Barack Obama faces rising pressure to publish Lockerbie bomber release letter

guardian.co.uk ^ | 7/25/10 | Severin Carrell

[Nachum]

Scottish officials say US memo giving grudging support to freeing Abdelbaset al-Megrahi undermines president's criticisms

Barack Obama is under growing pressure to release a letter that reveals the US grudgingly supported freeing the Lockerbie bomber on compassionate grounds.

The letter was sent to Scottish ministers by a senior diplomat at the US embassy in London last August, eight days before Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was released from prison because he was dying from inoperable prostate cancer.

Obama's administration has refused to allow publication of the letter, in which the US says allowing Megrahi to live at home in Scotland would be "far preferable" to sending him back to Libya under the prisoner transfer deal brokered by former prime minister Tony Blair in 2007.

[FR_addict]

So, Was this letter bought with BP’s campaign contribution to Obama?

[kbennkc]

You knew the Scots would not do this without clearing it with B.Hussein.

[Gaffer]

He can’t ......it starts with “Mohamhed, saint be upon us....has a bunch of America screwed up in the middle....and ends with “Allah Akbar!!!!” (aieeeeyeeeeyeeeeyeeeeeeyeeeeeyeeeee! in the background from the Obama women)

[Nachum]

Quid pro quo. We just need a majority in the house and senate, then for one of his lackeys to squeal. Then their who house cards comes down.

[stylin19a]

why doesn’t Britain\Scotland just release the memo ?

[Electric Graffiti]

Hussein wants to release all the 9/11 perps. Slap them on the back and give them taxpayer’s money to start life anew.

Is this a surprise? I’m sure it was his idea to release the Lockerbie bomber in the first place. We can’t appear to be mean to the mooselimbs. Can we? We need to embrace them and give them lots of money. They’re just misunderstood.

All the terrorism around the world.....The bus bombings, the plane bombings, the beheadings etc. is because the Western world failed to spread their wealth around and understand Islam. The religion of peace. /s

The POS in the White House is not a traitor. You would have to be an American first.....He’s the enemy within. He’s both a foreign and domestic threat to the Constitution and our very survival as a nation. It’s a coin toss whether we make it or not.

[skeeter]

"Grudgingly" my ass.

Is anyone surprised?

[Humal]

Headline on Drudge:

“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.

(snip)

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.”

http://drudgereport.com/

[Nachum]

So, Was this letter bought with BP’s campaign contribution to Obama?

Someone's got to squeal for us to find out.

[himno hero]

Bang On!

[Fantasywriter]

Funny how the leaks never quite seem to work in our favor. If this letter had the potential to hurt Bush, we’d have read the full text in the NYT years ago. If it’s going to hurt Obama, suddenly the leakers have better things to do.

My theory is that after Nov, if the Dems take a sufficient drubbing, we will see a trickle of damages leaks, followed (as his poll numbers erode) by more and better leaks. At least, that is my hope.

[Nachum]

Now that we know about "JournoList", we know EXACTLY why the leaks do not work in our favor.

http://www.nachumlist.com/JournoList.htm

[Americanexpat]

This administration cares more about the welfare of a terrorists killer than his 200 plus American victims.

[Americanexpat]

hey, that is an insult to my dog. ;>)

[HollyB]

There’s still a couple of reporters out there, plus - we have FReepers who are good researchers with contacts.

[freeangel]

Obama’s love for terrorists is only outdone by the cult leader figure mohamhead.

[HChampagne]

Each time a story like this appears, I wonder if it will be the one to wake up the 43%.....

They will never change, never. They must be isolated and defeated.

[Fantasywriter]

Good point.

Otoh, I don’t think the MSM has yet grasped the full implications of the leak of the Journolist posts. They don’t seem to realize that their already weak credibility just took a body blow.

I saw where David Corn tried to downplay the whole thing as just a case of ‘progressives’ talking amongst themselves. Ahem. That’s kind of the point, isn’t it? That they’ve outed themselves as ideologically committed to one end of the spectrum.

Let the fall out continue. The dinosaur media wasn’t dying fast enough, so the death panel of Journolist decided to give it a shot in the arm. ;)

[HollyB]

Thanks for posting this. It needs a lot of attention. Here we have someone responsible for the deaths of 271 people from 21 countries (190 of them Americans). This guys served 8 1/2 years of his sentence and he wanted compassion because he was ill in prison - and he was offered it - by our country? Justice?

[onona]

On please