Previous thread: -

detail.cfm?messages__Message_ID=2948593

It is not correct to seek to limit those guilty of US interference on this matter in the affairs of a foreign sovereign state to four individual senators - with the implication that the interference is not the creature of US government.

Demands for witnesses to attend in the USA were made by the senate foreign relations committee - not merely as the demands of four individual senators.

Moreover, President Obama (who I mostly admire) stepped into gunboat mode by saying all Americans were "surprised, disappointed and angry" to learn of Megrahi's release.

The implicit accusations by the US government are also two-faced.

By letter of the 12th August 2009 a letter that the US authorities tried to keep secret, Richard LeBaron, deputy head of the US embassy in London wrote to Alex Salmond (first minister of Scotland) that the United States wanted Megrahi to remain imprisoned in view of the nature of the crime, but critically the letter added: "Nevertheless, if Scottish authorities come to the conclusion that Megrahi must be released from Scottish custody, the US position is that conditional release on compassionate grounds would be a far preferable alternative to prisoner transfer, which we strongly oppose." LeBaron also added that freeing the bomber and making him live in Scotland "would mitigate a number of the strong concerns we have expressed with regard to Megrahi's release".


It seems to me that the US government is acting in a way that is most insulting to the UK and to Scotland, as if the US government has any entitlement to review UK and Scottish decisions and actions.