Irwin Stelzer: Lockerbie bomber ... A grievous blow to the Special Relationship
[Irwin Stelzer is an economist who is the U.S. economic and business columinst for The Sunday Times (UK), The Courier-Mail and a contributing editor of The Weekly Standard.]
Eleven and a half days. That's how much prison time the American commentator Charles Krauthammer reckons Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi served for each of the 270 people he murdered when he planted the bomb that blew Pan Am Flight 103 out of the skies. Alex Salmond is wrong when he says that Scotland's relationship with the US will be unaffected by the decision, and will remain "strong and enduring". It won't, at least not just now.
Congress is more than a little annoyed. Senators Joe Lieberman (Independent, Connecticut) and Chuck Schumer (Democrat, New York) have asked Gordon Brown to mount an inquiry to determine the facts surrounding Megrahi's release. That won't happen.
More important, the American security services are re-examining their relationship with their counterparts in Scotland and England, since the decision to release Megrahi is only the latest thumb in their eye. The British Government has refused on human rights grounds to extradite six suspected terrorists wanted by American authorities, including a Saudi sought in connection with bomb attacks on US embassies. Remember: this is the same Government that raised no objection when British businessmen were extradited to face trial in the United States on various charges. Apparently, the Scottish desire to show compassion to a mass murderer is matched by a British desire to keep suspected terrorists from facing justice in US courts.
There is also a boycott of Scottish goods being promoted online. Last year, visitors from the US accounted for 340,000 trips to Scotland, and spent £260 million (21 per cent of all expenditure by those from outside the UK). The number of Americans cancelling trips is increasing, but whether this will make a significant dent in the Scottish economy is too early to say. All in all, America – Scotland's largest overseas export market – spends almost £3 billion annually on goods and services, much on whisky, financial services and products from BP. American bloggers believe BP has its fingerprints all over what they see as a terrorist-for-oil deal, and that Scottish whisky can be replaced with Canadian and Irish products. Given the shaky nature of the financial system, though, cutting ties with the Royal Bank of Scotland, which has a substantial presence in the US, might be more trouble than it is worth.
Salmond also says there was no commercial quid pro quo for Megrahi's release. He is joined in this denial by the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, who calls any such talk "a slur both on myself and the Government". And by Lord Mandelson, fresh from his Corfu vacation, during which he discussed the Megrahi case with Colonel Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, but at which no specific linkage to a trade deal was mentioned. Even to imply such a thing, says his lordship, would be "quite offensive".
Of course there was no explicit quid pro quo. As ambassador John Bolton pointed out in these pages on Monday: "That is not the way it's done." But the deal-deniers have yet to explain Gaddafi's claim that the prisoner release will have a positive effect on "all areas of co-operation between the two countries". Or the amazing coincidence between BP's signing of a £500 million deal with Libya two years ago and Gaddafi's prior meeting with Tony Blair, at which Megrahi's case was discussed. Or Saif's statement on television: "In all commercial contracts, for oil and gas with Britain, [Megrahi] was always on the negotiating table." He might be fibbing, but what reason would he have to embarrass the man his father calls "my friend Gordon Brown" and thanks, among others, for taking "this historic and courageous decision, despite the obstacles"?..
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
Eleven and a half days. That's how much prison time the American commentator Charles Krauthammer reckons Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi served for each of the 270 people he murdered when he planted the bomb that blew Pan Am Flight 103 out of the skies. Alex Salmond is wrong when he says that Scotland's relationship with the US will be unaffected by the decision, and will remain "strong and enduring". It won't, at least not just now.
Congress is more than a little annoyed. Senators Joe Lieberman (Independent, Connecticut) and Chuck Schumer (Democrat, New York) have asked Gordon Brown to mount an inquiry to determine the facts surrounding Megrahi's release. That won't happen.
More important, the American security services are re-examining their relationship with their counterparts in Scotland and England, since the decision to release Megrahi is only the latest thumb in their eye. The British Government has refused on human rights grounds to extradite six suspected terrorists wanted by American authorities, including a Saudi sought in connection with bomb attacks on US embassies. Remember: this is the same Government that raised no objection when British businessmen were extradited to face trial in the United States on various charges. Apparently, the Scottish desire to show compassion to a mass murderer is matched by a British desire to keep suspected terrorists from facing justice in US courts.
There is also a boycott of Scottish goods being promoted online. Last year, visitors from the US accounted for 340,000 trips to Scotland, and spent £260 million (21 per cent of all expenditure by those from outside the UK). The number of Americans cancelling trips is increasing, but whether this will make a significant dent in the Scottish economy is too early to say. All in all, America – Scotland's largest overseas export market – spends almost £3 billion annually on goods and services, much on whisky, financial services and products from BP. American bloggers believe BP has its fingerprints all over what they see as a terrorist-for-oil deal, and that Scottish whisky can be replaced with Canadian and Irish products. Given the shaky nature of the financial system, though, cutting ties with the Royal Bank of Scotland, which has a substantial presence in the US, might be more trouble than it is worth.
Salmond also says there was no commercial quid pro quo for Megrahi's release. He is joined in this denial by the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, who calls any such talk "a slur both on myself and the Government". And by Lord Mandelson, fresh from his Corfu vacation, during which he discussed the Megrahi case with Colonel Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, but at which no specific linkage to a trade deal was mentioned. Even to imply such a thing, says his lordship, would be "quite offensive".
Of course there was no explicit quid pro quo. As ambassador John Bolton pointed out in these pages on Monday: "That is not the way it's done." But the deal-deniers have yet to explain Gaddafi's claim that the prisoner release will have a positive effect on "all areas of co-operation between the two countries". Or the amazing coincidence between BP's signing of a £500 million deal with Libya two years ago and Gaddafi's prior meeting with Tony Blair, at which Megrahi's case was discussed. Or Saif's statement on television: "In all commercial contracts, for oil and gas with Britain, [Megrahi] was always on the negotiating table." He might be fibbing, but what reason would he have to embarrass the man his father calls "my friend Gordon Brown" and thanks, among others, for taking "this historic and courageous decision, despite the obstacles"?..