Lockerbie: Will the truth ever come out?

Lockerbie: Will the truth ever come out?

Friday 21 August 2009
Paddy McGuffin

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi's release on compassionate grounds, although welcomed by many campaigners in Britain, means we are no further forward in terms of establishing the truth regarding the Lockerbie bombing.

For many, Megrahi was a convenient scapegoat, deflecting attention away from a wealth of evidence which would bring into question the official version of events.

<snip>

In the immediate aftermath of the bombing, investigations centred on Iran, Syria and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command (PFLP-GC) - the secular resistance group founded by George Habash.

Three weeks before the Lockerbie bombing, German anti-terror officers arrested Marwan Khreesat, a known bomb-maker with links to the PFLP. He was released, apparently due to lack of evidence, but in April 1989 further raids discovered two more bombs designed by Khreesat, both of which were specifically made for targeting aircraft.

Among those arrested were a number of Palestinians with links to the PFLP-GC.

PFLP-GC leader Ahmed Jibril was at that time under the protection of Syria.

It has been suggested that Jibril was assigned the Lockerbie bombing by the Iranian regime in revenge for the shooting down of an Iranian Airbus passenger plane by the USS Vincennes earlier in 1988 with the loss of 290 lives.

During the German arrests, a Toshiba tape-recorder packed with Semtex was discovered. Pieces of a similar model recorder were discovered among the Lockerbie debris. One of the Palestinian group, Abu Talb, is known to have been in Malta shortly before the bombing.

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/features/Lockerbie-Will-the-truth-ever-come-out

This has always seemed the much solider explanation of the matter....

and maybe they wouldn't be so obediently shrieking condemnation at the Scots for their compassionate release of this man.

I saw a photo of his exiting the plane. He nearly had to be carried, one man under each armpit.

He's no threat to anyone, if he ever really was. He's an old man who's gone home to die.

Meanwhile, the masterminds and co conspirators will have had long lives full of hate outside prison.

Our government has lied to us so many times that I find it incredulous to still see people accepting that they are told without question.

Guma el Gamaty, a Libyan writer and political scientist in London, said al-Megrahi's appeal would have been "very important".

'Political motivations'

"It would have revealed a lot of new information. But a lot of parties were not keen for it to go ahead because it would have shown new evidence which would probably reflect that al-Megrahi was not the culprit or at least not the main culprit.

"The appeal might have shown also that there has been manipulation of evidence ... so I think all parties had an interest for that not to go ahead including the British and American authorities."

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/08/200982172727265928.html

Libya marks return of 'innocent' Megrahi

Far from the noise being made in America and Britain about Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi's arrival to a joyful public welcoming in his country, Tripoli has been quiet as it observes the first day in the holy month of Ramadan.

There is a verbal storm raging on in the US and in the UK: a public relations nightmare, perhaps, for all the governments linked to the Lockerbie case.

People here believe Megrahi is an innocent man.

The streets have been silent throughout the day and many Libyans will be unaware of the outrage that is playing out abroad. For the local population, their brother is home, he is dying and he will spend his remaining days with his family and amongst his people. That is where the story ends for them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8215419.stm