Libya and Britain: The New Special Relationship
“Libya has genuinely become an important international partner for the UK on many levels. For example, Libya is now a vital partner for the UK in guaranteeing a secure energy future for the UK and is also a key partner in the fight against terrorism.

While I recognise that this will be of little comfort to you, it is vital for the UK’s present and future security that this continues.” – Rammell at the Foreign Office to Ganesh on BP’s investment in Libya, November 2008

THE SUNDAY TIMES: At 7.01pm on February 9, 1996, a huge lorry bomb exploded at South Quay in London’s Docklands, killing two people and injuring more than 100 others. The blast ripped a 32ft crater and caused £85m of damage.

Jonathan Ganesh, 37, a security guard from east London, was buried alive in the rubble. His two friends, Inam Bashir and John Jeffries, were killed in the news kiosk where they worked.

For Ganesh, the blame for the attack lies not only with the IRA, which planted the bomb, but also with Libya, which is suspected of supplying the Semtex plastic explosive used in it. He is among the bomb victims and their families who want compensation from Tripoli.

“The government has let the Libyans off scot-free,” he said. “The money doesn’t bother me. But I can’t let my friends die like that. They were blown to pieces. They couldn’t even be identified.”

The compensation campaign involving 200 British victims has been frustrated to date by the government’s reluctance to support the case — even though Libya agreed to pay a small number of Americans who were victims of IRA terror attacks.

Ministerial letters obtained by The Sunday Times reveal this reluctance is partly explained by fears of jeopardising relations with the newly rehabilitated regime of Colonel Muammar Gadaffi. In a letter to the victims’ lawyers dated October 7, 2008, Gordon Brown wrote: “Libya would not support or be prepared to discuss a bilateral settlement of these cases and doing so would entail substantial risks.”

Another letter from Bill Rammell, then a Foreign Office minister, dated November 6, 2008, also says the government will not intervene in negotiations, explaining that Libya is a vital partner for a “secure energy future” and in the fight against terrorism.

The letters provide new damning evidence of the government’s eagerness to maintain good relations with Libya, in which trade appears to weigh more heavily on ministers’ minds than the plight of British victims of terrorism. >>> | Sunday, September 06, 2009

Lockerbie Fallout Spreads to London
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: U.K. Government Fends Off Suggestions It Had Role in Scottish Release; U.S. Steps Up Criticism

LONDON -- The political fallout from Scotland's release of the convicted Lockerbie bomber has spread to London, as questions arise about whether the U.K. government played a bigger role in the decision than it has publicly acknowledged.

On Sunday, U.S. criticism of the decision took on a more strident tone, with one senior official saying it "makes a mockery of the rule of law."

The political stakes for U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown mounted after a son of Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi, Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, issued a statement on Saturday thanking "our friends in the British government who played an important role in reaching this day." He said he believed the decision to release Abdel Baset al-Megrahi would further improve relations between the U.K. and the oil-rich North African nation.

A spokesman for the U.K. Foreign Office said the decision was Scotland's alone and had nothing to do with any trade deals between Britain and Libya.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who was part of a recent congressional delegation to Libya led by Sen. John McCain, noted Saif al-Islam Gadhafi's letter during a CNN television appearance on Sunday and called on "our friends in Britain" to conduct an independent investigation into "this action by the Scottish justice minister to release a mass murderer."

Both Mr. Brown and the Scottish government have maintained that the decision to free Mr. al-Megrahi, the only man convicted in the 1988 bombing that claimed 270 lives, rested entirely with Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill. Under an arrangement set up more than a decade ago, Scotland rules independently on a number of local matters, including justice. Scottish legislators gathered Monday for an emergency meeting over the release of Mr. al-Megrahi, the Associated Press
reported.

Mr. al-Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, flew home Thursday to a jubilant welcome after Mr. MacAskill released him on "compassionate grounds." >>> Alistair MacDonald and Spencer Swartz | Monday, August 24, 2009

Moammar Ghaddafi Greets Freed Man


Lockerbie Diplomatic Divide