THE AMERICAN INTEREST – AT 9:47 P.M. ET:  A TV commentator said this week that he'd gotten many e-mails complaining about the attention being given Libya.  Don't we have enough at home to worry about? 

We do, but Libya is a story in which America has a vital, and a historical interest.  Consider this, from London's Telegraph, about Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the man convicted in the downing of Pan Am 103 in 1988, killing more than 200 Americans.  He was released by Scotland, presumably because he is dying.  Hasn't happened yet.

The Lockerbie bomber blackmailed Col Muammar Gaddafi into engineering his release from a Scottish prison by threatening to reveal that the dictator ordered the devastating attack on Pan Am Flight 103, a former Libyan official has claimed.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi allegedly threatened “revenge” on Col Gaddafi unless he was returned home to his family, prompting the dictator to spend £50,000-a-month on lobbying and legal fees in a campaign to secure the terrorist’s release.

The allegation from Mustapha Abdel-Jalil, Libya’s former justice minister, emerged last night as Libya remained in the grip of violence with pro-Gaddafi forces continuing their brutal crackdown on protesters.
It was echoed by the former terror chief Atef Abu Bakr, who claimed last night in a separate interview that Megrahi was ordered by Col Gaddafi to help plan the attack as one of the dictator’s former spies.

The claims will cause further embarrassment for Labour, after declassified documents disclosed earlier this month that Gordon Brown’s government worked behind the scenes to secure the bomber’s release in exchange for lucrative trade deals with Libya.

Megrahi is the only man ever to have been convicted over the bombing, which killed all 259 passengers and crew on board the New York-bound Boeing 747 and 11 people in Lockerbie in December 1998.

COMMENT:   My question is how much the United States knew about Gaddafi's role when it started normalizing relations with Libya several years ago.  The families of Pan Am 103 would, I'm sure, like to know.  They have suffered enough.

February 27, 2011