“Intel relations with Libya today are complex but too important to ignore...”
LOCKERB SUSPICIOUS M Eye Spy examines the real genesis behind the murky world of Libyan trading contracts, BP lobbying, spy games and the intelligence world...
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here remains concern in certain corners of Washington about the release of Abdelbaset alMegrahi, the Libyan JSO (Jamahiriya Security Organisation) intelligence officer who helped place a bomb on board Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988. Some people believe he is but a pawn in a shadowy scheme to secure lucrative trade deals with Tripoli. However, negotiations to bring Libya “out of the cold”, create new business platforms and a joint undercover intelligence effort to tackle al-Qaida, go back over a decade. But is the release of Al-Megrahi really linked to an oil deal with Libya?
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When the Scottish Government sanctioned the release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi on “compassionate grounds” last August, most people and ministers agreed it was a serious mistake. Al-Megrahi was supposedly on “death’s door” and had but a few weeks to live. Intelligence officials were powerless to act, so too Downing Street, though ousted premier Gordon Brown’s silence was deafening. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi - early 1990s The current occupier of ‘No 10’, David Cameron, reacted with fury when it was first touted that Al-Megrahi could be freed. But it was a decision made entirely by the Scottish Executive and London was effectively powerless to intervene.
With a “doctor’s note” in hand, the Libyan agent, the only man jailed for his part in the outrage, was sent back home to a heroes welcome. One of the killers of 270 civilians on a night of terror over Scotland was a free man again. EYE SPY INTELLIGENCE MAGAZINE