Gordon Brown insists that his government had nothing to do with the decision to let Abdel Baset al-Megrahi—better known as the Lockerbie bomber—return to Libya. And, amidst mounting protest—including claims that Britain transferred the prisoner in order to move ahead an oil deal with Libyan authorities—he’ll do anything to prove it. On Tuesday, the UK and Scottish governments publicized official correspondence on al-Megrahi’s release.
Whether or not the move was political in origin, its effects have had political resonance. In Tuesday’s The Times, British Conservative leader David Cameron warned that the decision to release the bomber “has crossed continents and damaged our relationship with our closest ally, America. It has been a fiasco.” Brown counters that the decision was solely that of the Scottish government. Al-Megrahi was convicted in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988, which killed 270 people.