"The public cannot be too curious concerning the characters of public men." (Samuel Adams, 1722-1803, letter 1775.)
This will surely have you falling down
with surprise. According to documents released under the Freedom of
Information Act and obtained by the (UK) Sunday Telegraph, the August
2009 release from Scotland's Barlinnie jail of Libyan Abdelbaset al-
Megrahi, accused of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie,
Scotland in December 1988, hinged on an oil and arms deal, allegedly
brokered by roving war monger (sorry, roving "Peace Ambassador") Tony
Blair.
Felicity Arbuthnot
At this point it should be said that
anyone who has read John Ashton and Ian Ferguson's meticulous "Cover up
of Convenience" (i) on the Lockerbie tragedy could only regard Mr
al-Meghrahi's conviction as between very unsafe and very questionable.
The British Labour Party, which Blair
headed for ten years, until 27th June 2007, have always insisted that
the release had no connection with commercial deals. After leaving
Downing Street, Blair visited Libya some six times.
On 8th June 2008, the then British
Ambassador to Libya, Sir Vincent Fean, sent Tony Blair's private office a
thirteen hundred word briefing on the UK's eagerness to do business
with Libya, according to the Telegraph. (ii) Blair flew to Tripoli to
meet Colonel Quaddafi, just two days later, June 10th. Quaddafi paid:
Blair, always lavish with other's money had requested, and was granted,
the Colonel's private jet for the journey.
Sir Vincent's "key objective" was for:
"Libya to invest its £80 billion sovereign wealth through the City of
London", according to the Telegraph, which also cites the Ambassador
writing of the UK being : "privately critical of then President George
Bush for 'shooting the US in the foot' by continuing to put a block on
Libyan assets in America, in the process scuppering business deals."
Britain however, was voraciously scrambling to fill the fiscal gap.
Unlike the US and UK who abandon or
drone to death their own citizens who are in trouble, or even accused of
it, Libya's Administration had stood by their man and seemed to be
prepared to do even unpalatable deals to free him and had long been
pressuring the UK to release al-Megrahi.
In May 2007, a month before he left
Downing Street, Blair had made his second visit to Libya, meeting
Colonel Quaddafi and his Prime Minister Al Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi in
then beautiful and now near ruined city of Sirte.
Surely coincidentally, on this trip, a
deal was seemingly thrashed out, including prisoner transfer, just
before British Petrolium (BP) announced their approximate £454 million
investment to prospect for £13billion worth of oil in Libya.
Also, states the Telegraph report: "At
that meeting, according to Sir Vincent's email, Mr Blair and Mr Al
Baghdadi agreed that Libya would buy a missile defence system from MBDA -
a weapons manufacturer part-owned by Britains's BAE Systems." This
seemed to (also) hinge on a Memorandum of Understanding for a Prisoner
Transfer Agreement: "which the Libyans believed would pave the way for
al-Megrahi's release." Various sources state that the arms deal was
worth £400 million, and up to two thousand jobs in the UK. Sir Vincent
referred to the arms deal as a "legacy issue." Blair's "legacy", as
ever, synonymous with destruction.
Ironically, it was Blair who credited
himself with persuading Colonel Quaddafi to abandon and destroy his
weapons programmes after his visit to the country in March 2004
(placing that Judas kiss the Colonel's cheek) as a step to Libya
returning to the fold of the duplicitous "international community." With
friends like Blair, enemies are a redundancy.
When Blair returned to Libya in June
2008, the Telegraph contends that the British Government, then under
Gordon Brown, Blair's former Chancellor of the Exchequer (who left the
national coffers near empty) used the opportunity: " to press the case
for the arms deal to be sealed. At the time, Britain was on the brink of
an economic and banking crisis - and Libya, though the Libyan
Investment Authority - had billions of pounds in reserves."
Saif al-Islam, Quaddafi's son, expressed
the concern over the arms deal being voiced from within the Libyan
military, given their close ties to the "Russian defence equipment
camp."
An earlier discovery by the Sunday
Telegraph shows, in letters and emails, that Blair held hitherto
undisclosed talks with the Colonel in April 2009, four months before
al-Megrahi's release. (iii)
Again he was flown at the expense of the
Colonel, in his private jet: "In both 2008 and 2009, documents show Mr
Blair negotiated to fly to the Libyan capitol ... in a jet provided by
Quaddafi." Blair's Office denies the claims, saying they were
transported in a Libyan government 'plane.
By the time of the 2009 visit: "Libya
was threatening to cut all business links if al-Megrahi stayed in a
British jail." Blair seemingly attempted to pour oil on troubled waters
by bringing American billionaire, Tim Collins to that meeting to advise
Quaddafi on building the beach resorts he was planning, on the Libyan
coast.
Further adding to the murk, a
spokesperson for Collins stated:"Tim was asked to go by Tony Blair in
his position as a trustee of Mr Blair's US faith foundation. Tim had no
intention of doing any business with Quaddafi."
However: "Sources in Libya said Quaddafi
had discussed with Mr Collins opening beach resorts along the Libyan
coast, but that Mr Collins had dismissed the idea because the Libyans
would not sanction the sale of alcohol or gambling at the resorts.
Blair's spokesperson said of the visit: "
... Tony Blair has never had any role, either formal or informal, paid
or unpaid, with the Libyan Investment Authority or the Government of
Libya and he has no commercial relationship with any Libyan company or
entity." A Blair first, seemingly, given the impression that he never
touches down anywhere without emerging with a lucrative contract or a
large cheque,
However, Oliver Miles, a former British
ambassador to Libya, is quoted as saying : "Mr Blair is clearly using
his Downing Street contacts to further his business interests."
In a further coincidence, the Prisoner Transfer agreement for Mr al-Megrahi was signed the day before Blair's 2009 visit.
When al-Megrahi, who had been diagnosed
with terminal cancer, was released in August 2009, the British media and
politicians were outraged. Scotland had done a deal and was benefiting
financially from Libya. The latest revelations prove Scotland did no
financial deals. When Mr al-Megrahi failed to die, politicians and media
were even more outraged. They were a shaming spectacle.
Mental mind set can be a huge force in
prolonging life in even the most serious cancer patients. No doubt in
al-Megrahi's case, being back in a home and with a family he loved
contributed to his extra time. He survived long enough to see his
country destroyed by the devious forces the West embodies - and at which
Blair excels. Megrahi died in September 2012.
Incidentally, Ambassador Fean reportedly
"expressed relief" at al-Megrahi's release: "He noted that a refusal of
Megrahi's request could have had disastrous implications for British
interests in Libya. 'They could have cut us off at the knees."(iv)
Quaddafi, however, never signed the arms deal.
Footnote: The 2004 visit by Blair was
arranged by Saif al Islam, who Blair seemingly knew well and had
allegedly even offered suggestions on his PhD thesis when Saif was
studying at the London School of Oriental and.African Studies (SOAS.)
In September last year Saif al-Islam's
lady friend of six years, appealed, passionately, to Blair to intervene
to save the life of his now captured, maimed and death penalty-facing
friend: "The two are old friends - it is time that Mr Blair returned
some loyalty. Mr Blair is a man of God - as a Christian he has a moral
duty to help a friend in need", she has commented. (v)
Seemingly there has been no response
from Blair's office. Further, an extensive search for a comment on the
appalling death of Colonel Quaddafi - his former host and private
'plane provider - and the demise of much of his family from this "Peace
Envoy" and "man of God", has come up with absolutely nothing.
To mangle a quote: Beware of British offering deals.
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