Ben Lerner: The Other Lockerbies
[Ben Lerner is a Vice President at the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C.]
Senators Menendez and Lautenberg of New Jersey took to the microphone this week to express disappointment that witnesses from the British government and BP -- including outgoing CEO Tony Hayword -- were unavailable to appear before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing convened last week. The purpose of the hearing was to explore BP's alleged role in the release last year by the Scottish government of the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of a Pan-Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, in which 270 people lost their lives.
The slights from these witnesses are highly troubling because, technically, in calling for an investigation of BP's role in last year's decision by the British government to allow Scotland to release the convicted terrorist, the Senators representing New Jersey and New York are doing the right thing.
But a more troubling picture emerges when one considers whether these Senators are applying their outrage to other instances where foreign governments have released terrorists who have targeted -- and continue to target -- Americans. Indeed, when one looks at who is attacking Marines in Afghanistan and elsewhere today, it is hard not to characterize these Senators' efforts on Lockerbie as an example of doing the right thing for the wrong reason...
Read entire article at American Spectator
Senators Menendez and Lautenberg of New Jersey took to the microphone this week to express disappointment that witnesses from the British government and BP -- including outgoing CEO Tony Hayword -- were unavailable to appear before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing convened last week. The purpose of the hearing was to explore BP's alleged role in the release last year by the Scottish government of the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of a Pan-Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, in which 270 people lost their lives.
The slights from these witnesses are highly troubling because, technically, in calling for an investigation of BP's role in last year's decision by the British government to allow Scotland to release the convicted terrorist, the Senators representing New Jersey and New York are doing the right thing.
But a more troubling picture emerges when one considers whether these Senators are applying their outrage to other instances where foreign governments have released terrorists who have targeted -- and continue to target -- Americans. Indeed, when one looks at who is attacking Marines in Afghanistan and elsewhere today, it is hard not to characterize these Senators' efforts on Lockerbie as an example of doing the right thing for the wrong reason...