Suspicions, Emerging Questions
"We as relatives have a right to know who killed our families and why the British government and authorities responsible for the safety of the aircraft failed in their duty."
"Some British relatives have decided that enough is enough and will be applying within weeks for a further appeal against the Megrahi verdict."
Dr. Jim Swire, Edinburgh, Scotland
Dr. Swire is one of countless many who lost a family member in the Pan Am Flight 103 air disaster that caused the death of 270 people, his daughter Flora, 23, among them. That was twenty-five years ago. Had she lived a normal life, had a suitcase full of explosives not blown up and torn the plane and its passengers to shreds, she would have been 48 now. This is a loss her father is tormented by, and he seeks answers to questions that have never been fully satisfied.
The bombing of Pan Am 103 claimed 270 lives and remains Britain's worst
terrorist attack
December 21, 1988, was a fateful day, and will remain so for the grieving relatives of those lost in the terrorist attack when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland. Now a three-year investigation by Al Jazeera television has singled out a country other than Libya as being the agency responsible behind the carnage and loss of life. A documentary has been produced: Lockerbie; What Really Happened, a work by two British filmmakers. And it is being aired on Al Jazeera.
Families of those in Britain who lost loved ones were invited to a screening of the documentary. A former Iranian intelligence officer who has since left Iran, and a Central Intelligence Agency agent who had worked on the Lockerbie investigation both claim that Iran was involved, not Libya. Iranian defector Abolghassem Mesbahi and British Intelligence officer Robert Baer claim that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the mullah who led the Iranian Revolution, had ordered the attack.
It was meant to reflect the exacting of revenge for an earlier American navy attack stricking down an Iranian commercial jet. In that disaster, for which the United States apologized unreservedly, 290 people died. For the Iranian Islamists this was a simple case of an eye for an eye. Although never was it claimed publicly and proudly that they had taken their revenge. They remained mute, and the man who was identified as having planned the Pan Am attack, Abdel Basset Al-Megrahi claimed innocence.
Of course, anyone would, guilty or not. He was convicted as having represented the brains behind the atrocity, and imprisoned. It seemed a reasonable enough assumption that Libya was involved, since Moammar Gaddafi, was recognized by the international community as a supporter of terrorism. Not quite in the league, however, of the Islamic Republic of Iran whose proxy terrorist militias include Hamas, Hezbollah, and the lesser-known Islamic Jihad. Hezbollah's terror exploits on the international scene are well recognized in serving Iran.
Iran on that occasion made use of the Syrian-based terrorist militia, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The bombers, according to Mr. Mesbahi, had orders "to copy exactly what happened to the Iranian Airbus". Since of the total 270 who died 189 were Americans, vengeance was achieved, surely to the satisfaction of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini.
On the other hand, why would Gaddafi have accepted responsibility for having been behind the atrocity, going to the measure of paying reparations to the families of those involved? And handing over to British authorities two Libyans whom they took to have been involved in the attack? Mr. Megrahi, the convicted and imprisoned Libyan held to be the chief behind the execution of the attack pleaded innocence to the day he died, back in Libya, after release by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission.
The Scottish government appears open to "refer the case to the High Court for a further appeal and ministers would be entirely comfortable for that to happen", once the victims' relatives state their case. A police enquiry into the bombing appears to have been renewed. Related evidence that is discovered would be submitted to "the appropriate authorities". A member of the Scottish Parliament, chairman of its justice committee, Christine Graham, commented the documentary reflects what many "have felt for a very long time".
Four members of the PFLP-GC were named in the Al Jazeera documentary as potential suspects. Included is the alleged bomb-maker, Marwan Khreesat, living in Jordan. Another man, Mohammed Abu Talb currently lives in Uppsala, Sweden. Why Al Jazeera would choose to investigate this tragedy and point the finger of blame at Iran is strange, considering that they are Qatar-based and -funded.
And Qatar is, if anything, friendly both to fanatical Islamist groups and to Iran.
Labels: Atrocities, Iran, Islamism, Terrorism
posted by Pieface @ Friday, March 14, 2014
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