Obama and the Lockerbie bomber

The release of Abdel Al-Megrhai, convicted of the bombing of Pan Am 103, has been getting more attention now then it did at the time of his release a year ago, mostly because of a group of Democratic senators and the press who decided that since it was open season on BP it might be politically advantageous to try and pin the release of Abdel Al- Megrahi on them also.

Blaming BP became so ludicrous that Contessa Brewer, one of the group of anchors on MSNBC daytime who do the news like they should have a sock puppet on their hand, asked two family members of victims of the Pam Am bombing how they felt "knowing" that BP was responsible for Megrhai's release. Brewer who is not known for letting facts get in the way of what she wants to emote, caused these people needless grief by telling them something as fact that was not true.

But she conveniently swept under the rug what was true -- that president Obama, after being given a heads up a year ago that the bomber would be released on "compassionate" grounds, did nothing to try and prevent his release. He lodged a tepid "protest" and then said and did nothing. But Brewer didn't ask the families how they felt about that. Which is more evidence that every day MSNBC tries to be to Democrats what Fox News is to Republicans when what people really want is the truth.

It's become increasing clear that it was the Scottish government alone, and not BP who were responsible for Megrahi's release. And what has been lost in the outrage over his release and the narrow minded questioning of media types like Brewer, was the inaction of Barack Obama a year earlier when he knew Megrhai would be released.

Now that the issue is being looked at again, Obama's role, or lack of one is being either ignored or swept under the rug depending on your point of view.

Obama knew in advance that the Scottish government was going to release Megrhai on "compassionate" grounds. The Obama Administration sent a letter Aug 9, 2009, 11 days before Megrahi was released protesting the release but saying that if Megrhai was released they would "prefer" that he be forced to serve a house arrest in Scotland.

Obama could have made a very loud and public protest over Megrahi's impending release buthe didn't. He could have rallied other countries, like Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy against Megrhai's release. He might have even been able to prevent it had he been forceful enough or threatend consequences. But, unfortunately, as we've seen with everything else Obama does or doesn't do, asking him to take the initiative on something and follow a sense of passion, truth and conviction to ge it done, whether its a public option on healthcare, or real financial reform, or a government commitment to ease unemployment, is just not in his repertoire.

Instead on August 20th, 2009 Obama issued his official public response to the release of Megrhai, that it was "a mistake". That's it. "A mistake". That was the degree of Obama's outrage, anger, and protest over the release on "compassionate grounds" of a man who murdered 270 people by blowing up an airliner.

Obama was well aware of the impending release before it occurred. In a letter to the Scottish government dated August 12, 2009, 8 days before Megrahi's release, the State Department sent an official letter to the Scottish government which enclosed and made reference to, the August 9, 2009 letter from the Obama Administration making a clear, but tepid protest.

There were many things Obama could have done or at least tried to do, given the powers of the presidency, to prevent Megrhai's release. Aside from rallying world opinion, he could have rallied congress behind him and threatened a variety of consequences, like huge tariffs and duties on goods from Scotland or made by Scottish companies. There could have been the threat of a trade embargo or sanctions or the threat that tourist travel could be banned, or some attempt to explore consequences if Megrhai was released. Any initiatives Obama wanted to take to threaten consquences to the Scottish government if they released Megrhai would have been backed unanimously by the congress.

He could have made a loud noise, explored trade and diplomatic penalties and made a very easy case why there should be no compassion for a mass murderer.

Obama did none of it. And he didn't for a very simple reason. He wasn't moved to. It wasn't a political issue that would affect him at the time, and like with Ahmadinejad and the Iran election protests, he preferred not to meddle. A sentiment echoed to a great extent by the leader of Scotland's Roman Catholic Church, who seemingly oblivous to the fact that the Church has enough problems dealing with serial child sexual molestations around the world, supported the "merciful" release of Megrhai and wrote in a Scottish newspaper with regards to American protests to re-open the case that "we ( the Scottish government) shouldnt be crawling to the United States".

The whole issue of Megrahi's release could open a new can of worms for the Obama Administration. It was only the press and some politicians thinking it was safe to go into the water to kick BP a few more times that brought the issue up again. Now that it is an issue and we know that BP had nothing to do with it, it still remains to be seen if the news media will highlight Obama's role in Megrahi's release. Or lack of it.