Did BP Negotiate Lockerbie Bomber's Release?

As if BP couldn't do anything to be hated more, the oil giant is now being investigated by four U.S. senators for possibly negotiating a deal with Libya for the release of Lockerie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, in exchange for a $900 million offshore drilling deal. Megrahi, who was convicted of killing 270 people—including 189 Americans—in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, was released from prison last year after doctors insisted he only had a few months to live. In 2007, BP and the Libyan government agreed to a $900 million oil-exploration deal, and BP admitted last year to lobbying the British government for Megrahi's release. Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) wrote a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton requesting an investigation into the deal and whether BP will use “blood money” from the deal to pay for damages incurred by the Gulf spill. "It is shocking to even contemplate that this company is profiting from the release of a terrorist with the blood of 189 Americans on his hands," Lautenberg wrote.