US Lockerbie bomber investigation

[MMI]

Or the Brittish?

That's fair comment, den, but I'm sure Britain would have stayed away for much less! Anyway, I have to defer to ian's better knowledge in this regard.

The fact of the matter is, I think, that Col Gadaffi was scared that the US would (with or without its British lackeys), invade Libya, and, if memory serves me well, this was a fairly widespread belief at the time. For the good of Libya's oil economy, perhaps, and for the sake of Gadaffi's personal well-being, certainly (call me cynical if you like) he was prepared to accept responsibility for the bombing, renounce support for terrorism, and pay $10m wergeld to each family of the Flight 103 victims. It was the price of peace, and the payments were clearly linked to removal of sanctions and blacklisting by the US.

I think it was felt that it would be better to make Libya pay restitution in return for its rehabilitation, than to whistle in the wind for any form of compensation from the probable real bombers, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which neither would nor could pay out such money even if it had been proved responsible. But in order to make Libya look guilty, it was necessary for a show trial and a fall guy. Fortunately, Gadaffi was willing to offer up sacrificial victims to the High Court of Justiciary, and Britain was not at all reluctant to prostitute the Scottish legal system in order to secure a conviction.

So remind me ... what was it that BP did that was so wrong?