This will be the latest crisis for the Obama caste to deal with.  This 
clown should not be breathing air any longer.  Now he runs free, 
laughing at us....

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http://tinyurl.com/24nweep

White House backed release of Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi 

THE US government secretly advised Scottish ministers it would be "far 
preferable" to free the Lockerbie bomber than jail him in Libya. 
Correspondence obtained by The Sunday Times reveals the Obama 
administration considered compassionate release more palatable than 
locking up Abdel Baset al-Megrahi in a Libyan prison.

The intervention, which has angered US relatives of those who died in 
the attack, was made by Richard LeBaron, deputy head of the US embassy 
in London, a week before Megrahi was freed in August last year on 
grounds that he had terminal cancer.

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.

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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."

Mr LeBaron added that freeing the bomber and making him live in Scotland 
"would mitigate a number of the strong concerns we have expressed with 
regard to Megrahi's release".

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.

It claimed this would flout a decade-old agreement between Britain and 
the US that anyone convicted of the bombing would serve their sentence 
in a Scottish prison. Megrahi was released by Scottish Justice Secretary 
Kenny MacAskill on the grounds that he had three months to live, making 
his sentence effectively spent.

The US Senate foreign relations committee launched a probe after The 
Sunday Times revealed this month that Megrahi's doctors thought he could 
live for another decade.

A source close to the Senate inquiry said: "The (LeBaron) letter is 
embarrassing for the US because it shows they were much less opposed to 
compassionate release than prisoner transfer."

Last week, a succession of British politicians - including Mr MacAskill, 
Mr Salmond and former justice secretary Jack Straw - delivered a 
diplomatic snub to the senators by refusing to fly across the Atlantic 
to answer questions at the Senate's hearing on Thursday (US time) about 
their role in Megrahi's release.

Despite the controversy over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and Megrahi's 
release, it emerged over the weekend that BP is planning deep-water 
drilling off Libya.

And BP boss Tony Hayward is poised to quit this week when the company 
announces its half-year results, London's Sunday Telegraph reported.

CMPQwk 1.42-21 9999 
A penny saved is an Obama Administration government oversight ....

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