US Senate Summon UK Politicians to Show Trial.

A formal invitation then followed from Senator Robert Menendez, who is on theUS Senate hearing into the release of the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing. Has invited/summoned MacAskill and Dr Andrew Fraser, the director of health and care of the Scottish Prison Service who drew up the final medical report on the Libyan, to attend. He has also invited/summoned former UK justice minister Jack Straw who has beed minded to attemd.

Richard Baker, Labour’s shadow justice secretary, said:

 “It is quite extraordinary Kenny MacAskill has ruled out appearing before the US Senate inquiry. He and Salmond are the men responsible for the decision and they are now running scared.”

Annabel Goldie, the Scottish Tory leader, said:

“The SNP would be the first to complain if anybody refused to co-operate with them so they must comply with this request from the US Senate.

Typical hypocritical politicians.

In what other country other than the the USA would they support  placing UK politicians on virtual Trial?

Richard Baker on the Today programme this morning  has also said that he didn't think Jack Straw (who as British Justice Minister signed a agreement with Libya on prisoner exchange) should have to attend the hearing.

"If there was any dubious reason for Megrahi release then I doubt that the Scottish government were involved. Indeed they would probably have delighted in exposing it.

The decision by the Scottish Government Justice Minister was clearly (rightly or wrongly, solely on compassionate grounds why should he answer for this to a foreign government?

I can understand the anger in the USA at the release of al Megrahi .The Lockerbie atrocity killed 270 people – 190 of them American – in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in December 1988: But since when are governments of sovereign nations, or component parts of sovereign nations answerable to the US Senate.

If they wish to investigate by all means do so and if they suspect that BP had undue influence on any discussion then should ask questions but the US senate is not the World Government.

Would the late Edward Kennedy or any member of Congress have attended a committee of MP’s investigating sympathy for the IRA in the US Congress

The United States stand is further incongruous because it is not a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC is a permanent international criminal court, founded in 2002 to investigate and prosecute individuals suspected of having committed genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

As of April 2010, 111 states are members of the Court, and a further 38 countries have signed but not ratified the Rome Statute that established the court. Countries such as India, Indonesia, and China have not signed or ratified the Rome Statute. The United States is in the unique position of having signed the Rome Statute, but formally withdrawn its current intention of ratification.

Positions in the United States concerning the ICC vary widely. The Clinton Administration signed the Rome Statute in 2000, but did not submit it for Senate ratification. The Bush Administration, the US administration at the time of the ICC's founding, stated that it would not join the ICC. When asked whether the United States should join the International Criminal Court, Barack Obama (then a Senator), stated:

"Yes the United States should cooperate with ICC investigations in a way that reflects American sovereignty and promotes our national security interests."

So the US believes that it has every right to behave like the Worlds Policeman, so long as the world cannot investigate its behaviour.