From Mother Jones, among other sources, comes Menendez, Schumer: Investigate BP’s Lockerbie “Blood Money”:
The Democratic senators from New York and New Jersey are now calling on BP to suspend drilling operations in Libya’s Gulf of Sidra until an investigation can be completed into whether the company pushed for the release of a convicted terrorist in order to seal a major oil deal.
Robert Menendez (D-NJ) decried the release last August of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi a “moral outrage” at a press conference on Wednesday. Megrahi is the only person who has been convicted of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing that killed 270 people in 1988. BP has admitted that it lobbied for a prisoner exchange-they have just not said which prisoners. Now Menendez and three other senators have called on the State Department and the British government to investigate precisely what role BP may have played in negotiating his release, as the company has since admitted that they pushed for a prisoner transfer to help ensure the $900 million oil deal went through. In recent weeks, one of the doctors who gave the dire prognosis for Megrahi that led to his release from a Scottish prison has come forward to say that the Libyan government paid him to make that determination. He now says Megrahi may live for another 10 years, and there are rumors that he has secured a book deal.
“If BP is found to have gained access to Libyan oil reserves by using a mass murderer as a bargaining chip, then make no mistake, any money it makes off that oil is blood money,” said Menendez.
Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said: “Until this deal is properly investigated, this project off the coast of Libya should not break ground. If BP is dealing in good faith, it should cooperate with this investigation.”
A top UK official has acknowledged that oil interests played “a very big part” in his release-and in securing BP’s big deal. The senators argue that the Megrahi example, and the overarching issue of a private company using a business deal to sway the justice system, presents a national security concern. The case “undermines our ability to hold international terrorists accountable,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).
These are incredibly serious charges, so I’m going to step as lightly as I can in my comments…
Obviously, I have no idea if this is true.
I have no trouble whatsoever believing that an oil company the size of BP would do something like this. Given the number of dollars involved in securing access to an oil field, plus the increasing pressure on International Oil Companies (like BP) to maintain market share in an environment in which National Oil Companies control a growing share of oil resources, I would expect any corporation to commit essentially any disgusting and disturbing act one could imagine if it thought it could avoid being caught.
The fact that Senator Schumer is involved gives the accusations a lot of credibility, at least in my estimation. Schumer has been one of my Senators for some time, and I have considerable respect for him, much more than I feel for the average member of the House or Senate. Senator Gillibrand is relatively new on the job, as she was appointed to the position after Hillary Clinton resigned to become Secretary of State, but I have a very positive impression of her, as well.
I hope that this matter is investigated thoroughly, and if it is shown that BP did what is alleged that someone in a position of power in the US (I’m looking at you, President Obama) will spearhead an effort to punish them very severely.
For once I’ll defend BP. Whether the company was involved or not – or even whether Megrahi was guilty in the first place (I’ve read theories that this was not the case) – he certainly isn’t going to be downing any more airplanes.
Given the other means governments and oil companies use to win oil concessions in periphery (regime coups, mass corruption, supporting ethnic cleansing, etc) this is pretty small beans for getting the black gold flowing to the West.
35 students from the Syracuse University students abroad program died on that flight. Many of them were from Long Island. The survivors find it hard to forgive and forget. This is why 2 Senators from the state of New York are so interested in this.
Many believe Megrahi was released to squash his pending appeal, which was about to shed light on evidence from western intelligence agencies that would exonerate him. He was only released after he agreed to drop the appeal. Remember, the original suspects were the Iranians, who were thought to have retaliated for the US shooting down an Iranian civilian airline over the Persian Gulf, killing everyone aboard. I doubt that there will be any investigation. The Senators are grandstanding, IMHO.