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Lockerbie: The Hypocrisy Of Governments

America is up in arms; it stammers with indignation, screams for its own brand of “justice” while threatening economic embargo against its closest ally. Why? Because a man with a terminal disease, who will be dead within three months, has been allowed to leave prison in Scotland and return to spend his last moments with his family.

Interestingly, while the US relatives of those killed on Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988 are unanimously baying for blood, most of the UK relatives of those killed believe it was a right decision, and that mercy is justified in the circumstances.

This tells quite a lot about the different cultures on each side of the Atlantic. In Biblical terms, the US justice system demands “an eye for an eye”, while in Europe a little more attention is paid to Jesus’ doctrine of mercy and forgiveness.

No-one would deny the horror of the atrocity committed that cold December night over the Scottish lowlands. The news bulletins that evening were as chilling as the winter weather, even to those with no relatives and friends on board the stricken airliner.

When Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was finally surrendered by Libya in 1999, and locked away for life in a Scottish jail, the US relatives seemed totally satisfied with the verdict. Many of the UK relatives were not, and with some justification.

Al Megrahi was a Libyan intelligence officer and the head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines. Another man, Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, the LAA station manager in Luqa Airport, Malta, was also accused of the bombing and stood trial alongside Al Megrahi. He was acquitted.

Much of the evidence in the trial centered around a timing device, a charred piece of which was supposedly discovered in the plane’s wreckage. The timer was allegedly of a type supplied by a Swiss company, Mebo, to the Libyan military. In 2007, an employee of that company and witness at Al Megrahi’s trial, Ulrich Lumpert, confessed that the timer had not come from the plane’s wreckage, but that he had stolen it from his employers and given it to an investigating official.[1][2]

The owner of Mebo, Edwin Bollier, states he was offered four million US dollars and a new identity in the USA, by the CIA, if he would swear in court that the timer was one sold to the Libyan military. It wasn’t, and Bollier refused to perjure himself.

The CIA also bribed other witnesses in the trial with huge sums of money.[3]

The 270 victims of Pan Am Flight 103 were innocents. They died because of a mighty political intrigue involving the US and UK governments. To this day it isn’t known who planted the bomb, or even why. It’s likely Al Megrahi was no more than a scapegoat.

In a recent letter to the Scottish parliament, FBI Director Robert Mueller asked, “where is the justice in releasing this man?”

In return, we should ask: where is the justice in bribing witnesses and tampering with evidence to obtain a false conviction?

In the aftermath of the Lockerbie tragedy, then US President George H.W. Bush set up the President’s Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism (PCAST). Its task was to review and report on aviation security.

PCAST was headed by Ann Korologos, a former US Secretary of Labor, and her team consisted of two US senators, two US representatives, a US general, and a former Secretary to the US Navy.

Before submitting their final report, the PCAST members met with UK relatives of the victims of Flight 103 at the US embassy in London. That meeting took place on 12th February 1990.

During that meeting, a member of PCAST told one of the British relatives, Martin Cadman:

“Your government and ours know exactly what happened. But they’re never going to tell.” [4]

[1] “Probe into Lockerbie timer claims” The Herald (Scottish), September 5th 2007

[2] “Vital Lockerbie evidence ‘was tampered with'” The Guardian, September 2nd 2007

[3] “Lockerbie trial: an intelligence operation?” I.P.O. Information Service, October 5th 2007

[4] “Email by Jim Swire, father of one of the victims, to Scottish Press Assoc” May 2007

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4 Replies to “Lockerbie: The Hypocrisy Of Governments”

  1. Thanks for that, RJ. It’s refreshing to read something that rings true.

    I’m disappointed how read, all over the place, so many Americans are so ready to whinge and carp about the Scottish authorities’ decision. You’d expect this “Christian” country would have appreciated their ally’s compassion. As you say, a lot of ’em are hypocrites, simple as that.

    My view: Whether the guy was guilty of the crime or not, he’ll be dead in a few weeks.
    Surely that is punishment enough for any involvement. They’d have put him in the elctric chair or lethal injection if they’d had the authority. Their “god” has done it for them – why aren’t they celebrating?

    Sickening!

  2. Enlightening post, RJA, it is the height of hypocrisy to spout off as the US does about justice when so little of it has been seen in any of their dealings.
    I.E. I am horrified by the freshly revealed evidence of horrific torture used to ‘force’ confessions. I know with an electric drill piercing my body I would confess to anything. Even Lockerbie.
    XO
    WWW

  3. Hi, I suspect US government has reason to keep him silent. They say two CIA agents were killed by the CIA …confusing…

  4. Hi RJ,

    I’m not going to comment on the US reaction as I’m not living there or have a full understanding of your political situation. However…

    There are now reports here in the UK that he hasn’t got only a few weeks to live. The authorities weren’t able to get any prostate cancer specialist to confirm that he had 3 months left. In the end they used a GP with no specific knowledge of length of life for a sufferer of this condition.

    And with Gaddafi’s son already making it clear in interviews to our media that a deal was agreed with Tony Blair in 2007 to release this man in return for the BP oil deal, most people over here smell a rat.

    Leaving aside the question of whether or not he is innocent or guilty (and I’m for the innocent side of things) this was a pure political stitch up. England gets an oil deal and Gordon Brown has got revenge on the SNP who trounced New Labour to take over the Scottish Parliament. Alex Salmond will have a much tougher fight on his hands which is just what the Scottish Labour mafia in Westminster want.

    It’ll be interesting to see how GB behaves at the UN in 3 weeks time when he will share a platform with Gaddafi who is addressing the attendees. Watch the body language, it’ll tell you all you need to know.

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