Its not BP's fault. That's what Britain's Prime Minister said Tuesday about allegations the release of the Lockerbie bomber might have been a "blood for oil" deal.
"That wasn't a decision taken by BP," Prime Minister David Cameron said about the bomber's release last year. "It was a decision taken by the Scottish government."
Cameron again blasted the decision by Scottish justice officials last year as "absolutely wrong" to release mass murderer Abdel Baset Al-Megrahi on 'compassionate grounds' because he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. But Cameron said there was no need for an independent review of the decision.
"I don't think there is any great mystery here," Cameron said. "It was a bad decision. It shouldn't have been made."
Families of the victims of Pan Am 103 remain furious. "I think very much that BP was behind this and had a role in this," said Jack Flynn whose son JP was killed on the flight.
BP officials admit the firm pressed the British government to strike an overall prisoner transfer deal with Libya so BP could more easily secure a $900 million dollar oil and gas exploration deal. But BP has said its officials never specifically pressed for al-Megrahi's release.
At the time of al-Megrahi's release, Moammar Khadafy's son said,"It was obvious we were talking about him."
Local
"There's got to be no ethics in that company," Flynn said.
The four Senators from New York and New Jersey continue to press the British government for answers and they want an investigation. Senator Charles Schumer said he wants the Justice Department to launch a criminal probe of BP's possible involvement if the British government doesn't conduct its own review.
There is a lot of "circumstantial evidence" that it was a 'blood for oil' deal, Schumer said.President Obama
said, "We should have all the facts" and again said the release was wrong. "All of us here in the United States were surprised, disappointed and angry about the release of the Lockerbie bomber."
But Obama stopped short of calling for an independent investigation in Britain. Bert Ammerman, who once headed the Victims of Flight 103 families group, said the Obama administration did not do enough to try to stop the release when it had the chance.
After meeting with Cameron about the release of the bomber, Schumer issued a statement saying, “Our discussion with the Prime Minister was frank and serious. We urged the British government to pursue a complete and independent investigation, not simply a document review. The Prime Minister listened to our request and said that a full investigation was not off the table.”
