Reps Call for Lockerbie Probe
Politico reports that several House Reps are calling for probe into the Lockerbie Bombing:
Three freshmen lawmakers from New York are sending a letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron, insisting his government, along with an American observer, investigate the circumstances under which the U.K. released a Libyan terrorist last year.
Reps. Dan Maffei (D), Chris Lee (R) and Michael McMahon (D) are circulating a letter among House lawmakers that asks Cameron to “conduct a full investigation into the details surrounding the conclusion of a prisoner-transfer agreement between the United Kingdom and Libya” that allowed Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, who blew up a Pan American airline full of Americans, to return to his home country.
Cameron has thus far dodged ordering an investigation because he said he opposed al-Megrahi’s release from prison for the 1988 bombing, which killed 270.
While hardly cutting deep into U.K.-U.S. relations, tensions have built on Capitol Hill over recent revelations that BP was seeking to explore drilling for gas off the coast of Libya around the same time the terrorist was released. Former high-ranking British officials have claimed that the prison release and BP’s ability to drill were linked.
Further, it rankled New Yorkers in Congress that al-Megrahi appeared the picture of health after the U.K. released him because of a prognosis of terminal prostate cancer.
Obama and Cameron discussed al-Megrahi during their meeting this week, with both rejecting calls for an investigation.
