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(no url available yet) NEW YORK (AP) — ABC News says journalist and former President Kennedy press secretary Pierre Salinger has died.

THE US government secretly advised Scottish ministers it would be "far preferable" to free the Lockerbie bomber than jail him in Libya. 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. 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...

The Lockerbie bombing was ordered by Iran and carried out by a Syrian-based terrorist group, a former Iranian intelligence officer has admitted. Abolghassem Mesbahi, a defector to Germany, said Pan Am flight 103 was downed in 1988 in retaliation for a US Navy strike on an Iranian commercial jet six months earlier, in which 290 people died. He claims the Ayatollah Khomeini, who was Iran’s Supreme Leader, ordered the bombing “to copy exactly what happened to the Iranian Airbus”. …

The Airbus A300 was supposed to be on a short flight across the water to an affluent tourism center. There were 290 people on board. In the first few minutes of the flight, a Defense Department report would later explain, the Airbus followed a regular commercial air corridor, climbing toward an assigned altitude of 14,000 feet. But at 13,500 feet there was an explosion -- and the plane fell into sea. All on board were killed. President Ronald Reagan, as the Associated Press reported that Fourth of July weekend in 1988, soon issued a written statement. "This is a terrible...

Two Libyans have been identified as suspects in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, nearly 27 years ago, Scottish and U.S. officials say. They have asked for Libya's help to interview them.

Imperial arrogance has become so ingrained in US political culture that it even pillories its most loyal ally, the United Kingdom. While sensible countries like France drew back from the adventures of George W. Bush, Tony Blair was always there, yapping his master on. But his fawning won the UK no rewards. When new UK PM David Cameron arrived to pay homage in Washington last week, he faced a perfect storm of Brit-bashing over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In an extraordinary feat of self-deception, America is blaming the spill entirely on BP even though an explosion...

The Lockerbie bomber celebrated his 58th birthday on Thursday at a Libyan mansion, defying the imminent death Scottish officials predicted when they compassionately freed him from prison nearly eight months ago.The thought of Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi partying with family and friends - reportedly thanking God for his survival - left his victims' loved ones sick to their stomachs."It's absolutely despicable. It's horrific because my daughter had only 20 birthdays," said Susan Cohen of Cape May, N.J.Cohen's daughter, Theodora, a student at Syracuse University, was among 270 killed Dec. 21, 1988, when Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed in midair over Lockerbie,...

Lockerbie bomber, Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi has been misplaced. The terrorist was released by Scottish authorities back in April in a show of great compassion for the barbarian who slaughtered 270 innocent citizens in 1988. Based on the assertion that Megrahi was suffering from prostate cancer and had one foot in the land of seventy-two virgins, the savage was exempted from doing any more prison time contingent upon his pinky swear that he would behave himself and die forthwith. Even Barack Obama took a non-nurturing posture regarding this particular terrorist. Miraculously, the terrorist is still getting around months later. He’s...

UK sources: Obama knew about the Lockerbie bomber every step of the wayObama seems to have screwed up really big (Again!) British officials claim Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton were kept informed at all stages of discussions concerning Megrahi’s return. The officials say the Americans spoke out because they were taken aback by the row over Megrahi’s release, not because they did not know it was about to happen.

Who specifically authorized the worst terrorist outrage ever perpetrated in Britain? Who conceived it? Who built the bomb? And how is it, amid the new controversy over the release of the only man ever convicted in the blast, that investigators never found answers to these most fundamental of questions, and never charged those responsible? The Iran of the early 1990s was considerably more circumspect than it is today about its drive for nuclear weaponry. But it was no less ruthless in the pursuit. And that is why, on August 14, 1993, a very high level group of Iranians, including two...

Someone needs to remind Charles Schumer that the war of 1812 is over. The senior Senator for New York is ludicrously calling for sanctions against Great Britain over the role of the Labour government in the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi. The New York Daily News quotes Schumer as saying: “If it is proven that there was a quid pro quo, even though Britain is our friend, there ought to be some sanctions.” Schumer doesn’t outline exactly what those sanctions might be and his remarks were probably made without any thought or consideration, but his comments are deeply...

'JUSTICE Secretary Kenny MacAskill freed Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al- Megrahi over fears Scotland would suffer a terrorist backlash if he died behind bars. He believed Megrahi would have been seen as a MARTYR by Islamic extremists if he had been left to die in Greenock Prison. And last night a source close to the Cabinet Secretary said: "Kenny feared the repercussions would have haunted Scotland for a generation and more. "If Megrahi had died in a Scottish jail, we'd have seen burning Saltires across the Middle East." MacAskill and SNP First Minister Alex Salmond are preparing to publish...

Officials in the US state of New Jersey have reacted angrily to the possibility that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi may pitch his tent there next month. Col Gaddafi is expected to set up his Bedouin-style tent on Libyan Embassy-owned land in the town of Englewood as he attends the UN General Assembly. The town mayor, state governor and legislators said he was not welcome. They were angered by the "hero's welcome" home given to Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi last week.

This is the transcript of the interview that was conducted by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer after Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill released the murderer Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi yesterday. The video was deemed “too controversial” and was never released. But thanks to the efforts of famed hacker trax8er (a long-time reader of this blog, apparently) we have it. Blitzer : Thank you for agreeing to this interview, Secretary MacAskill. MacAskill : It is my pleasure. We Scots are an open people and encourage curiosity. Blitzer : Releasing the man-made disaster maker Mohmed al-Megrahi was a very controversial move. Can you comment...

The United States is warning Libya not to make a hero out of the terminally-ill Libyan, convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing, who was allowed to return home Thursday by Scottish authorities. The Obama administration says the decision to release Abdel Baset al-Megrahi was a profound mistake. The United States is expressing deep disappointment and regret over the Scottish decision to release the Lockerbie bombing figure, and it has warned Libya not to make a hero of the convicted terrorist or face unspecified consequences in bilateral relations. The decision by Scottish authorities to release Megrahi, said to be near...

Here is video of family members of those who died in the 1988 Pan-Am Lockerbie Terrorist Bombing reacting to the release by Scotland of the Lockerbie Bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi. They are outraged that he is being released and flown back to Libya to die with his family. He is suffering from Prostate Cancer. The United States has expressed disappointment in the decision to release him. . . . . (Watch Video)

Libyan authorities made the application on behalf of Abdel Basset al Megrahi, who was sentenced to life for blowing up a Pan Am airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.

'The man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing will remain in jail while his appeal continues, a court has ruled. Lawyers for Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, who has advanced prostate cancer, had asked the Appeal Court in Edinburgh to grant him interim liberation. The Libyan is appealing against his conviction for the murder of 270 people when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie in 1988. A full hearing is likely to take place in the middle of next year. The judgement on the bail application was delivered on Friday by the Lord Justice General Lord Hamilton, along with Lord Kingarth and...

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi has applied for interim liberation pending the outcome of an appeal. Arguments over the application will be heard at court in Edinburgh next Thursday. It emerged last week that the former Libyan intelligence agent, 56, had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and the disease has spread to other parts of his body. Al Megrahi is serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 27 years for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 which led to the deaths of 270 people.

Columbia University’s Middle East Program had a very special guest for their conference today, noted Libyan strongman/babe magnet/erstwhile terrorist Muammar Gaddafi, who lectured them on democracy. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi lectured a U.S. audience on democracy on Thursday and said Libya is the only real democracy in the world. Via a video link, Gaddafi addressed an unprecedented gathering of U.S. and Libyan academics prompted by a thaw in relations since the former pariah state decided in 2003 to abandon nuclear weapons and took responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. He touted Libya’s political system as superior...