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After the release of Abdel Basset al-Megrahi by the Scottish government in mid August 2009, the American and British press was virtually unanimous in their expression of outrage that a man who was responsible for the bombing of PAN-AM flight causing the death of two hundred and seventy people would be released from prison.
What was different is how Lybia reported the story. Joshi (2009) states “Tripoli – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi met Lockerbie attacker Abdel Basset al-Megrahi a day after he was released from a Scottish jail, a news report said Friday. Gaddafi received the terminally ill 57-year-old and his family on Friday, the Libyan news agency Jana said”. Here he is referred to as the attacker while in US & British publications, he is referred to as the Bomber. However, it is not the differences in coverage that calls attention to itself, it is the similarities. Everyone is tripping over themselves to express outrage. It was therefore interesting to read the Sunday Times August 30, 2009 story titled “Lockerbie bomber ‘set free for oil’“. The Sunday Times (2009) states the following:
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 afterwords.
The letters were sent two years ago by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to Kenny MacAskill, his counterpart in Scotland, who has been widely criticized 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.
So Britain decided to free this terrorist in order to secure a £15B oil deal with British Petroleum and Libya. Oh the shame! Supposedly, there is a “special relationship” (Wikipedia, 2009) between Britain and the US that would result in decisions of this nature being communicated to the US before they are executed. One therefore has to wonder why everyone from our President to the FBI director is so surprised.
The US & UK governments maintain close relationship where there is a unique level of cooperation in military planning, execution of military operations, nuclear weapons technology and intelligence sharing with each other (Wikipedia, 2009). In the past it has meant that we supplied the UK with armament, soldiers, money, and support but it is not meant to be a on-way-street and in actuality, it is not. The UK shares intelligence, intelligence gathering apparatus, and allows the US to base its weapons on its soil for mutual protection.
However, the special relationship seem to work most effectively when the ruling UK government has pro-US leanings and vice-versa. The current government led by Gordon Brown seems less committed to the idea of a ‘special relationship’ than its predecessor government led by Tony Blair. The relationship works because ideologically, the two countries are close and our histories are so tightly intertwined.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Barack Obama are temporarily on the world stage and will eventually leave it. The idea of a ‘special relationship’ has weathered the changing of the guard at number ten Downing Street and sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue. It is likely then that the ‘relationship’ will persist after they depart the world stage. In the meantime, did British Petroleum subvert justice? If so, who will have the courage to fix BP? Will the governments involved begin to act in the interest of the world’s peoples? Will BP begin to act as a respectable and ethical corporate citizen?
References
Joshi (2009). Libyan leader meets Lockerbie attacker . Retrieved September 25, 2009, from http://www.topnews.in/libyan-leader-meets-lockerbie-attacker-2204879
The Sunday Times(2009). Lockerbie bomber ‘set free for oil’. Retrieved September 25, 2009, from http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6814939.ece
Wikipedia (2009). Special Relationship. Retrieved September 25, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Relationship_%28US-UK%29
