The U.K. government fended off accusations that it paved the way for the recent release of the convicted Lockerbie bomber by failing to exclude him from a 2007 prisoner transfer agreement between the U.K. and Libya. Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, a Libyan man who is the only person convicted in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight that killed 270 people, was released by Scotland this month on "compassionate" grounds because he has terminal prostate cancer. Both the U.K. government and Scotland have insisted the decision was made solely by Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill, and Mr. al-Megrahi's release was unrelated to the transfer agreement. But since Mr. al-Megrahi's release, the British government has faced repeated suggestions that it facilitated the move to help advance the interests of U.K. oil firms in Libya. New accusations to that end on Sunday underscore how London has been sucked into the fallout of the Scottish decision, which was condemned by the U.S. government and the relatives of Lockerbie victims.[Read more...]