Via the London Telegraph then:
The US government condemned the decision to release him, as did US relatives of some of the victims of the 1988 atrocity.Now the Australian is reporting that the Obama administration supported the decision to release the Lockerbie bomber over sending him to a Libyan prison:
One US Senator said that by releasing Megrahi, Scottish ministers had increased the threat of international terrorism, and internet campaigners threatened a US boycott of Scottish products.
Mr Obama said: "We have been in contact with the Scottish government, indicating that we objected to this, and we thought it was a mistake."
Correspondence obtained by The Sunday Times reveals the Obama administration considered compassionate release more palatable than locking up Abdel Baset al-Megrahi in a Libyan prison.Translation: Joe Wilson is right again.
The intervention, which has angered US relatives of those who died in the attack, was made by Richard LeBaron, deputy head of the US embassy in London, a week before Megrahi was freed in August last year on grounds that he had terminal cancer.
The document, acquired by a well-placed US source, threatens to undermine US President Barack Obama's claim last week that all Americans were "surprised, disappointed and angry" to learn of Megrahi's release.
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