Mississippi Lobster Screams at Scottish Salmond and British Petroleum

OK, I’ll accept that with mid-term elections just around the corner, US politicians on Capital Hill were always going to scream at BP and outgoing CEO Tony Haywood in particular. I’ll accept that for the first time in 12 years since their rebranding, the Americans have suddenly started referring to BP as British Petroleum. I’ll accept that that BP and Haywood – unjustly in my opinion – will probably end up shouldering all of the blame for the devastating Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico – even though US companies and US workers sat on and worked the well (Transocean operated the rig, Cameron built the blowout preventer that failed to shut down the well and Halliburton cemented the oil drill into place underwater). However, what I find really hard to accept is the sudden posturing from Senator Robert Menendez and the congressional inquiry into the release of the Lockerbie bomber – and the dragging of BP into the fray.

While I personally felt uncomfortable about the release of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi in August 2009, the sudden cacophony of noise coming from Capital Hill is irritating to say the least.

The UK Government and the Scottish Parliament are not answerable to the US Government for any actions taken within the UK and under UK jurisdiction. I agree with Jack Straw and Kenny MacAskill (former UK Justice Secretary and Scottish Justice Secretary respectively) for refusing to give evidence to a committee hearing of any foreign legislature not just the US.

And who can blame Tony Haywood for declining his invitation after the last committee grilling from previously anonymous senators falling over one another - rabid like - to score cheap political points.

This hearing would have been minor news at best had it not been for the GoM disaster. Instead, the US Senate has decided to once again hound BP even though there is no evidence that al-Megrahi’s release is linked to BP in Libya.

However, within our own country, questions should be asked about this sorry affair - not least of which is; why did Mr MacAskill make a personal visit to al-Megrahi in his cell? Shortly after this visit, the Libyan dropped his call for an appeal and consequently his release was assured.

Finally, one image will always remain with me from 20th August 2009 – when the convicted terrorist al-Megrahi landed in Tripoli, TV pictures showed Libyans waiving Scottish flags.

Are you proud Mr Salmond?

Ecrivain Man