Post-Lockerbie shame

The "compassionate release" of a convicted PanAm bomber in 2009 was an affront to justice and to the families of the 270 people who died in Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988. It looks even worse given the perspective that the following year has provided.

Just over a year ago, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, reportedly at death's doorstep, was released from a Scottish prison, where he had served eight years of a life sentence for blowing up the Pan Am Flight 103 to New York. Among the dead were 179 U.S. citizens en route home for Christmas. It was Britain's worst terrorist incident.

The mass murderer, who made a triumphal return to Libya, spent the anniversary day of his release quietly at home receiving visitors, including the son of Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi. Libya has paid billions in reparations to victims' families in acknowledgement of its role in the bombing, but Col. Gadhafi has never expressed the slightest remorse.

While the last year brought respite to al-Megrahhi, it also brought revelations of insistent lobbying by BP for a prisoner transfer agreement so it might obtain Libyan oil exploration rights.

This is a scandal that demands complete candor on the part of the British and Scottish governments, and by BP. Unfortunately, BP CEO Tony Hayward has refused to testify on the matter. In a letter to Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Mr. Heyward pointed out that he was busy preparing for a "smooth and successful leadership change" at BP.

The British corporation sought an oil exploration agreement with Libya, but al-Megrahi's prison term apparently stood in the way. BP officials told The Wall Street Journal last month that in 2007 the company wrote the British government that it was "concerned" about slow progress in government negotiations with Libya over a prisoner transfer agreement, warning that it "could have a negative impact on ... the ratification by the Libyan Government of BP's exploration agreement."

The London Times last year cited a confidential letter from British Minister of Justice Jack Straw to Scotland's Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill in 2007, saying Prime Minister Gordon Brown had decided making al-Megrahi eligible for return to Libya was "in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom."

Shortly thereafter, Libya signed an exploration agreement with BP, but delayed its start.

Meanwhile, the prisoner developed cancer. According to a Scottish doctor paid by Libya, he had only months to live. Libya warned the Scottish government in a May 2009 letter that his death in a British prison would have negative consequences.

On Aug. 20, 2009, Justice Secretary MacAskill, against strong protests from the Obama administration, released al-Megrahi, citing the doctor's opinion.

The freed terrorist is now living the good life in Tripoli, and BP is drilling in waters off the Libyan coast.

The Senate rightly wants to know how these shameful events, so convenient for BP and Libya, and so damaging to Scottish justice, came about. The British government and Scotland should answer the question. So should Mr. Heyward.