Gordon Brown & Tony Blair should be worried by defection of Libya’s foreign minister, Moussa Koussa

By Nile Gardiner World Last updated: March 31st, 2011
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There can be no doubt that the defection of foreign minister Moussa Koussa is a major blow to the Libyan regime, and reveals that Colonel Gaddafi’s inner circle may be cracking under the pressure of the sustained allied bombing offensive. Koussa’s defection will likely encourage other key members of the Gaddafi cabinet to jump ship, hopefully speeding the end of his reign of terror.
Significantly, Koussa could provide further details regarding the freeing of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, and the role played by the former Labour government in pushing his disgraceful release by Scottish authorities, which was extensive. As The Telegraph reported in February,
Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell has found that Labour did ”all it could” to facilitate Libya in its appeal to the Scottish government to release Megrahi on compassionate grounds… In his report, Sir Gus said: “Policy was, therefore, progressively developed that HMG should do all it could, while respecting devolved competencies, to facilitate an appeal by the Libyans to the Scottish government for Mr Megrahi’s transfer under the PTA (Prisoner Transfer Agreement) or for release on compassionate grounds.”
Any revelations from Mr. Koussa could prove embarrassing not only for Gordon Brown and his ministers, but also for Tony Blair, whose administration worked tirelessly to bring Libya in from the cold, despite the regime’s appalling track record of human rights abuses and history as a state sponsor of terror against Britain, including its extensive backing for the IRA.
The foreign minister may also shed new light on his master’s role in the bombing of PanAm Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988 that claimed 270 lives, including 43 Britons. As The Wall Street Journal reports:
Mr. Koussa, thought to be in his late 50s, was Col. Gadhafi’s spy chief for approximately two decades, a period of time when Libya was suspected to be behind a string of terrorist attacks in Europe that killed Libyan dissidents and foreigners. Some Libyan opposition leaders believe that Mr. Koussa had a hand in organizing the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing in 1988, although he has never been indicted for that attack.
Mr. Koussa, who took over as foreign minister in March 2009, appears to have been a key person in Libya’s policy to abandon its weapons of mass destruction programs, which led to the lifting of international sanctions against his homeland, according to diplomats. He played a key role in reaching deals to compensate the victims of the Lockerbie bombing in 1988 and bombing of a French airliner the following year, removing one of the biggest obstacles to normalizing relations with the West.
When Gaddafi’s regime does fall, the government archives in Tripoli should make interesting reading with regard to Labour government dealings with one of the most brutal dictatorships on the face of the earth. In the meantime, his foreign minister and former intelligence chief could well give an early preview that may further shame senior politicians who extended the hand of friendship to a bloodthirsty tyrant with British blood on his hands.