Lockerbie bomber

'Dead' man laughing

Two years after he was supposed to die of prostate cancer, the Lockerbie bomber is still ticking.

That much was clear last week when Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the only person convicted in the 1988 terrorist strike that killed 270 people, was trotted out for a pro-Moammar Khadafy rally in Tripoli.

Scottish officials released the “terminally ill” Megrahi in 2009, ostensibly on compassionate grounds.

He faced a death sentence “imposed by a higher power,” they claimed. Megrahi’s despicable life, the world was led to believe, would be all over in a matter of weeks — not years.

AP

Abdel Basset al-Megrahi

et somehow, in Dr. Khadafy’s talented hands, Megrahi not only miraculously survived, but blossomed into a full-fledged . . . propaganda tool.

How do you like that?

One wonders what Scottish officials — and their pro-release British counterparts, who at the time were drooling over the prospect of a juicy Libyan oil contract — think about this true medical marvel.

Then again, in Libya, it’s not just Megrahi who’s defied prediction; his boss, the kooky colonel himself, was supposed to be gone long ago — if not dead or under arrest, then at least out of power.

Remember, the US campaign in Libya was supposed to last days, not weeks.

Yet President Obama’s war of choice is now in its fifth month — having long reached the point of stalemate.

The State Department says “it’s up to Libyans where [Khadafy] ultimately ends up” — even though US and NATO allies have been trying to bomb him into dust since March.

France and Britain, meanwhile, have decided the Mad Dog of the Middle East can remain in Libya, as long as he steps down.

Truth is, NATO has been operating with UN approval precisely because Libyans have no say in the matter. And the only way Khadafy will surrender power is if a barrel of a rifle is jabbed into his back (or a drone’s bomb makes that unnecessary).

Then again, when facing the West, Libyans like Megrahi and Khadafy tend to suddenly discover remarkable reservoirs of staying power.

Lucky them.

Too bad for everyone else.