Libyan Foreign Minister, Musa Kasa, Defends UK Government Over Lockerbie
So, the day has come when Libya now has to defend the United Kingdom against its American critics!

Gordon Brown and his merry band of crooks have severed our once glorious special relationship with the US and traded it in for a ‘special relationship’ with a tinpot dictator! Why? Because there’s money to be made. Oil money. Big money.

Not only is this as absurd as it is dangerous, but it also signifies a significant shift towards the realisation of Eurabia. Remember this: Gaddafi has made no secret of the fact that he wants Islam to take over Europe. Alas, we have got into bed with vipers! And Gordon Brown and his profiteering cronies have fallen for the ruse hook, line, and sinker! – © Mark

TIMES ONLINE: A top Libyan official once expelled from Britain for plotting the deaths of exiled dissidents rode to the defence of the British Government over Lockerbie yesterday.

In one of the few interviews he has given, Musa Kusa, the Libyan Foreign Minister and long-time member of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s inner circle, told The Times that he was astonished by the controversy over the release of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber.

“Where is the human rights, the compassion and mercy? The man is on the verge of death,” Mr Kusa said in a midnight conversation in his plush, chilled office in the centre of baking Tripoli.

He flatly denied any link between al-Megrahi’s release and British commercial interests in his oil-rich state and said that Libya was grateful to the British and Scottish governments for their humanity. “You should not do an injustice to the British Government. It was nothing to do with trade,” he said. “If we wished to bargain we would have done it a long time ago.”

Mr Musa, likewise, said that the row over al-Megrahi’s rapturous reception at Tripoli airport was the result of a cultural misunderstanding: such greetings were a Libyan custom. “I can’t say to [al-Megrahi’s] friends and tribe, ‘Don’t go there’,” he said. Not one Libyan official went to the airport, he added, and the reception was, by Libyan standards, “low key”.

He emphasised that Libya was eager to strengthen its relationship with Britain despite the present friction.

Mr Kusa, the Libyan foreign intelligence chief for 15 years before becoming Foreign Minister, is the embodiment of his country’s transition from rogue state to something approaching international respectability.

In 1980, when he was head of the Libyan diplomatic mission in London, he was expelled from Britain for allegedly organising the killing of exiled opponents of Colonel Gaddafi’s regime. In later years he was accused of complicity in the 1998 Lockerbie bombing, the destruction of a French airliner over Niger in 1989, the Berlin disco bombing that led to the US bombing of Tripoli in 1986 and much else besides. He was high on the British and US terrorism blacklists.

Today Mr Kusa is received at the highest levels in London and Washington. He negotiated the conditions of Libya’s $2.7 billion compensation payment to families of the Lockerbie victims. In the refined surroundings of the Travellers Club in Pall Mall, he negotiated the dismantling of Libyan weapons of mass destruction. He co-operates with British and American intelligence agencies in their fight against a mutual enemy — Islamic terrorism. >>> Martin Fletcher in Tripoli | Saturday, September 05, 2009

Jack Straw Admits Lockerbie Bomber's Release Was Linked to Oil
THE TELEGRAPH: Jack Straw has reignited the row over the release of the Lockerbie bomber by admitting for the first time that trade and oil were an essential part of the Government’s decision to include him in a prisoner transfer deal with Libya.

The Justice Secretary said he was unapologetic about including Abdelbaset al Megrahi in the agreement, citing a multi-million-pound oil deal signed by BP and Libya six weeks later.

The admission directly contradicts Gordon Brown's insistence only days ago that oil deals were not a factor in the prisoner's release.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Straw also suggested that Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish justice minister, released the terminally-ill bomber on compassionate grounds earlier than the British Government would have done.

Mr Brown has been accused of putting Britain’s trade interests before justice for the Lockerbie victims.

Earlier this week, the outcry forced him to say: “There was no conspiracy, no cover-up, no double dealing, no deal on oil, no attempt to instruct Scottish ministers, no private assurances.” >>> Mary Riddell, Simon Johnson and Andrew Porter | Friday, September 04, 2009

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS:
Brown the Betrayer: Britain’s Sellout Prime Minister Has Broken Faith and Ties with the U.S. >>> Editorial | Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Immoral And Incompetent
THE SPECTATOR: The Spectator on the release of Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi

So who to believe? Saif al-Gaddafi, son of the Libyan dictator, has said that the release of Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi was ‘on the table’ during trade talks with Britain. Lord Mandelson, who was holidaying with the young prince of Tripoli in Corfu a few weeks ago, says such a suggestion is not just wrong but ‘quite offensive’. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, insists it is a ‘slur’ even to suggest that the release of the only man convicted for the Lockerbie bombing would be raised.

As this squalid story has unfolded in the last few weeks, it is becoming all too clear that Megrahi was indeed ‘on the table’. The Libyans were told that Gordon Brown personally wished that Megrahi should not die in a Scottish prison. It is all too typical of the Prime Minister that he has not had the courage to share this view with the British public — we found out via an ambassador, a minister and a declassified document. And this is why the scandal is lasting so long: it offers wider insights into the nature of the government.

Officially, British policy is to encourage Libya to become a responsible actor on the world stage — this has been the case since Gaddafi’s decision six years ago to relinquish weapons of mass destruction that no one had known that he possessed. But the Megrahi affair demonstrates deep flaws in this strategy. If Libya was going to become a genuine partner in fighting terror it should not have been so keen for the return of a terrorist convicted on 270 counts of murder. Nor should the British government bend principles of foreign policy to suit the oil companies hungry for a slice of Libya’s offshore resources. >>> | Wednesday, September 02, 2009

BP Lobbied Jack Straw Before He Changed Mind Over Lockerbie Bomber
TIMES ONLIONE: Jack Straw was personally lobbied by BP over Britain’s prisoner transfer agreement with Libya just before he abandoned efforts to exclude the Lockerbie bomber from the deal.

The Times has learnt that the Justice Secretary took two telephone calls from Sir Mark Allen, a former M16 agent, who was by then working for BP as a consultant, on October 15 and November 9, 2007.

Having signed a $900 million oil exploration deal with Libya earlier that year, BP feared that its commercial interests could be damaged if Britain delayed the prisoner transfer agreement (PTA) through which the Gaddafi regime hoped to secure the return home of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi.

For six months, talks with Libya were deadlocked as Britain — under pressure from the devolved Scottish government — vainly sought to ensure that the deal would not cover al-Megrahi.

On December 19, 2007, Mr Straw wrote to Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Minister, to say that he had been unable to secure an exclusion for al-Megrahi from the deal. “The wider negotiations with the Libyans are reaching a critical stage and in view of the overwhelming interests for the United Kingdom I have agreed that in this instance the PTA should be in the standard form and not mention any individual,” he wrote.

Britain has faced criticism from the Obama Administration for signing the transfer agreement despite a decade-old promise to the US that anyone convicted of the Lockerbie bombing would serve out the sentence in Britain.

The fresh disclosures last night may yet throw doubt over Gordon Brown’s assertion on Wednesday that there had been “no conspiracy, no cover-up, no double-dealing, no deal on oil, no attempt to to instruct Scottish ministers, no private assurances by me to Colonel Gaddafi”.

An aide to the Justice Secretary confirmed last night that Sir Mark, who had dealt often with Mr Straw when he was Foreign Secretary, “wanted to know what was happening with the PTA and get Jack’s perspective”. He added: “BP wanted to make its case because they were concerned that not making progress might have an effect on their deal with Libya.” >>> Tom Baldwin and Philip Webster | Friday, September 04, 2009

Libya’s Viewpoint: Celebrate Libya Sees Olympic-scale Success While World Watches On
THE TRIPOLI POST: TRIPOLI, Libya: As Western media continue their unfair, confused, disinforming and deceptive coverage of the release of the innocent Libyan citizen Abdulbaset Al-Megrahi from his eleven-year captivity in European prisons, Libya celebrates the First September Revolution’s 40th Anniversary as never before. A grand celebration sets in motion a week of unprecedented events scheduled to sweep through the country started on 1 September. The celebrations offered at least a glimpse into the country’s rich 14,000 [?] year history.

Dignitaries from around the world gathered in Tripoli’s Green Park last night to witness what has been one of the Africa’s largest, most successful and most spectacular events in history. The celebration marked the 40th Anniversary of the Al Fateh Revolution. Guests joined Muammar Al Gaddafi, Brother Leader and Guide of the Revolution, for a full schedule of activities from a military parade to an exclusive Iftar dinner and opening ceremony designed to bring to life Libya’s rich history and culture.

Al-Megrahi, however, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001 after being unjustly convicted of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. He served eleven years and five months in prison including more than two years in the infamous Camp Zeist prison in Holland. Legal experts in the US, Britain and the rest of the world have made it clear since the begging of the shame [sic] trial in the Netherlands that the trial was unfair and the prosecutor had no case.

Military Precision

The celebrations launched with a perfectly executed military parade involving troops from countries across the world. African nations such as Senegal and Algeria participated alongside European countries including Italy and Ukraine, marching to music and bearing their national flags. Troops from Greece and the French Foreign legion also participated. The soldiers were followed by full artillery of military vehicles, from trucks to tanks, some carrying an anti-aircraft weaponry while naval vessels passed by offshore. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, King Abdullah of Jordan, Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani from Qatar, Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, Tunisia’s President Ben Ali, Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Boutaflika, Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Benin’s President Karekou were amongst the VIP audience as the Frecce Tricolori, Italian acrobatic planes, flew in formation over the parade ground and around Tripoli’s beautiful coastline.

VIP Iftar

Close by dignitaries made their way a specially designed dining area, constructed to float atop the water of the Red Castle lake. A lantern-lit path from the bank of the lake to the VIP iftar was created in front of the Red Castle outer wall onto which unique projections were placed. The projections mark the beginning of what is known as ‘Libya by Light’, a week-long schedule of Libya inspired images across six of the country’s key cities. Some of the best international brands were brought in to offer a new dimension to the proceedings; the meal itself was designed and prepared by acclaimed Parisian restaurant Le Notre and guests were given limited edition gold Chopard watches with outline of Africa on the face and a diamond marking Libya within it.

Libya Takes to the Stage

As hundreds of performers prepared themselves for their grand debut on what is considered by organizers to be one of the largest tent-like stages to have ever been constructed, dignitaries arrived in golf kart manufactured by the likes of Hummer and Cadillac. Joined by the Leader’s family, further guests attended the opening ceremony included Turkey first lady, Prime Minister, Amina Erdogan, former Ukrainian Acting Prime Minister Ioulia Tymochenko, French Minister for Co-operation Alain Joyandet and the President of Chad Idriss Déby and the President of Niger Mamadou Tandja. And the show certainly impressed; acrobats, lasers, projections and illuminated sculptures of animals all came together to give the show a sense of style, grandeur and magic. >>> | Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Chopard >>>

Special Relationship. Passed Away 2009. R.I.P.
TIMES ONLINE: For some time America has regarded this country as Little Britain. The Lockerbie bomber case is seen as the final straw

After Gordon Brown met Colonel Muammar Gaddafi at the G8 summit in Italy earlier this year he joked that he had discovered Michael Jackson alive and well. There is indeed an uncanny resemblance between the Libyan leader and the King of Pop. But it was not, of course, the singer who asked the Prime Minister to release the Lockerbie bomber. Michael Jackson is dead — and so now is the “special relationship” between Britain and the United States.

The row over the decision to allow Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi to return to Libya is the final nail in the coffin for the transatlantic bond first identified by Winston Churchill after the Second World War. Even Barack Obama abandoned his normal diplomatic tone to criticise the “highly objectionable” arrival of the bomber in Tripoli. Robert Mueller, the head of the FBI, said that the release of the man convicted of murdering 270 people on Pan Am Flight 103 made a “mockery of justice” and would give “comfort to terrorists around the world”. There was a widespread assumption in Washington all along that the decision was linked to a trade deal.

For the Americans, this is not just about justice it is also about trust — the White House sees the release of al-Megrahi as a blatant breach of an agreement given by the British Government that he would serve out his sentence in Scotland. It is impossible to sustain a relationship, let alone a special one, if one partner can no longer believe what the other one says. In Whitehall there are already nervous mutterings about whether intelligence-sharing and military co-operation will be able to continue in the same way.

This may be a tipping point but in fact the United States has been tilting away from Britain for some time. Ironically, at the very moment when people in this country are rediscovering after years of hostility their love of America — as a result of the election of the first black president — the Americans are tiring of their old European flame.

On holiday on Long Island this summer, I was struck by the anti-British mood. There are T-shirts for sale in New York with the slogan “Britain’s not that great” printed next to pictures of a helmeted policeman and Big Ben. “Your country is just a dipshit little nation,” an influential celebrity agent told me over dinner in the Monkey Bar (the fashionable Manhattan restaurant that is part owned by the British restaurateur Jeremy King). “It’s got no power or influence any more. I bet only 5 per cent of the people in this room have even heard of Gordon Brown.”

In different areas, antipathy towards Britain is taking hold just as anti-Americanism in this country fades. The debate about health reform in the US has been dominated by distorted accounts of appalling death rates and eugenic policies under the “evil” NHS. Meanwhile, the British Armed Forces are facing increasing criticism for what the Americans see as a failure to pull their weight in Iraq and Afghanistan. The City of London has been decimated by the credit crunch and could end up paying a heavier price than Wall Street as the new financial world order takes shape. Even London Fashion Week is a poor relation to similar events in New York, Paris and Milan.

There is a growing perception in the US that the UK is losing its way — with MPs who have been caught fiddling their expenses, a recession deeper than anywhere else and a leader who has become a lame duck. Newsweek, the magazine that hailed Cool Britannia in the 1990s, recently redefined us as “Little Britain”, a nation struggling to keep a foothold in a rapidly changing world. It used to be said that we punched above our weight — but now we have become the global punch bag as China and India rise. The new dawn is over, replaced by a gloomy dusk. >>> Rachel Sylvester | Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Libyan Government Says Lockerbie Bomber Is Not Near Death Yet
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: The Libyan government on Wednesday denied claims by the Lockerbie bomber's family that he was in intensive care and dying faster than expected.

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi "is not in a dangerous situation" and was merely moved to a VIP room at the Tripoli hospital, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Seyala. >>> Helen Kennedy, Daily News Staff Writer | Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Brown the Betrayer: Britain’s Sellout Prime Minister Has Broken Faith and Ties with U.S.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS – Editorial: It was Winston Churchill who asked in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, "What kind of people do they think we are?" And it is Gordon Brown who has given grounds to believe that today's British are a cowardly, unprincipled, amoral and duplicitous lot. Because he is all of those.

Can he remain in power having been revealed as at least complicit in an atrocious miscarriage of justice and breach of faith? That will be up to the Brits, but on this side of the Atlantic Ocean it is inconceivable that an elected official would have a snowball's chance after sanctioning an oil-for-terrorist deal.

Surely Brown can hardly survive the revelation that his government assured Libya that the prime minister did not want the Lockerbie bomber to die in prison, a message duly passed on to the Scottish official who released Abdelbaset al-Megrahi on "compassionate grounds."

As for the "special relationship" between the U.S. and Britain, the storied alliance built on the resolve of World War II and carried on through Thatcher and Blair, through Iraq and Afghanistan: It is, in a word, gone.

Brown's maneuverings to get into the good graces of Libyan mass murderer Moammar Khadafy broke the bond between America and the Blessed Plot beyond his ability to repair it. That work will fall to someone else, someone who values human life more than commercial expediency, someone who is stalwart rather than a sneak, someone true to his pronouncements.

The U.S. and the U.K. committed to imprisoning Megrahi in Scotland after the Libyan spy was convicted of blowing Pan Am Flight 103 out of the air over that country in 1998. The atrocity was a direct precursor of 9/11, and no one could have imagined that Brown - leader of a nation that, too, has been terror's target - would trash the pledge.

But Brown did trash the pledge, and in the most revolting terms, letting it be known, it bears repeating, that he did not want Megrahi, author of 270 murders, to die in prison.

So, Megrahi has returned to Libya a hero, perhaps dying of prostate cancer, perhaps not. Brown got his way, and he will never outlive the stain. [Source: New York Daily News] | Wednesday, September 02, 2009

MAIL ONLINE:
Brown the betrayer: U.S. fury over British broken promise to keep Lockerbie bomber in jail >>> James Chapman | Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Brown Says 'No Cover-Up' in Lockerbie Bomber's Release
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Addressing controversy over the recent release of the convicted Lockerbie bomber, U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted "there was no conspiracy, no cover-up, no double-dealing" by the U.K. leading up to the release.

Meanwhile, Scotland's parliament passed a motion late Wednesday denouncing Kenny MacAskill, the justice minister who made the decision to release Mr. al-Megrahi last month. The harsh rebuke, which was approved in a 73-50-1 vote, condemned Mr. MacAskill for mishandling the decision in a way that damaged Scotland's international reputation. >>> Alistair MacDonald and Paul Sonne| Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Cancer Specialists Fly to Tripoli as Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi Fades Fast
TIMES ONLINE: The health of the Lockerbie bomber is deteriorating so fast that European cancer specialists are being flown to Tripoli in a chartered aircraft to treat him, Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi's brother has told The Times.

"He's in a bad situation. The last check-up was very, very bad... He's dying," said Mohammed al-Megrahi, who doubted his brother would live another month. "We are really worried about him, but it's the wish of God."

Mr al-Megrahi would not, or could not, say where the specialists were coming from or who was paying for them.

A Libyan government official said that al-Megrahi "has been admitted to the emergency room in the hospital. He is in a bad way. He is unable to speak to anyone."

A hospital spokesman said: "Because of the treatment he is receiving, his immune system is very weak."

Critics of the Scottish Government's decision to release al-Megrahi last month have questioned how ill he really is, but there seems little doubt that he is in his final weeks, or even days. >>> Martin Fletcher in Tripoli | Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Lockerbie-Anschlag: Brown war offenkundig für Attentäterbegnadigung
WELT ONLINE: Gordon Brown hat die Begnadigung des Lockerbie-Attentäters unterstützt. Der öffentliche wie politische Druck wächst. Die Opposition erhebt den Vorwurf, dass es allein um wirtschaftliche Belange ging. Der Premierminister hingegen verneinte, dass das Interesse an libyschem Öl dabei eine Rolle spielte.

Der britische Premier Gordon Brown gerät im Streit um die Freilassung des Lockerbie-Attentäters immer mehr unter Druck: Brown unterstützte offensichtlich die Begnadigung des Libyers Abdel Bassit Ali Mohammed al-Megrahi. Ein früherer Staatssekretär im britischen Außenministerium bestätigte am Dienstagabend, Brown habe nicht gewollt, dass der krebskranke Al-Megrahi im Gefängnis in Schottland stirbt. Bill Rammell erklärte im Sender BBC, dass er dies im Februar seinem Amtskollegen in Libyen mitgeteilt hätte. Er habe jedoch „ausdrücklich“ betont, dass die Entscheidung über die Zukunft Al-Megrahis bei der schottischen Landesregierung lieg[.] >>> dpa/sk | Mittwoch, 02. September 2009

Gordon Brown Did Not Want Lockerbie Bomber to Die in Jail, Minute Reveals
Minutes of the meeting also show the pressure exerted by the Libyan government. Image: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: A Foreign Office minister told Libya in February this year that Gordon Brown did not want the Lockerbie bomber to die in jail, according to an official minute released today.

Abdulati Alobidi, the Libyan Minister for Europe, told how he had warned Bill Rammell, a Foreign Office Minister visiting Tripoli, that Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi should not be allowed to die in a Scottish prison.

"Mr Alobidi confirmed that he had reiterated to Mr Rammell that the death of Mr Megrahi in a Scottish prison would have catastrophic effects for the relationship between Libya and the UK," the note released by the Scottish government said.

"Mr Alobidi went on to say that Mr Rammell had stated that neither the Prime Minister nor the Foreign Secretary would want Mr Megrahi to pass away in prison but the decision on transfer lies in the hands of the Scottish ministers."

The note relates to a meeting in March between Scottish officials and a Libyan government delegation including Mr Alobidi. >>> Philippe Naughton | Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Lockerbie Bomber Row: Details of Blair-Gaddafi Meetings Will Not Be Published
THE GUARDIAN: Papers relating to former PM's meetings with Libyan leader will not be among those published by the government this afternoon

Tony Blair, left, and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi during a historic first meeting in 2004 after Libya had renounced its weapons of mass destruction programe. Photo: The Guardian
Downing Street has confirmed that papers relating to Tony Blair's meeting with the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, will not be among the documents about the Lockerbie bomber being released this afternoon.

The prime minister's spokesman said the government would publish all "relevant" correspondence relating to the release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the 1988 bombing, this afternoon.

The Foreign Office and the Ministry of Justice are putting documents on their website after 2pm. In Edinburgh the Scottish government will also be releasing its own documents, probably later in the afternoon.

But the papers will not cover Blair's meetings with Gaddafi in 2004 and 2007, which paved the way for a prisoner transfer agreement between the two countries, Downing Street said today.

Today David Cameron claimed that Gordon Brown's failure to say whether or not he approved of the release of Megrahi showed that he did not have the leadership skills required of a prime minister. Writing in the Times, the Conservative leader says that having the willingness to express an opinion was "a basic requirement of leadership".

The Tories have condemned the Scottish government's decision to release Megrahi on compassionate grounds. Brown has said that he was "repulsed" by the way Megrahi received a hero's welcome when he returned to Tripoli, but the prime minister has not said whether or not he approved of the decision to grant Megrahi his liberty.

In his Times article, Cameron says: "Mr Brown should have condemned the decision to release al-Megrahi. At the very least, he should have expressed an opinion. But all we got, day after day, was a wall of silence, finally broken after a long week when Mr Brown declared that he was 'angry' and 'repulsed' at scenes in Tripoli. We all were. But that wasn't the point. People wanted to know what the prime minister thought about the decision to release him in the first place.

"Such candour is a basic requirement of leadership – a quality that once again Mr Brown has demonstrated he lacks." >>> Nicholas Watt and Andrew Sparrow | Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Lockerbie Bomber Filmed 'On His Deathbed'
DAILY RECORD (Scotland): LIBYA yesterday allowed a British TV crew to film the Lockerbie bomber "on his deathbed".

Pictures on Channel 4 News last night showed Abdelbaset al-Megrahi on a drip, connected to a heart monitor and wearing an oxygen mask.

Unshaven Megrahi apparently could not reply when the reporter asked him a question. One of his sons said: "He is deteriorating fast."

But there was no way to independently assess the bomber's condition, and observers suggested it was in Libya's interests to make Megrahi's health look worse than it was. >>> Dave King | Monday, August 31, 2009

Berlusconi chez Kadhafi malgré tout
Berlusconi et le colonol Kadhafi. Crédits photo : Le Temps
LE TEMPS: Juste avant les célébrations du 40e anniversaire de l’arrivée au pouvoir du colonel Kadhafi et une année après le premier anniversaire du traité d’amitié entre l’Italie et la Libye, le président du Conseil italien s’est rendu à Tripoli pour dîner avec le leader libyen

En dépit des critiques d’une partie de l’opposition, des organisations non gouvernementales et de l’irritation de l’allié américain, Silvio Berlusconi n’a pas renoncé à sa fête d’anniversaire. Un an après la signature du traité d’amitié entre Rome et Tripoli qui a officiellement mis fin au contentieux post-colonial moyennant entre autres le versement par l’Italie de 5 milliards de dollars de dédommagements, le président du Conseil, qui est à l’origine de cet accord histo­rique, s’est rendu quelques heures dimanche en Libye pour y rencontrer le colonel Kadhafi. Il en a profité pour poser la première pierre de l’autoroute qui devra être construite, aux frais de la Péninsule, le long de la côte et a ensuite dîné avec le «guide de la révolution» pour célébrer la fin du ramadan.

Malgré l’accueil triomphal réservé le 21 août, à son arrivée en Libye, à l’ancien terroriste Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, qui a profondément choqué la Grande-Bretagne et les Etats-Unis (Barack Obama a parlé de scènes «hautement déplaisantes»), Silvio Berlusconi n’a pas modifié son programme. Ses collaborateurs ont même confirmé que les «Flèches tricolores», patrouille acrobatique et fleuron de l’aéronautique italienne, participeront, mardi 1er septembre, à la célébration du 40e anniversaire de l’accession au pouvoir du colonel Kadhafi. >>> Eric Jozsef | Lundi31 Août 2009

LE TEMPS:
Al-Megrahi promet de nouvelles révélations >>> Jean-Claude Péclet | Lundi31 Août 2009

The New Libya: ليبيا الجديدة

Time to Shine Light on a Murky Deal
THE SUNDAY TIMES – Leading Article: It is three weeks since news emerged of the decision to allow the Lockerbie bomber to return to Libya to die, and the sense of unease is growing. Polls show that two-thirds of people in Britain, and a similar proportion in Scotland, where the decision was made, think the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds was wrong.

Legal and quasi-judicial decisions often spark outrage. Kenny MacAskill, Scotland’s justice secretary, had to defend his decision last week in the Scottish parliament. What has increased the sense of unease is the strong suspicion that the release was the direct result of deals done in the desert between Tony Blair and Colonel Muammar Gadaffi, the Libyan leader, deals subsequently refined by British government ministers.

Today we report on a letter written by Jack Straw, Britain’s justice secretary, to his Scottish counterpart in December 2007. In it he overturned a previous understanding that Mr Megrahi was exempt from a prisoner transfer programme agreed between Britain and Libya as part of the Blair-Gadaffi discussions. A few months earlier the government had been clear on that exemption. Lord Falconer, then lord chancellor, wrote to Alex Salmond, the leader of the Scottish National party, saying Libya had agreed that the Lockerbie bomber would serve out his sentence in Scotland.

What changed? The strong circumstantial evidence is that a lucrative agreement to allow BP to explore for oil off the Libyan coast was being held up by Mr Megrahi’s exemption from the prisoner transfer programme. The idea that the Westminster government had no view and no influence is not credible. >>> | Sunday, August 30, 2009

MI6 Agent Joined Disgraced BP Boss in Secret Meetings with Gaddafi
Lord Brown and Gaddafi. Photos: Mail On Sunday
This is the same Lord Brown who struck up a 'close friendship' with Peter Mandelson's then partner, Reinaldo Avila da Silva from Brazil. Peter Mandelson has been flitting about the world to attend parties of the rich and famous (and sometimes infamous). It is known that he had at least two meetings with Seif ul-Islam before the deal to release Megraho was struck.

It is difficult to tell precisely, of course, without being privy to far more detail; but can't it be said that there appears to be here at least one common thread on the British side? – ©Mark

MAIL ON SUNDAY: New questions about the extent of the Government’s involvement in the trade deals that led to the release of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Al Megrahi, were raised last night with the revelation that an MI6 agent flew to Libya with former BP boss Lord Browne for two cloak-and-dagger meetings with Colonel Gaddafi.

Jeff Chevalier, the ex-lover of Lord Browne, has told The Mail on Sunday that Browne was ‘shocked’ when the agent made a reference to his relationship with Mr Chevalier, indicating the authorities knew about their liaison, which was a closely guarded secret.

Mr Chevalier said Lord Browne also referred to Mark Allen, the MI6 counter-terrorism chief at the centre of the secret talks between Libya and Britain, who now works for BP.

But he did not know if Allen was the agent who accompanied the peer to Libya.

Lord Browne’s secret missions started shortly after international sanctions were lifted on Libya in 2003, prompting an ‘oil rush’ by companies keen to win lucrative contracts – and with the Government lobbying hard on BP’s behalf.

Although Gaddafi agreed to hand over Megrahi for trial as part of negotiations to lift sanctions, oil industry insiders claim BP’s attempts to win business were hampered by objections to the Lockerbie bomber’s detention.

Mr Chevalier, who spent four years in a relationship with Lord Browne, recalled that the BP boss made his first trip to Libya accompanied by the unnamed MI6 agent. >>> Glen Owen | Sunday, August 30, 2009

Related:

A sad end to an illustrious career: Lord John Browne could face charges of perjury >>> BBC | Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Gay Soap Opera >>> Friday, June 01, 2007

Watch BBC video: BP chief executive resigns >>>

Muammar Gadaffi’s Son to Move to Britain
THE SUNDAY TIMES: SAIF GADAFFI, the son of the Libyan ruler, is moving his burgeoning media empire to London as he seeks to capitalise on blossoming trade ties with Britain.

Gadaffi, who escorted Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the freed Lockerbie bomber, from Scotland to Tripoli, has bought a £10m home in Hampstead, north London.

Staff at Gadaffi’s television news company, Al Mutawassit, are moving to the UK — with the first broadcast planned this week — and their boss is expected to follow. Ultimately, it aims to rival Al-Jazeera, the leading Arab news channel, with the launch of a website and newspaper.

Whitehall sources confirmed that Gadaffi, 37, had been granted a UK visitor’s visa that allows him to stay in Britain for up to six months. >>> Kevin Dowling | Sunday, August 30, 2009

Revealed: Lockerbie Link to Oil Exploration Deal
THE SUNDAY TIMES: 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 afterwards.

The letters were sent two years ago by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to Kenny MacAskill, his counterpart in Scotland, who has been widely criticised 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.

Edward Davey, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said: “This is the strongest evidence yet that the British government has been involved for a long time in talks over al-Megrahi in which commercial considerations have been central to their thinking.”

Two letters dated five months apart show that Straw initially intended to exclude Megrahi from a prisoner transfer agreement with Colonel Muammar Gadaffi, under which British and Libyan prisoners could serve out their sentences in their home country.

In a letter dated July 26, 2007, Straw said he favoured an option to leave out Megrahi by stipulating that any prisoners convicted before a specified date would not be considered for transfer.

Downing Street had also said Megrahi would not be included under the agreement.

Straw then switched his position as Libya used its deal with BP as a bargaining chip to insist the Lockerbie bomber was included.

The exploration deal for oil and gas, potentially worth up to £15 billion, was announced in May 2007. Six months later the agreement was still waiting to be ratified.

On December 19, 2007, Straw wrote to MacAskill announcing that the UK government was abandoning its attempt to exclude Megrahi from the prisoner transfer agreement, citing the national interest. >>> Jason Allardyce | Sunday, August 30, 2009