http://www.luxist.com/2009/09/04/luxury-travel-to-scotland-affected-by-lockerbie-bombers-releas/ Luxist Comments for Luxury Travel to Scotland: Affected by Lockerbie Bomber's Release? http://www.luxist.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.luxist.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.luxist.com/2009/09/04/luxury-travel-to-scotland-affected-by-lockerbie-bombers-releas/http://www.luxist.com/2009/09/04/luxury-travel-to-scotland-affected-by-lockerbie-bombers-releas/
No more Scotch, or products from Scotland for a minimum of one year and we shall see what happens from there.

What a horrific and shameful decision to release those convicted terrorists.
Did the terrorists show or offer any compassion to their victims, certainly not. ]]>Sep 4th 2009 12:07PMhttp://www.luxist.com/2009/09/04/luxury-travel-to-scotland-affected-by-lockerbie-bombers-releas/http://www.luxist.com/2009/09/04/luxury-travel-to-scotland-affected-by-lockerbie-bombers-releas/
This is simply the worst blunder conceived by Scotland, "if it's Scottish, it's now all crap!"]]>Sep 4th 2009 12:15PMhttp://www.luxist.com/2009/09/04/luxury-travel-to-scotland-affected-by-lockerbie-bombers-releas/http://www.luxist.com/2009/09/04/luxury-travel-to-scotland-affected-by-lockerbie-bombers-releas/Sep 4th 2009 12:48PMhttp://www.luxist.com/2009/09/04/luxury-travel-to-scotland-affected-by-lockerbie-bombers-releas/http://www.luxist.com/2009/09/04/luxury-travel-to-scotland-affected-by-lockerbie-bombers-releas/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8226585.stm), with only 20% swallowing the line about compassionate motives. Everyone I know thinks the whole affair stinks. By all means support temporary boycotts to make the point felt, but please don't confuse "Scotland" with a minority, unpopular government that's about to exit stage left.]]>Sep 4th 2009 3:49PMhttp://www.luxist.com/2009/09/04/luxury-travel-to-scotland-affected-by-lockerbie-bombers-releas/http://www.luxist.com/2009/09/04/luxury-travel-to-scotland-affected-by-lockerbie-bombers-releas/
Justice Secretary Jack Straw said trade, particularly a deal for oil company BP PLC, was "a very big part" of the 2007 negotiations that led to the prisoner deal. The agreement was part of a wider warming of relations between London and Tripoli.

"Libya was a rogue state," Straw was quoted as saying by The Daily Telegraph newspaper. "We wanted to bring it back into the fold and trade is an essential part of it — and subsequently there was the BP deal."

The British government has faced intense criticism over the release of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, a Libyan convicted in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland. The attack killed 259 people aboard the plane, most of them American, and 11 on the ground.

Last month Scottish officials freed al-Megrahi, 57, on compassionate grounds because he is dying of prostate cancer.

Although he was not released under the prisoner transfer agreement, opposition politicians, and many victims' families, claim business considerations influenced the decision to free him.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted there was "no conspiracy, no cover up, no double dealing, no deal on oil" over the bomber's release.

But officials admit the prisoner transfer agreement was part of a wider set of negotiations aimed at bringing Libya in from the international cold, and improving British trade prospects with the oil-rich nation.

David Lidington, foreign affairs spokesman for the main opposition Conservatives, said it was "very hard to square what Jack Straw says today with Gordon Brown's repeated denials of any kind of deal."

"That's why we need an independent inquiry to get to the truth."

Documents released by the government show Straw had originally tried to ensure that al-Megrahi was exempted from any prisoner deal with Libya, but in December 2007 he changed his mind. He wrote in a letter to his Scottish counterpart that "wider negotiations with the Libyans are reaching a critical stage" and a blanket agreement was in "the overwhelming interests for the United Kingdom."

Soon after, Libya ratified a $900 million oil exploration deal with BP. The oil company acknowledged Friday that it had urged the government to sign the prisoner transfer deal, but insisted it had not singled out al-Megrahi as part of the discussion.

Straw said Brown had not been involved in negotiations over the prisoner agreement.

"I certainly didn't talk to the PM," he was quoted as saying. "There is no paper trail to suggest he was involved at all."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ah, relying on the old paper trail excuse, if you can't prove it then of course we'll deny it.]]>Sep 5th 2009 1:38PM