Lockerbie Bomber released for Sake of BP Libya Drilling Rights

The Times of London reports on two leaked memos from the British government under Labor Prime Minister Gordon Brown that strongly suggest that the Libyan accused of planning the Lockerbie airliner bombing was released in return for BP drilling rights in Libya. (H/t Crooks & Liars.

So are they leaked memos or spilled memos?

BP was founded in the early twentieth century for the purpose of exploiting Iran’s oil, which, as Stephen Kinzer at Tomdispatch argues, it gradually convinced itself it actually owned.

And the word ‘exploit’ seems to have been central to the company’s ethos ever since.

Although the Republicans and some Democrats in Congress don’t seem all that upset about, like, the destruction of the entire Gulf of Mexico (and some have been apologizing to BP for the shoddy way the US government has treated the company, making it pay for the damage it caused and all)– nevertheless, there are stirrings toward a congressional investigation of the Megrahi release.