After questioning the credibility of reports that Libyan Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi is once again close to death, New York Senator Chuck Schumer has written a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking her to withhold aid to Libya's nascent governing body, the National Transition Council. "If the new Libyan government continues to shield this convicted terrorist from justice, then they should not get one more cent of support from the United States," Schumer writes.

The senator goes on to cite the US's role in ensuring that the NTC even exists: "We put American lives and money on the line to help the Libyan people secure their freedom. It's time the Libyan government lives up to its commitment to create a free and accountable society by handing over al-Megrahi so that justice can finally be done."

But the international justice minister of the NTC, Mohammed al-Alagi, told the AP earlier this week that requests by Schumer and other American politicans have "no meaning" because al-Megrahi has already stood trial, and was legally released by Scotland, although a US Senate report concluded that his release was purely based on the UK receiving lucrative oil contracts, which are now in limbo thanks for Gadhafi's fall from power.