This will be the latest crisis for the Obama caste to deal with.  This    
   clown should not be breathing air any longer.  Now he runs free,    
   laughing at us....   
      
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   http://tinyurl.com/24nweep   
      
   White House backed release of Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi    
      
   THE US government secretly advised Scottish ministers it would be "far    
   preferable" to free the Lockerbie bomber than jail him in Libya.    
   Correspondence obtained by The Sunday Times reveals the Obama    
   administration considered compassionate release more palatable than    
   locking up Abdel Baset al-Megrahi in a Libyan prison.   
      
   The intervention, which has angered US relatives of those who died in    
   the attack, was made by Richard LeBaron, deputy head of the US embassy    
   in London, a week before Megrahi was freed in August last year on    
   grounds that he had terminal cancer.   
      
   The document, acquired by a well-placed US source, threatens to    
   undermine US President Barack Obama's claim last week that all Americans    
   were "surprised, disappointed and angry" to learn of Megrahi's release.   
      
   Scottish ministers viewed the level of US resistance to compassionate    
   release as "half-hearted" and a sign it would be accepted.   
      
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   The US has tried to keep the letter secret, refusing to give permission    
   to the Scottish authorities to publish it on the grounds it would    
   prevent future "frank and open communications" with other governments.   
      
   In the letter, sent on August 12 last year to Scottish First Minister    
   Alex Salmond and justice officials, Mr LeBaron wrote that the US wanted    
   Megrahi to remain imprisoned in view of the nature of the crime.   
      
   The note added: "Nevertheless, if Scottish authorities come to the    
   conclusion that Megrahi must be released from Scottish custody, the US    
   position is that conditional release on compassionate grounds would be a    
   far preferable alternative to prisoner transfer, which we strongly    
   oppose."   
      
   Mr LeBaron added that freeing the bomber and making him live in Scotland    
   "would mitigate a number of the strong concerns we have expressed with    
   regard to Megrahi's release".   
      
   The US administration lobbied the Scottish government more strongly    
   against sending Megrahi home, under a prisoner transfer agreement signed    
   by the British and Libyan governments, in a deal now known to have been    
   linked to a pound stg. 550 million oil contract for BP.   
      
   It claimed this would flout a decade-old agreement between Britain and    
   the US that anyone convicted of the bombing would serve their sentence    
   in a Scottish prison. Megrahi was released by Scottish Justice Secretary    
   Kenny MacAskill on the grounds that he had three months to live, making    
   his sentence effectively spent.   
      
   The US Senate foreign relations committee launched a probe after The    
   Sunday Times revealed this month that Megrahi's doctors thought he could    
   live for another decade.   
      
   A source close to the Senate inquiry said: "The (LeBaron) letter is    
   embarrassing for the US because it shows they were much less opposed to    
   compassionate release than prisoner transfer."   
      
   Last week, a succession of British politicians - including Mr MacAskill,    
   Mr Salmond and former justice secretary Jack Straw - delivered a    
   diplomatic snub to the senators by refusing to fly across the Atlantic    
   to answer questions at the Senate's hearing on Thursday (US time) about    
   their role in Megrahi's release.   
      
   Despite the controversy over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and Megrahi's    
   release, it emerged over the weekend that BP is planning deep-water    
   drilling off Libya.   
      
   And BP boss Tony Hayward is poised to quit this week when the company    
   announces its half-year results, London's Sunday Telegraph reported.   
      
   CMPQwk 1.42-21 9999    
   A penny saved is an Obama Administration government oversight ....   
      
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