Remember when the reason Gadaffi made nice to the Western Powers was because Bush Brought Democracy? I do. But maybe there was more to it.
DURING the past year a small ship bristling with computers and seismic
equipment has been crisscrossing the Gulf of Sidra, in the Mediterranean off
the Libyan coast. Its mission: to help to find BP’s next offshore oilfields.
The company’s search for oil off Libya and in a 20,000-mile area in the west
of the country potentially offers as much as £15 billion in new revenue. But
less than two years ago it was feared that the deal could founder — and the
reason was wrangling over Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the jailed
Lockerbie bomber.
BP was finally given the go-ahead six weeks after a volte-face by the British
government to include Megrahi in a prisoner transfer agreement with Libya
under which prisoners could serve out sentences in their home countries.
Jack Straw, the justice secretary, revealed this decision in a letter to his
Scottish counterpart. He cited “wider negotiations” and the “overwhelming
interests of the United Kingdom”.
Sources in the UK and Tripoli said last week that those wider interests
included BP’s hoped-for share of Libya’s untapped oil and gas reserves. The
decision to include Megrahi in the prisoner transfer arrangement was seen by
Libyan officials as paving the way for his release — and BP’s much-coveted
deal was finally ratified.
And Libya funded the IRA. Funny old world.
Am I happy about this? No! How many corpses are there because of this? None! Is this progress? Yes!
And there you go.