Libya & Oil
It's with some increasing bemusement that the "Terrorist for Oil Swap" scandal is being played out in the media over here. The story, which seems to be mainly driven by the varying demands of a committee of US politicians, seems to be a pretty straight-forward story of appalling Government self-interest the way you would read it in the US press.
Over here, though, the media are having trouble with the story. Mainly, because it was only a few years ago that the scandal was al-Megrahi - the terrorist in question - remained behind bars. Contrary to their US counterparts, the UK-based families of Lockerbie victims have been increasingly suspicious of the conviction as the years have gone on, and indeed the case of al-Megrahi has been investigated by a variety of extremely good journalists and the story gets increasingly murky.
In fact, one of the journalists - Paul Foot, well-known for his investigate reporting - went as far to suggest that not only was al-Megrahi not responsible, he didn't think Libya had much to do with it either and it was far more likely that Syria was the actual culprit.
When al-Megrahi was released, there was of course an undercurrent of "What happens if he doesn't die?" - but it was obvious to everyone, in this country at least, that his state of health was not quite as poor as described (though it's also pretty clear he doesn't have long left). There was also the "What happens to his appeal?" part of the story, which the media had a truly difficult time addressing - serious journalists again suggesting that his appeal was staggeringly unlikely to fail and his conviction on the say-so of a Maltese shopkeeper was on decidedly dodgy ground.
In any event, those who released al-Megrahi undoubtedly expected that although he wouldn't slink off to the next life quite on schedule, the matter would quietly die - and the calls for a new investigation, a new inquiry, or even a new trial, could be swatted away. With BP's current US profile, though, that seems a bit more difficult now.
What will be interesting is how far the US Senators press the issue. They clearly believe al-Megrahi guilty, and see mileage in the issue. Others believe this to be a classic CIA fit-up, the details of which could be explosive politically. In that regard, if you believe such a line, the US Senators could get far more than they bargained for if details did start to emerge - which is almost certainly why the issue will disappear in the next few weeks. At least, unless more people pick up and run with the story.