Britsh Government Claims Obama Knew about Lockerbie Bomber Release in Advance

A British newspaper, The Daily Mail, claims that a British government aide told them that the Obama Administration knew about Abdelbaset Al Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, being released way in advance and did not object. The articles quotes a Whitehall aide on the subject:

"Downing Street has hit back at Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for attacking the decision to release the Lockerbie bomber.

President Obama and the US Secretary of State fuelled a fierce American backlash against Britain, claiming Abdelbaset Al Megrahi should have been forced to serve out his jail sentence in Scotland – but a senior Whitehall aide said their reaction was ‘disingenuous’.

British officials claim Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton were kept informed at all stages of discussions concerning Megrahi’s return.

The officials say the Americans spoke out because they were taken aback by the row over Megrahi’s release, not because they did not know it was about to happen.

‘The US was kept fully in touch about everything that was going on with regard to Britain’s discussions with Libya in recent years and about Megrahi,’ said the Whitehall aide.

‘We would never do anything about Lockerbie without discussing it with the US. It is disingenuous of them to act as though Megrahi’s return was out of the blue.

'They knew about our prisoner transfer agreement with Libya and they knew that the Scots were considering Megrahi’s case.’

Mr Obama said Megrahi’s release on compassionate grounds was a ‘mistake’ while Mrs Clinton phoned the Scottish administration to complain in person."

If there is the slightest truth to this "leak" from the British Government, it casts serious doubt an the competency of the Obama Administration to manage foreign affairs very well. What is more it implies that the Obama Administration lied to the families of the victims of this bombing. At the very least, the Foreign Relations Committees of both houses of Congress should hold a hearing on this subject. It is vital that we find out who knew what and when did they know it on this matter. Of course, when one political party controls both houses of Congress and the White House, such investigations never seem to happen. The Republican pressure on Van Jones forced his resignation after belated news coverage on his background. This is even more important because it is seriously damaging our relationship with our foremost ally.