign minister is thought to have crucial information about the regime and is also suspected of being involved in terrorist plots across Europe including the Lockerbie bombing.

MORE

See also:

‘Defection’ of Top Libyan Raises Hopes for Delayed Justice in Lockerbie Case
Friday, April 01, 2011 – From investigators and lawmakers to transatlantic relatives of the victims of the worst terrorist attack in British history, many people are hoping that the “defection” to Britain this week of the former Libyan foreign minister will lead to long-delayed justice in the Lockerbie case.

Scottish police and prosecutors were quick to apply for access to Mussa Kussa, who they hope can help in the probe into the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, in which 270 people were killed, 189 of them Americans. There are strong suspicions that Muammar Gaddafi’s former close confidant, intelligence chief and foreign minister has links to – or at least inside knowledge of – the bombing.

The British government stressed that the defector had not been promised “any immunity from British or international justice,’ and Prime Minister David Cameron said that the Lockerbie investigation remained open. “The police and the prosecuting authorities are entirely independent of government and they should follow their evidence wherever it leads,” he told reporters at Downing Street. “The government will assist them in any way possible. They are in no way restricted from following their evidence, and that is exactly what they should do.”

In Washington, a senior State Department official told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing Thursday that the Obama administration was “pursuing” the matter. Questioning Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) voiced concern that the opportunity to get to the bottom of the Lockerbie attack may be lost.

MORE

 

[Old Rocks]

You want to blame an oil company? Scotland released the bomber after a letter from Obama supported it. Later Obama denied authorizing the letter and still later he denied the denial. Meanwhile the tingle up your leg so-called US mainstream media pretended they never heard of Lockerbee.

Statements like this are disregarded without accompaning links.

 

[waltky]

The truth will out...

Moussa Koussa interviewed over Lockerbie
7 April 2011 - Prosecutors believe Moussa Koussa may have information about the Lockerbie bombing

The former Libyan foreign minister, Moussa Koussa, has been interviewed by Scottish police investigating the Lockerbie bombing, the BBC has learned. Prosecutors believe he has information on the murders of 270 people in the 1988 terrorist attack. Mr Koussa is believed to have been a senior figure in the Libyan intelligence service when Pan Am flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie. One of Colonel Gaddafi's sons says Mr Koussa has no information about this.

And in an interview with the BBC's John Simpson earlier this week, the Libyan leader's son - Saif al-Islam Gaddafi - also denied the former foreign minister could reveal anything about the Lockerbie bombing. He said: "The British and the Americans they know about Lockerbie. There are no secrets anymore. "We have no secrets to the world." Last week the former Libyan foreign minister arrived in the UK, saying he was "no longer willing" to work for Col Gaddafi. His defection came amid continued unrest in Libya.

Colonel Gaddafi accepted Libya's responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and paid compensation to the victims' families in 2003. However, he has never admitted personally giving the order for the attack. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was jailed in 2001 for the attack. However, the Libyan was released on compassionate grounds in August 2009 by the Scottish government after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

BBC News - Moussa Koussa interviewed over Lockerbie