Come, I will conceal nothing from you: when I first read Gateway Pundit’s post that the Obama administration was in contact in June with the Scottish government over the Lockerbie bomber, I ended up shrugging. The Boston Globe’s article suggested that AG Eric Holder was arguing against letting Abdel Baset al-Megrahi go, after all – which was what you’d want the American government to do. And unless we wanted to start a war with Great Britain, or wreck relations with them utterly, there was a sharp upper limit to what the American government could do to stop the release. Absent actual evidence that we helped facilitate the release, it’s not something to club the administration over.
On the other hand: if we didn’t help facilitate the release, then why are we putting a freeze on releasing our correspondence with the Scottish government?
The Scottish government told FOX News Tuesday that the U.S. government refuses to allow them to release details of any communication between Scotland and the U.S. over al-Megrahi’s release.
A source with the Scottish government, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the demand was made in a letter sent Tuesday from U.S. Embassy Chief of Mission Richard LeBaron.
This is a serious question: we already have at least one Senator countering (via AmSpec) with a threat of sanctions against Great Britain on this matter. It’d be kind of helpful to be able to prove that the British & Scottish weren’t doing it because we told them privately that it was all right if they did.
Moe Lane
Crossposted to RedState.