Britain Had To “Get That Oil”

The son of Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi says it’s “obvious” that the controversial release of a convicted terrorist from his Scottish prison was about oil – remarks that will no doubt further inflame the crisis surrounding British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who was already facing withering criticism at home (and abroad) for his mishandling of the burgeoning scandal.

In an unusually candid interview with the Scottish Herald, al-Qaddafi’s son Saif says it was “no secret” that his father signed a prisoner transfer agreement (PTA) with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair at a time when two governments were also inking mutually-beneficial oil and trade agreements.

“Why so angry?” Saif al-Islam al-Qaddafi asks rhetorically in the interview. “People should not get angry because we were talking about commerce or oil. We signed an oil deal at the same time. The commerce and politics and deals were all with the PTA.”

That’s pretty cut and dried if you ask us, even though the younger al-Qaddafi backtracked a bit later in the interview by saying that the two agreements were “two different animals.”

Libya is facing intense international criticism after giving a hero’s welcome to convicted terrorist Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, who was serving a life sentence in a Scottish prison for his role in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. That terrorist attack killed 270 people, most of them Americans.

Meanwhile, Scotland is facing intense international criticism for releasing al-Megrahi in the first place.  The former Libyan intelligence officer – who is suffering from prostate cancer – was released earlier this month into Libyan custody on “compassionate grounds.”

Amazing, huh?

Oh, and for those of you unfamiliar with the whole “get that oil” reference, kindly permit us to introduce you to comedian David Chappelle’s “Black Bush” skit …

Enjoy …