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‘No way on earth’ Salmond will give evidence to US
Senator Menendez vows to send representative to UK to question witnesses - but no one wants to know
Senator Robert Menendez does not give up easily. Having postponed the US Senate hearing on the Lockerbie bomber's early release - due to have been held yesterday - after being "stonewalled" by London and Edinburgh politicians and BP executives, he has now said the Senate will send someone to Britain to conduct interviews.
But all the signs are that he will be wasting his time. Alex Salmond, Scotland's First Minister, said yesterday there was "no way on earth" he would give formal evidence to the Americans, even if they fly to the UK.
"It's a point of principle that you're not responsible to the committee of another parliament," said Salmond.
And it seems highly unlikely that British Justice Minister Jack Straw will change his mind. "Quite apart from the principle at stake, does Menendez not realise that Parliament goes on holiday as of today?" one insider told The First Post.
As for Tony Hayward, the outgoing BP chief executive who claims to have been "demonised and vilified" by the American media, the chances are considered less than zero.
The Senate's Foreign Affairs Committee wants to get at the truth about the early release from a Scottish jail of the only man ever convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, the Libyan Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi.
A number of American senators are concerned that Megrahi was released under pressure from BP and the British government, in pursuit of lucrative trade and oil deals with the Libyans.
The Scottish parliament insists there was no pressure to release Megrahi. He was allowed home on purely compassionate grounds, say the Scots, after cancer specialists said he was suffering from prostate cancer and had only three months to live.
The fact that Megrahi is still alive a year after the doctors visited him in jail, enjoying his freedom at home in Tripoli, has encouraged the Americans to question why he was allowed home. Of the 270 who died as a result of the PanAm jetliner exploding over Lockerbie, 189 were US citizens. ·
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USA, you can have Salmond if you really want him, in return we would like George W so we can ask him about his illegal war and his acceptance of torture as an everyday tool to fight crime.We only want to ask him some questions......and then extradite him to the Hague to face charges of war crimes along with Blair. Get over yourselves!
The Gavin Esler interview referred to by John McDonald is certainly worth viewing. Here is a video of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-3foTp6OEY
There's a very good reason why it's easy to make Gavin Elser look like a bigoted fool with an agenda of his own... and that's because....
Meantime Senator Deadendez can take his Commission and shove it where the sun don't shine. It's time Uncle Sam learned that yankees don't make the law for the whole world, and baing a Senator in yankee-land means DIDDLEY-SQUAT in Britain.
Of course First Minister Alex Salmond can't testify and he is quite right not to.
But what I find more interesting is the change in tone I notice from Salmond. Previously he has never risen to the regular bait from interviewers (mostly BBC types) who have never believed in any "respect" agenda towards the SNP. But recently Salmond wiped the floor with BBC Radio's Evan Davis and last night he made BBC Newsnight's Gavin Esler look like an ignorant fool.
I think that Salmond is becoming ever more confident and comfortable in his position. And I can't help but think many English viewers would want their political leaders to be a bit more like Alex Salmond.