A senior US senator on Sunday urged an independent investigation of Scotland's decision to free the Lockerbie bomber, expressing concern that British interest in Libyan oil may have played a role.
Senator Joe Lieberman pointed to "shocking" suggestions by Libyan leader Moamer Kadahfi, his son Saif and the head of the British Libyan Business council that the release was mixed with Britain's interest in exploring oil in Libya.
"I don't want to believe that they are true, but they are hanging so heavily in the air that I hope that our friends in Britain will convene an independent investigation of this action by the Scottish justice minister to release a mass murderer," he said on CNN.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi's return to a hero's welcome in Tripoli Thursday set off an outpouring of anger here over the Scottish government's decision to release him on compassionate grounds.
Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said he made the decision on his own after doctors concluded that Megrahi, who suffers from prostate cancer, had just a few months to live.
But adding fuel to the outrage was a claim by Seif al-Islam, Khadafi's son, that the issue of Megrahi's fate "was always on the negotiating table" in talks with Britain over Libya's huge reserves of oil and gas.
Senator Ben Cardin, a Democrat, said Lieberman's questioning of Scottish motives in releasing Megrahi "raises a very valid point."
"I think we need to know what this oil deal was all about and whether there was a compromise to the judicial system for commercial gain," he said on the same CNN program.
Both Lieberman and Cardin said Libya's celebratory homecoming for the former intelligence officer should have consquences.
Lieberman called it "a real setback for the anti-terrorist cause and takes our relations with Libya back to where they were for too long -- a bad place."
Lieberman was in Libya with a US delegation before Megrahi's release and had urged Tripoli to show restraint upon the Megrahi's return.
"We hoped the Colonel (Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi) would get our message that he could not expect relations with the United States, which have been good since after the Iraq war of 2003 ... to go on normally if Megrahi was not only released but greeted as a hero," he said.
Lieberman, an independent who was a vice presidential candidate in 2000, noted that bilateral relations had been on the upswing in recent years, with Tripoli cooperating in destroying its weapons of mass destruction and aiding US counterterrorism efforts.
Some of that progress, he said, had been dealt a blow.
"Don't expect President (Barack) Obama to meet Kadhafi at the UN General Assembly in New York in September," he said, signaling one of the first areas where Libya is likely to feel Washington's cold shoulder.
Cardin, calling Megrahi a mass murderer, said giving him a compassionate release "was wrong."
"I think it's very serious and I think there should be consequences," he said.
Meanwhile, Senator Richard Lugar, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tempered the outrage somewhat, telling CNN that while Washington "ought to condemn as strongly as possible this release," it was also necessary "to continue our relations with Libya."
He suggested that political realities at home drove the reception received by Megrahi.
"I think it's important to notice that President Kadhafi has a constituency in Libya. And the rest of the world is now engaged in diplomatic relations with Libya," Lugar said.
Kadhafi met Friday with the Lockerbie bomber amid mounting Western outrage over the welcome he received upon his return. Libyan national television showed images of Kadhafi receiving and embracing Megrahi.
Megrahi, the only person convicted for the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people in the air and on the ground in the Scottish town of Lockerbie, was sentenced to life in prison in 2001.
US President Barack Obama on Friday called the red-carpet reception Megrahi received "highly objectionable", while his spokesman Robert Gibbs denounced the display as "outrageous and disgusting."
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Lockerbie bomber: UK - US families split on possible releaseby itnnewsFeatured Video1,278 views
He should have been executed. American families of victims must feel sick.
lilyeve222 1 month ago
Typical yanks, no respect for another nations legal system. Glad we don't have an "eye for an eye" style legal system over here.
HoopyTheHound1 2 months ago
@pluto4847 "Jock boy"??? Loved that. The USA ambassador wrote a letter asking for Megrahi to be released on health grounds and not a prisoner exchange, so clearly you are lying. Halliburton had already built oil piplines long before sanctions were lifted and Exxon were the first company to drill. Both Exxon and Haliburton run Washington and see the USA as a subsidary of their businesses.
warriorprince1010 6 months ago
@pieman78 It's probably Murdoch's SKY and FOX news releasing provocative stories (again). They are trying to deflect from the UK hacking scandal and NATO going to war in Libya (instead of the intervention they claimed it would be, originally)
Watching Hillary lecture other countries when America just got downgraded to AA; is laughable.
It's SKY treating the families and friends of the victims with such contempt that is so crass. Every country has brainless people; they love getting angry.
irresistablejewel 6 months ago
@pluto4847 Don't blame the Scots, Your government has carried out more attrocities than any dictatorship ever has, all they are are Nazis in disguise and the American people should 'wake up and smell the coffee brewing' try looking up Alex Jones, he knows whats going on, if only more of you did! Scottish people have been dying in U.S wars for years now so dont preach to me, i'm fuckin outraged about that so before you start shouting your mouth off read between the lines!!!
pieman78 6 months ago
@pluto4847 I told you before; the release was McAskills decision. The CIA tampering of the trial is common knowledge as is Scottish compassionate release. Are you too lazy to use google?
Lockerbie been on the news has it, or did you just get out of prison?
I am proud to be Scottish. People with "their tiny Scottish flags waving" makes no difference to that; it's their flag. Why don't you go bore someone else with your inane chatter?
When is Hillary Clinton due to melt? Soon I hope.
irresistablejewel 6 months ago
@222macgregor
So it was London's fault? MMMMM? Do you have evidence to backl this up?
And lets say LOndon did take the blame, you JOcks still lose because the biggest Jock asshole of them all--FORMER PM Gordon BROWN would have made the decision.
So either way you slice the cake, Scotland is to blame! Oh yeah!
pluto4847 6 months ago
@irresistablejewel
Well I am also pleased that you are a Scottish self righteous asshole!
I always believed in trial by jury so before you spout nonesense about tainted CIA evidence, take a look at your own crooked court systems.
Scottish justice is anything but compassionate. Tell me a few other examples of Scotland being compassionate and I'll believe you, but make sure you have the sources and proof to back it up.
pluto4847 6 months ago
@irresistablejewel
There you go again passing the buck to the United States! Sorry, the release of the LOckerbie bomber was not our decision.
Did you actually watch the Libyan Victory celebration with the Libyans with their tiny Scottish flags waving?
Does that make you a proud Scot? Does it!
And before you make a switcharoo and try to reverse the conversation back to America, take a look at your own problems first, and work on them before you spout bullshit about USA.
pluto4847 6 months ago
@pieman78
Who cares? So that's your attitude. Obviously, you didn't lose a loved one on Pan Am Flight 103.
Sometimes you have to step outside yourself, wake up and smell the coffee brewing.
Am I angry at Scots? Hell yeah! I am fuckin outraged!
But don't worry, you Scots keep making deals with Libya, and sooner or later the whole world will turn its back on you.
You want your fucking independece! For heavens sake make Scotland free already so they can stop passing the buck!
pluto4847 6 months ago