British press united in distaste

Britain's newspapers said yesterday that neither London, Edinburgh, nor Tripoli had emerged with any credit from the Lockerbie bomber's release.

Newspapers said the truth behind the deadly 1988 terror attack on a Pan Am flight may now never emerge, while the pain would endure for the families of the 270 victims. Many agreed that the return of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet Al-Megrahi to Libya was not the end of the matter.

The Independent said the London government had been caught off-guard by the negative reaction in the United States.

"This tragic case remains a profoundly unsatisfactory affair," it said.

"To pretend that this decision was not riddled with political interests and a degree of consultation, if not collusion, between Edinburgh and London, beggars belief. You would have to be naive not to sense the odour of backroom dealing. We haven't heard the last of this story."

The Financial Times agreed that the Lockerbie affair was not brought to a close by Megrahi's release.

The FT said London had found that pinning everything on Edinburgh was "an excellent way of getting itself off the hook. Questions over who was behind this atrocity have not been fully answered. The families of the 270 Lockerbie victims have been let down. The full story of what happened still needs investigation. Justice must be seen to be done. That is still not the case."

The Daily Mail said Britain had been humiliated by Libya.

The tabloid said the truth might now never be known as it was "far easier to smooth Mr Al-Megrahi's return to Libya than face uncomfortable truths about his possible innocence.

"Truly, this has been a week to shame our rulers, on both sides of the border," it said.

The Sun said Mr Al-Megrahi's homecoming welcome was a "sickening spectacle... disgraceful but inevit-able", with no appeal for restraint likely to be heard by the "gloating mobs in Tripoli".

"Scotland's release of Mr Al-Megrahi means the truth about Lockerbie may never be known. The secrets of the bombing will die with him. But for the victims' families, the agony goes on."

The Daily Express laid into British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for his "disappearing act during the uproar" and "moral cowardice".

"It beggars belief that... Brown could not have blocked the release of this man if he had really wanted to," the tabloid said. "He stands at the head of a political establishment that has willingly acquiesced in an outrageous surrender to terror."

Threatening to postpone a trade visit by Prince Andrew is "hardly going to rock Tripoli to its foundations", it added.

The Guardian said the whole affair was a murky mix of justice and geopolitical considerations.

"Tracking the crime to the doors of the regimes in Syria, Iran or Libya, all possible culprits, some would say, would have repercussions threatening so many interests, in so many countries, that it is not worth doing," it said.

"Many of these deals involved closing at least one eye to considerations of justice and truth. In that sense, this latest chapter is no different from what has gone before."