Lockerbie Families Deserve Answers - What did U.S. officials know, and when did they know it?

National Review Online ^ | September 09, 2009 | Robert P. George

[neverdem]

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September 09, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

Lockerbie Families Deserve Answers
What did U.S. officials know, and when did they know it?

By Robert P. George

The cat is out of the bag. British justice secretary Jack Straw has admitted that commercial issues “played a very big part” in the decision of British authorities to release ailing Lockerbie mass murderer Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi.

Straw’s admission falsifies claims by Prime Minister Gordon Brown that neither oil deals nor other commercial considerations were factors in the decision. The Brown government will soon answer to British voters for releasing Megrahi and for misrepresenting its reasons for doing so.

Before the facts were in, I called upon the British people to insist on knowing the truth, and then to hold their government accountable for its actions.I also urged my fellow Americans to join me in demanding answers from our own government. In the light of what we now know about the British government’s motives, it is more urgent than ever that we get to the truth about what our own government did or failed to do.

What did U.S. officials, including President Obama, know, and when did they know it? If the president of the United States did not know in advance of a trusted ally’s plan to release a man who had murdered 180 Americans, who is responsible for his not knowing it? If Barack Obama did know about the plan, what, if anything, did he do to try to stop it? If a president who only weeks earlier had insinuated himself into a local dispute over the disorderly-conduct arrest of a professor in Cambridge, Mass., did not take the trouble to call Prime Minister Brown to insist that Megrahi not be released, the American people deserve to know why.

There is something fishy about the Obama administration’s refusal to provide a full factual account of its conduct in this case. Clearly, some State Department officials knew what the British were thinking about doing. P. J. Crowley, chief spokesman for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has stated that “our fundamental point to the Libyans, Scots, and Brits was the same: [Megrahi] should not be released.”

If all the Obama administration did to try to prevent Megrahi from being released was have someone somewhere in the State Department communicate to the British and Libyans the view that “he should not be,” plainly that is insufficient — and scandalously so. It smacks of mere tail-covering.

The U.S. interest in this matter was profound, and everybody involved knew it. The British people and their government care a great deal about the “special relationship” between the U.S. and Britain and would not be likely to place it in jeopardy — even for potentially lucrative oil deals with North African potentates. That makes it difficult to credit the idea that there was a forceful protest from the U.S. or that President Obama took the steps he was honor bound to the American people, and especially to the families of the Lockerbie victims, to take in order to prevent this moral atrocity.

Nevertheless, I will be perfectly willing to take President Obama at his word if he states publicly that he called Gordon Brown and demanded in the name of Megrahi’s American victims and their families that the British abandon the plan to release the murderer.

If the president is unwilling to speak publicly about what he and his administration did and didn’t do in this matter, at the very least he should permit Scottish authorities to release to the public documents in their possession that apparently shed light on relevant discussions between U.S. and British officials. A Scottish government source told Fox News on September 1 that these documents exist, and that the U.S. government has refused to permit Scotland to release them or reveal details of their contents.

This is appalling. Lockerbie families and, indeed, all Americans are entitled to know whether the U.S. government made anything resembling a serious effort to prevent Megrahi’s release.

After all, Obama once pledged: “My administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in government.”

Releasing Megrahi in large part on the basis of commercial considerations amounted to a re-victimization of Lockerbie families by the Brown government. The Obama administration must not add to the anguish of the families by stonewalling on the question of what our government did or failed to do to prevent the release.

— Robert P. George is McCormick professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University and founder of the American Principles Project. He is also an attorney who represents the family of his childhood friend Valerie Canady, who was among the victims of the Lockerbie bombing.

[Diogenesis]

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"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.
We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream.
It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same,
or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children
and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."
President Ronald Reagan

NOW (Tiny sample, a few acts from one week):

"Obama Obama shifts FBI from Counter Terrorism to Fraud"

"Victims of Cole bombing upset
"A top officer slammed Obama's decision to seek the withdrawal of charges against the 2000 suspected U.S.S. Cole ship bomber." >

"Impeach Obama Says Sister of Cole Sailor Killed in Terror Attacks
"The sister of Seaman James McDaniels, a sailor killed in the terror attack on the U.S.S. Cole wants President Barack Hussein Obama impeached
over his decision to withdraw charges against the al Qaeda mastermind of the attack."

"Mother of USS Cole Sailor Declines Obama-meet, Says "I Voted for the Wrong Person"
"After Obama dropped the charges against the suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole,
he asked the families of the victims in that tragedy to meet with him.
One mother refused, and now says,"I voted for the wrong person."

[ardara]

I agree with Professor George that we must know what President Obama did in this case.So much of what Obama has done has been against the interests of the citizens of the United States of America.

[scottiemom]

If a president who only weeks earlier had insinuated himself into a local dispute over the disorderly-conduct arrest of a professor in Cambridge, Mass., did not take the trouble to call Prime Minister Brown to insist that Megrahi not be released, the American people deserve to know why.

Pretty much says it all. He's soft on terrorism (they're his people), hates white authorities (calls a decision of local law enforcement "stupid"), humiliates a police officer by pretty much blackmailing him to have a beer with his old professor friend on national T.V.,hires a Communist to be one of his advisors, tries to get an entire nation to swallow a socialistic health care system, bullies Congress into passing a recovery bill that will cause future Americans an unthinkable debt for generations to come, sets this country on a path towards race wars such as we have never seen before (my attitude toward other races is slipping. I'm honestly struggling), kisses the behinds of our enemies, and hands us over to world domination etc... And guess what, friends, HE ISN'T EVEN ELIGIBLE TO BE PRESIDENT!!

[Mila]

“This is appalling. Lockerbie families and, indeed, all Americans are entitled to know whether the U.S. government made anything resembling a serious effort to prevent Megrahi’s release.”

I did some research and posted this a few days ago on another thread on the same subject. I don’t think that the US media covered the pending release very thoroughly and that’s why we’re more or less in the dark. A few of the comments from UK residents on at least one of the sites seem to indicate that a few are thinking this guy is innocent!!! I’ve never heard that suggested before, certainly not in this country. I also detected a little anti-American sentiment as well.

Breaking News 24/7

Scottish court says Lockerbie bomber can drop appeal; move may clear way for his release
Ben Mcconville August 18th, 2009

Excerpt

“I just think it is absolutely wrong to release someone who has been imprisoned based on the evidence about his involvement in such a horrendous crime,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters in Washington. “We are still encouraging the Scottish authorities not to do so and we hope that they will not.”

Clinton was joined by seven U.S. senators — including Edward Kennedy and John Kerry — who wrote to wrote to Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill urging him not to release al-Megrahi.

http://blog.taragana.com/n/scottish-court-says-lockerbie-bomber-can-drop-appeal-move-may-clear-way-for-his-release-142599/

DailyRecord.Co.UK

Dying Lockerbie bomber could be freed within days after dropping appeal against conviction
Aug 18 2009

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton entered the complex picture last week when she phoned Mr MacAskill to insist Megrahi serves out his jail term in Scotland.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2009/08/18/dying-lockerbie-bomber-could-be-freed-within-days-after-dropping-appeal-against-conviction-86908-21605382/

BBC NEWS
Page last updated at 09:02 GMT, Wednesday, 19 August 2009 10:02 UK

Clinton repeats Lockerbie stance

Excerpt

“The BBC’s Daniel Sandford in Washington called it “uncharacteristically undiplomatic language” from Mrs Clinton.

“The intense pressure on the Scottish justice secretary went up a further notch with this intervention from Hillary Clinton,” he said.

Last week, Mrs Clinton personally expressed to Kenny MacAskill her view that the bomber should serve out his sentence in Scotland.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/8208755.stm

DailyRecord.co.uk

Barack Obama: Lockerbie bomber should die in Scottish jail
Aug 19 2009 By Gordon McIlwraith

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/2009/08/19/barack-obama-lockerbie-bomber-should-die-in-scottish-jail-86908-21607941/

[neverdem]

Thanks for the links.

[Winniesboy]

A few of the comments from UK residents on at least one of the sites seem to indicate that a few are thinking this guy is innocent!!!

That view is, indeed, quite widely held in Britain, even among the families of the British victims. I think this is partly because of the trial, where the evidence presented was so thin - largely coming down to identification by a particularly unconvincing witness. But partly also because of the influence of the widely-respected Dr Jim Swire, who lost a daughter in the crash and who has always acted as spokesman for the British victims' families. He must have spent as much time studying the case as anybody, and he's always said he believes they got the wrong man.

[Mila]

To say that this stuns me is an understatement! You know, when someone is tried and convicted of a particularly heinous act, one tends to just accept that all the facts of the case added up to the defendant's guilt. Since this case concerned something so mind blowingly disgusting and vile, and took so long to come to trial, the verdict came as a welcome relief. Given what I have learned from your post, I realize that I would like to do some further reading on the subject.

I will say that I did find it somewhat odd that, unlike other terrorists who perpetrate acts of this kind and proudly claim credit in the name of Allah, al-Megrahi has always maintained his innocence and even now as a free man, still does.

[Mila]

I also wanted to add that the conclusion of Dr. Swire, who having lost his daughter in this catastrophe would be expected to have a rather large ax to grind in regards to al-Megrahi, gives me great pause.

[Winniesboy]

Yes. For those of us who haven’t delved into the minutiae of the case, it’s always seemed a murky affair, and I still have no idea whether this man was a main player, a bit player, or not involved at all. I do know, however, that many of the British relatives who were desperate to see justice done felt after the trial that justice had still not been done.