Barack Obama Lockerbie Bomber: US Wanted Abdelbaset Sent to Libya but Not Jailed

We've mused about this. How involved was the White House in Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber's release from the Scottish prison? And was their involvement tied to the campaign donations from BP to Obama? A letter obtained by the UK Sunday Times reports to show that Obama preferred Abdelbaset be sent home to Libya, but not imprisoned there, and a letter from the US Embassy Deputy Head in London, Richard LeBaron has surfaced.

Pan Am 103 - Abdelbaset The Lockerbie Bomber

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has been investigating how Abdelbaset was released from the Scottish prison on compassionate grounds, sent home to Libya to die within three months, and is still alive one year later. At the time, it seemed the U.S. did not heartily oppose the release. I remember Obama telling Libya to quash any idea of a big reunion celebration on camera when the bomber arrived home. Of course the cameras rolled and the celebration was big.

Obama received a total of $77,051 leading up to his presidential race in November 2008, millions more went to Democrats. In the summer of 2008, BP was desperately trying to find a way to get their drilling operation off of Libya's coast operating. It appears Libya was holding those leases hostage to obtain Abdelbaset's freedom. By August, whatever deals were cut, the bomber was released and sent home. Rumors were ripe that Libya paid Scottish doctors to issue a terminal cancer diagnosis.

The Australian says the Deputy Head of the US Embassy in London, Richard LeBaron,  rendered the letter to the Scots from Obama one week before Abdelbast's release:

The document, acquired by a well-placed US source, threatens to undermine US President Barack Obama's claim last week that all Americans were "surprised, disappointed and angry" to learn of Megrahi's release.

Scottish ministers viewed the level of US resistance to compassionate release as "half-hearted" and a sign it would be accepted.

The US has tried to keep the letter secret, refusing to give permission to the Scottish authorities to publish it on the grounds it would prevent future "frank and open communications" with other governments.

In the letter, sent on August 12 last year to Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond and justice officials, Mr LeBaron wrote that the US wanted Megrahi to remain imprisoned in view of the nature of the crime.

The note added: "Nevertheless, if Scottish authorities come to the conclusion that Megrahi must be released from Scottish custody, the US position is that conditional release on compassionate grounds would be a far preferable alternative to prisoner transfer, which we strongly oppose."...

The US administration lobbied the Scottish government more strongly against sending Megrahi home, under a prisoner transfer agreement signed by the British and Libyan governments, in a deal now known to have been linked to a pound stg. 550 million oil contract for BP.

Why would the White House strongly oppose Abdelbaset's imprisonment in Libya? The letter does say that Obama preferred leaving him in prison in Scotland, but if that was not going to happen, preferred the bomber go to his happy home in Libya and not to prison. It doesn't make any sense unless we see the donations going to Obama as conditional.

The Lockerbie bombing, also known as Pan Am 103, killed 190 Americans, 35 of whom were students of Syracuse University, 4 from Colgate University, 4 from Brown University, 2 from Seton Hill University and 2 from State University of New York at Oswego and 1 from Hampshire College. Ten on the flight were residents of Long Island. Justice for the 243 aboard and the 11 dead on the ground was stolen for a BP oil lease, some political donations and a favor to an Islamic nation. Just a few strong words from the Citizen President of the World, Barack Obama, saying Abdelbaset must not be realeased, would have kept him in prison. Obama hates drilling, but he loves campaign money, and he is a great respecter of Islam. What a terrible, terrible story.

Thanks to David Lemon for the heads up on this latest revelation.

Related and Background

Bay of Rigs Scandal Leaking: Dispersants and Where the Money Is.

Did BP Secure Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi Release: States Investigate Lockerbie Bomber

Saif al-Islam is Muammar Ghaddaffis Son Megrahi Lockerbie Bomber Release Deal?


US Lockerbie Bribes? US Lockerbie Payments? Lockerbie Witnesses Paid by US?

New York Subway Bomb Plot: Scotland Yard Najibullah Zazi Mustafa Abu al-Yazid: Brits Stop NY Subway Bomb Plot

In America, we often wonder how our emails and telephone calls are being monitored. We know they are, or they can be under the Patriot Act, and it makes us very uncomfortable, or maybe "furious" is a better word. I don't know how communications monitoring is handled in Britain, but today's news tells us that a New York subway bomb plot was stopped because a monitored, but seemingly abandoned, email address suddenly flared to life, with connections to Osama bin Laden . Scotland Yard intercepted information that led to the arrest of Najibullah Zazi. The Brits stopped an attack on New York's subway system which, if successful, is believed would have been the most lethal attack on America since 9-11.

Najibullah Zazi

Najibullah Zazi is a 24-year-old Aurora, Colorado airport shuttle bus driver. He was born in Afghanistan and is living in the U.S. legally as a permanent resident. He was arrested on September 19, 2009, along with his father, but details about how information was obtained to bring about his arrest are just being released.

The head of al-Qaeda's Afghanistan operation, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, used a "middleman" to contact Zazi. The plot developed from that contact, with Najibullah Zazi planning to use "homemade backpack bombs." Because of the connection to al-Yazid, who is known to be close to Osama bin Laden and at one time head al-Qaeda's finance committee, Zazi is not considered to be a "lone wolf" terrorist. Al-Yazid

Najibullah Zazi is charged with "conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction."

Zazi, from Denver, Colorado, is understood to have been given instructions by a senior member of al Qaeda in Pakistan over the internet.

This report explains:

Najibullah Zazi, 24, is accused of conspiring to use home-made bombs for a large scale terror attack, possibly on a city transit system.

He was arrested after testing bomb-making materials similar to those used in the 7/7 blasts in London [52 died, many severely injured].

Zazi is believed to have received weapons and explosives training at a terror camp in Pakistan.

He was held in Denver, where he lived, a week after returning under FBI surveillance from a trip to New York.

Another part of the story is that the U.S. was really, really upset that Britain did not stop the release of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi last August. Intelligence in both countries are friendlier now.

This plot, like numerous others stopped due to diligent and intense intelligence, will soon be just a blip on history's radar screen. I don't know what Najibullah Zazi's fate will be. We know it probable that others are plotting to take down the New York subway system this minute, but it won't be Najibullah Zazi. Fortunately, I haven't heard media claims that Zazi is a victim of PTSD (post-traumatic-stress syndrome) and just "snapped." Media elites live and work in New York City, and surely some in those NY newsrooms take the subway. Take down the subways, and even a limo can't get through. Thanks to master sculptor and super news snoop, David Lemon.

US Lockerbie Bribes? US Lockerbie Payments? Lockerbie Witnesses Paid by US?

Reports are claiming that witnesses in the Lockerbie bombings were paid by the United States in exchange for the testimony of two brothers. The claims of bribes are said to have been released today by Abdelbaset al-Megrahi's lawyers. See videos below.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi

First, there are many reports of the online postings of proof of the bribes, but so far, I can find no actual links to the documents.

As a refresher, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over the town of Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988, killing 270. Everyone on the flight died. Eleven people died on the ground.

There were 180 Americans aboard the plane, including 35 Syracuse University students. Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, a citizen of Libya, was the only person convicted of the bombings. I'm unsure of the nuances of these reports. Al-Megrahi is said to have given up his appeal, evidently based on notes in diaries of investigators, which were supposedly released online today, in exchange for his freedom.

This report says that Libya paid British physicians to give their opinion about the Libyan's state-of-health:

Cancer specialist Karol Sikora and two others received £100 an hour to consider how long they believed Abdelbaset Al Megrahi had to live.
Professor Sikora admitted yesterday that although he initially thought Megrahi could live for as long as 18 months, he was 'encouraged' to conclude he would die from prostate cancer within three months.

This is important as it is the amount of time under which Scottish law allows someone to be freed on compassionate grounds.

The story released to the world was that al-Megrahi was terminally ill with cancer and the Scots sent him home to Libya, out of compassion, to die peacefully at home with his loved ones. It was just the right thing to do, don't you know.

So, is the intimation that terrible things were about to be released about the U.S. and bribes to put al-Megrahi in prison - and the way that got handled is for al-Megrahi to drop his appeal in exchange for going home? But the "diaries and notebooks" (unofficial notebooks) were released anyway? If that's the case, it didn't work because someone is talking, and of course they would. Here is what is said to have constituted the payments:

The documents published online by Megrahi's lawyers today show that the US Department of Justice (DoJ) was asked to pay $2m to Tony Gauci, the Maltese shopkeeper who gave crucial evidence at the trial suggesting that Megrahi had bought clothes later used in the suitcase that allegedly held the Lockerbie bomb.

The DoJ was also asked to pay a further $1m to his brother, Paul Gauci, who did not give evidence but played a major role in identifying the clothing and in "maintaining the resolve of his brother". The DoJ said their rewards could be increased and that the brothers were also eligible for the US witness protection programme, according to the documents.

The previously secret payments were uncovered by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC), which returned Megrahi's conviction to the court of appeal in 2007 as a suspected miscarriage of justice. Many references were in private diaries kept by the detectives involved, Megrahi's lawyers said, but not their official notebooks. The SCCRC was unable to establish exactly how much the brothers received under the DoJ's "reward-for-justice" programme but found it was after Megrahi's trial and his first appeal in 1992 was thrown out.

There is talk of "contradictory evidence."

Two identification experts hired by Megrahi's appeal team said the police and prosecution breached the rules on witness interviews, using "suggestive" lines of questioning and allowing "irregular" identification line-ups.

There is only one thing we know at this point, and that is Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi, who was head of the Libyan Arab Airlines and a Libyan intelligence officer at the time of the bombing, is still alive, living with family, and 270 persons are dead.

 Abdelbaset al-Megrahi dressed in "Niki" leaves Scotland   Abdelbaset al-Megrahi - The Joyous Homecoming

Saif al-Islam is Muammar Ghaddaffis Son: Megrahi Lockerbie Bomber Release Deal?

Saif al-Islam is the son of Muammar Ghaddafi, the leader of the Libyan people and head of the welcome wagon for convicted Libyan terrorist, known as the Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi.

Locker Bomber Release Deal?

Saif al-Islam is praising the Brits for making an energy deal that allowed 57-year old Megrahi to come home to Tripoli. Colonel Gaddafi is praising Queen Elizabeth. The UK is a tad upset. Pan Am flight 103 exploded over the town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988, killing 270 people, including 11 on the ground. Megrahi is reported to have lived in relative luxury for a few of his short 8 years in prison, while housed in the Barlinnie prison in Glasgow:

Megrahi was segregated in a high-security area dubbed "Gaddafi's Cafe", where there was said to be a "sitting room" and kitchen where Halal food was specially prepared.

His wife and children are said to have moved to the "outskirts of Glasgow so they could visit him. Makes one wonder how they got back to Tripoli. We saw Meghrai in his Nike hat and jog suit walk the stairs to board Ghaddafi's personal airplane, but no family was in sight. The Lockerbie victims arrived home in caskets. Saif is the second oldest of Ghaddafi's seven sons. He is fluent in English, German and French. This report says he has a PhD:

"in governance and international relations from the London School of Economics and is also said to be an architect with his own agency in Tripoli, having studied architecture in Vienna.

UK Business Secretary Lord Mandelson is in the spotlight. Sources say he met with Saif al-Islam one week before Megrahi was released. Mendelson says there was only a "fleeting conversation about the prisoner," but Ghaddafi upped the tension:

Mr Gaddafi told Libyan TV his case was raised during talks over oil and gas and reportedly claimed that the issue had been raised repeatedly by Britain's former prime minister Tony Blair.
"In all commercial contracts, for oil and gas with Britain, (Megrahi) was always on the negotiating table," Mr Gaddafi told Libya's Al Mutawassit channel.

The U.S. was very quiet about Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber's release. There were no strong statements from the Oval Office until the deed was done and the celebrations began - the hugs, the hand kissing, the cheering crowds. President Obama was "disturbed." It would be unbearable to find that America cut a deal of any kind. As Jihad Watch points out, this is one more reason for the urgent need for energy independence.

Related and Background:
Bay of Rigs Scandal Leaking: Dispersants are Where the Money Is

Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi Alive 5 Months Later

Saif al-Islam is Muammar Ghaddaffis Son Megrahi Lockerbie Bomber Release Deal?

US Lockerbie Bribes? US Lockerbie Payments? Lockerbie Witnesses Paid by US?