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Call For Probe Into BP's Role In Lockerbie Bomber Release
By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 13, 2010
Modified Jul 13, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 13, 2010
Modified Jul 13, 2010
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With outrage growing over the continued existence of Pan Am Flight 103 bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, Senators Chuck Schumer and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) are demanding an investigation into the role that BP may have played in securing Megrahi's "compassionate" release last year. Doctors had predicted that Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, would be dead in three months, but he's reportedly living in luxury in Libya. Families of the 270 victims of the bombing are sickened, and there's increased speculation that Megrahi was released to secure a lucrative oil contract for BP off the coast of Libya.
BP will begin drilling in the next few months, and stands to earn as much as $20 billion from the deal, according to Lautenberg, who wrote in a letter to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, "It is shocking to even contemplate that BP is profiting from the release of a terrorist with the blood of 189 Americans on his hands. The families of the victims of Pan Am flight 103 deserve to know whether justice took a back seat to commercial interests in this case." Lautenberg has actually been demanding an investigation into BP's role in Megrahi's release since September 2009, two weeks after he was returned home to Libya.
"This is such a slap in the face to the families who've lost loved ones; something has to change," Schumer "fumed" during a press conference yesterday. "The only way that Britain can clear this up is to demand the return of the terrorist [Abdelbaset al-Megrahi] from the Libyan government and to renounce all oil deals with the Libyan government." Megrahi only served eight years of his life sentence for the bombing.
Tagged
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi
BP
libya
lockerbie bombing
scotland
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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