The Truth About Lockerbie May Now Never Come Out Thanks to Gordon Brown's Thirst for Libyan Oil

A few weeks ago, in July, US families of the Lockerbie victims gathered in front of a TV screen in both the British embassy in Washington, DC and in the consulate in New York.

They were connected via video conference with Scottish justice minister Kenny MacAskill, who discussed with them both the options of prisoner transfer for Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, the convicted Lockerbie bomber, and a compassionate release, since the 57-year-old was suffering from prostate cancer.

According to Frank Duggan, a former Chairman of the National Mediation Board who serves as president of the group of American victims of flight Pan Am 103, the conference was civilized and the Americans were direct with MacAskill. "We told him in no uncertain terms we did not want Megrahi transferred back to Libya. MacAskill did mention compassionate release as another option for him, but never in such a way as to make us believe it would actually happen. We view what subsequently happened as nothing short of betrayal," Duggan tells me.

The shock in the wake of Megrahi's release, his hero's welcome in Libya -- and now the leak of two letters from Jack Straw, Britain's justice minister, insinuating that the British told the Scottish that it was OK to transfer the convicted terrorist, since to keep him blocked a $30 billion oil exploration deal between BP and Libya -- have led to proposals to boycott Scotland, a rally in New Jersey protesting Muammar Qaddafi's plans to camp there (now canceled) during the upcoming UN General Assembly -- and now calls in both Britain and the US for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to stop evading the issue and tell the truth about his government's involvement.

I have communicated with Duggan repeatedly over the weekend. "In our view the British have behaved worse than the Scots," was his view on receiving the news about Straw's leaked correspondence. We also discussed the op-ed that appeared in the New York Times under the byline of the Libyan dictator's son, Saif Al-Islam El-Qaddafi; Qaddafi fils insists there was no "hero's welcome" for Megrahi on his return to Tripoli, explaining away the hundreds of cheering, flag-waving supporters as members of Megrahi's "extended family," and makes the O.J. Simpson-like assertion that the "truth about Lockerbie will come out one day." Call me skeptical, but when it comes to credible track records, even the British government, who wrote to their buddy Qaddafi asking that Megrahi enter the country quietly, by now must doubt the veracity of what comes out of the mouths and word processors of Libya's leaders.

Many of those who have protested Megrahi's innocence have ties to Libya, including having been paid or promised payments by the Libyan government -- something that may come as news to all those busy protesting Megrahi's innocence. In some cases the Megrahi apologists have some hidden reason to blame others -- ranging from the Iranians or Americans, who some claim tampered with evidence or bribed witnesses to suit their own purposes.

First among the Megrahi defenders is Dr. Jim Swire, an English doctor who lost his daughter, Flora, in the bombing. Apparently Swire is a plausible, decent man -- but according to people who have known him a long time, he was never pro-America; in fact, quite the reverse. He was upset that Flora was planning to marry an American just before she died, according to sources. This fact, obviously, is not mentioned when he is quoted by the media. Duggan is reluctant to criticize another victim's family member, but says that Dr. Swire's mind was made up before Megrahi's trial.

Then there is Edwin Bollier, the Swiss businessman who worked for Mebo, the company that manufactured the bomb-timer and whose office was next door to Megrahi. He has said repeatedly that Megrahi is innocent and that evidence was suppressed at the trial. He has good reason to say all this. Last year it emerged that Libya offered him $200 million if he could help set Megrahi free. Bollier contributes almost daily to the blog maintained by Professor Robert Black, a Scottish law expert, calling for a new trial.

Then there is Dr. Hans Koechler, one of six UN observers -- and the only one to believe that the trial in front of judges, rather than a jury because of all the publicity -- was a travesty. Hans Koechler is a teacher at Innsbruck University; he heads something called "the International Progress Movement." He holds himself out as having some official position with the UN, which appears to give him credibility. His view of the trial, in which Megrahi was found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by eight Scottish judges -- three trial judges and five appellate judges who came to a unanimous verdict -- does not appear to be shared by the other five UN observers.

Finally we come to Professor Robert Black, the Scottish lawyer whose opinion perhaps carries the most weight because he was one of the architects who devised the judge trial instead of a jury trial. He has since said he regrets this because he believes that the verdict was based on weak circumstantial evidence that he believes would not have persuaded a jury. He is frustrated that other judges and lawyers -- including those who denied the first appeal -- just do not agree with him. He is like a dog with a bone and he will not give it up.

Why has the West been so slow to refute these conspiracy theorists? Duggan reminds me that other than a now-retired FBI agent, Richard Maquise (who is firmly of the opinion that though Megrahi did not act alone, he is guilty) all the other government officials involved in the case are unable to talk about it because they are still working and cannot comment. The strongly-worded letter from FBI Director Robert Mueller to MacAskill, calling MacAskill's decision a miscarriage of justice, was unprecedented -- a fact that seems to have been overlooked.

Ultimately however it is not the job of journalists to prove or disprove Megrahi's innocence. That is for the courts. An appeal didn't work once. It's easy for protesters to say it would work a second time, but Megrahi is running out of time.

By releasing him, the Scots have ensured we will never know the truth. Kenny MacAskill has indeed betrayed the American families. And as for the British government, when are they going to tell the truth? If Gordon Brown continues to hide and to lie, then he is just the same as Muammar Qaddafi, whose oil he covets, apparently at any price. New Jersey should ban him too.

 

 

Follow Vicky Ward on Twitter: www.twitter.com/VickyPJWard

Comments

[WilliamJL]

I actually wrote about this extensively recently.

There are serious doubts of Al Merghai's guilt. Indeed you have to wonder why a re-trial was craftily avoided.
There are two words for you here Vicky - Paul Foot.
A highly regarded crusading journalist who did excellent work on Lockerbie.

Lockerbie : A Mockery of Justice – because an innocent man was jailed and justice continues to elude the victims families
http://williamjlynch.wordpress.com/2009/08/28/lockerbie-a-mockery-of-justice-because-an-innocent-man-was-jailed-and-justice-continues-to-elude-the-victims-families/

[MrsFonebone]

For those who think the bomber was innocent, remember Scotland has 3 verdicts: Guilty, Not Guilty, and Not Proven--the latter covering questionable cases. He didn't get "Not Proven."

Straw leaned on Scotland to let this terrorist go home to his hero's welcome. Don't blame Scotland for what the UK leaders did; or, if you must, blame the justice that wrote the opinion and pretty much said cancer is a punishment from god--Mr. Sensitivity to all the cancer patients who are NOT terrorists.

[x76]

My understanding of Pan Am 103 is that a brown Samsonite suitcase which was usually put aboard each Wednesday at Frankfurt did not contain the opiates it usually did, but a bomb. Frank McKee and his fellow CIA agents following the suitcase got quite a surprise, I'm certain, if they lived long enough to figure out what had happened.

[studentoflaw]

you seem to be equally committed to the notion that Megrahi is guilty without regard to facts, evidenced by your failure to mention (purposely?) the fact that in 2007, a Scottish Appeals Court found that Megrahi very well may have been the victim of a grave miscarriage of justice.

are you really making an argument against blindly supporting a position without acknowledging basic, indisputable facts by blindly supporting your position without acknowledging basic, indisputable facts?

[Garioch]

The U.S. bought and paid for the 'evidence' that convicted him so if his release was bought as well that just evens things out nicely.
Oh and the 'Poor us, they're always picking on us' act is really old and tired now.

[kndam72]

yep

[louisamast]

Would it have been better to invade Libya like it was done to Iraq for the same reason?

[dunedin]

Why would Jack Straw and Gordon Brown intervene when Scottish Law already dictates that Megrahi would be released either way? Surely they would only get involved had they not wanted a compassionate release.

[GrahamInCanada]

Exactly.

Some people seem to think that they have the right to pervert the judicial system of Scotland, through extra-judicial means; through backdoor meetings with foreign officials in which they must comply with demands or face accusations of betrayal and anti-Americanism; through threats of economic retaliation against the country; through attempts to interfere in the democratic process in the country and attempts to destabilize individual parties and politicians who fail to dance on the puppet strings of American desire.

They also seem to interpret failure as an indication that somebody else must have used the method to better effect.

The argument seeks to abandon blind justice in favor of exceptionalism. The letters referenced here, without links, review efforts to exempt Megrahi by name from standard prisoner exchange treaties; the efforts encouraged here are to exempt Megrahi from standard penal processes in Scotland; to pervert the course of justice in a foreign country to force it to comply with demands for revenge over justice.

Everything Libya is accused of here are actually projections of the self-defeating methods used to try to keep Megrahi in prison; that with the might of America behind it, the effort failed, should indicate that the Scottish justice system is incorruptible, not that Libya is better at corrupting it.

[Ergon]

And since Scottish Law is independent, Jack Straw and Gordon Brown should shut their gob instead of whining to the American media.

[ethancorso]

The discourse on this matter has beenPainful, for one reason especially: many people, including several of the surviving relatives of those who wereKilled in theBombing, believe that Abdel Baset alMegrahi is innocent:

"Al-Megrahi was tried along with fellow LibyanInte­lligenceOf­ficer AlAminKhal­ifaFhimah. With distraught relatives ofVictims filling the courtroom, the Scottish judges understand­ablyFeared the reaction to two notGuilty verdicts. Instead, the judges acquitted Fhimah and found al-Megrahi guilty.

The only important piece of evidence that differentiated alMegrahi from Fhimah was the dubious identification of alMegrahi by a storekeeper inMalta who fingered the Libyan as the buyer of clothing found in theBombSuitcase.

But thisStorekeeper had earlier identified several other people, including one who was aCIA agent. When he finally identified alMegrahi from a photo, it was after alMegrahi's photo had been in the world news for years.

There also were major discrepancies between the shopkeeper's original description of the clothes-buyer and al-Megrahi's actual appearance. The shopkeeper toldPolice that the customer was "six feet or more in height" and "was about 50 years of age." Al-Megrahi was 5'8" tall and was 36 in 1988."

--------

Please, don't take my word for it.

And don't assume that hisConviction proves that he has definitelyGuilty.

Please read up on the case before jumping toConclusions.

--------

- http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/08/23

[kndam72]

very well said

[MarionWatts]

I married a Brit. I live in the UK. I have lived DAILY with snide comments, supercilious innuendo and outright rude comments regarding American and Americans every time something untoward happens that involves my country - imagine the kerfuffle during the Bush regime.

Bill Maher says Americans are stupid, but he's pointing the finger at the uneducated, Fundamentalist flotsam and jetsam. Just read any comments page involving America and Americans. These people are supposed to be the educated tranche of British society, yet their vitriol is just ignorant, blaming us for everything - even with this.

It's nice to know and smugly satisfying, that the British aren't so clean. As for Jim Swire, I could SO tell his ilk; but don't expect the BBC to inform us of his bend - their agenda is to be anti-American.

http://emiliawahoo76.blogspot.com
http://myspace.com/virginiadem

[JohnTy]

The "uneducated, Fundamentalist flotasam and jetsam" appear to be a pretty large section of the US - including your last President despite his Ivy League education. 45% of US citizens apparently believe that the world was created about 10000 years ago, and that humans were created in their present form. Most of us realise that there are many intelligent Americans, but is there any other advanced country on the planet which is culturally so divided, and in which ignorance is paraded as a virtue.

[hacksto]

Where did you get those figures? The Daily Mail? Every bloody week there is a paper with a new whacky patronizing fact.

The fundamentalists, numbering about 30 million, believe the world was created 7000 years ago, so even your News of the World figures are up the creek.

The Brits have nothing to offer any more, they're trading on the spectre of Age, and Royalty. But don't worry, the 'yanks' are catching on very quickly.

Ignorance as a virtue? The Brits have been following America like a puppy for long enough. As a dual-national I've seen both sides, let me make it clear for you in one regard: legalize guns in the UK and it would be a bloodbath. You know this is true. There's one pulpit to climb down from, pick another.

45% of Americans makes 135 million people. Think before you type.

[LeonBNJ]

From what I recall, the World Headquarters of BP is only a few blocks from the Houses of Parlament in London. I think that says something.
For over 100 years too many deals have been done by the great powers needing oil, taking over govenments, ignoring obscene lacks of human rights, accepeting dictators and so on. If a deal was made over the only person convicted for a part of the terror attack on PA 103, it would just be continuing a long held policy.

[hacksto]

Only two of the British front pages today make any comment on the Jack Straw letters.

As much as the Scottish government seem to be unified behind the release, the average Scot on the street thinks this is an abomination.

The Scots have been used to further the 'British' interests, as obvious today as it was in 1707.

[Garioch]

I'm an average Scot and don't see it as an abomination, neither do many of the other average Scots I know and have talked to about it.

[hacksto]

Yeah, well I spent the whole Cowal Games asking everyone that I met what they thought, and 90% were disgusted. Maybe you should be too.

[hacksto]

The average Scot can barely afford a computer, never mind knowing of HuffPost.

Your 'average' Scot is in a winebar talking about football like it was their line to the working class, while sniggering up their sleeves at a country that has led the world for 100 years.

[Jelperman]

The truth about Flight 455 may never come out thanks to George H.W. Bush's thirst for right-wing Cuban votes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_Bosch

[CarolinaDem]

Does anybody here seriously think the US accidentally shot down that Iranian airliner? If the Iranians had captured the captain the ship that did it, and we got him released, would we not cheer him on his return?

[louisamast]

You forgot to mention that the captain actually received the presidential medal of honer! People never look at others from the same prospective that they expect to be seen.

[wwoody]

This deal has been in the works for sometime, the terrorist was thrown in to sweeten the pot...call­ed good faith deal.

[wwoody]

There only two rules, in this world. Oil and Money .....every­thing else is debatable.