My next post on this blog (not before the evening of 14 January) will be from the tiny settlement of Middelpos in the Northern Cape, South Africa. My internet connection there is painfully slow (and cannot be upgraded) which makes trawling the internet and the blogosphere difficult. I would therefore be grateful for any references to Lockerbie-related news items that readers care to send to me. But no large attachments, please, which take an eternity to download.
Update
British Airways has spurned the cri de coeur which forms the heading of this post. Because of weather conditions at Heathrow, I was unable to fly today. I am now booked on the equivalent Thursday flights. But will the runways be any clearer tomorrow? Keep tuned for the next thrilling instalment.
Further update
It looks as if I shall be able to get to Heathrow today (Thursday) for my flight to South Africa. But not too many chickens are yet being counted.
Because of weather conditions at Heathrow, I was unable to fly today. I am now booked on the equivalent Thursday flights. But will the runways be any clearer tomorrow? Keep tuned for the next thrilling instalment.
ReplyDeleteWell, there's one answer to those who think it was perfectly sensible to use a timer-only device (without a barometric component), and even to set it to explode less than an hour after the plane was due to take off.
Dear Rolfe,
ReplyDeleteI am intrigued by Rolfe's comment that he does not wish to peer into my particular rabbit hole at the moment, and another one that someone is intrigued by my views, for I am rather a Berlins' hedgehog of a thinker and not a fox. The Hegehog had one big idea and the Fox lots of fleeting little ones. My big idea is that Lockerbie is nothing but a (fine Teilhardian phrase) the device to allow the Iranians to get their single Qesas revenge for the downing of IR-655 which, if you remember happened at the start of July 1988 long before Bush senior was even Republican candidate.
Iran was appalled by the downing. Never read those coy histories which exculpate the US by saying it was an accident. They've been talking to that reliable source of information CIA officers.
Even the most moderate Iranian was outraged and wanted revenge which meant bolood under the traditional Qesas rules. Rational, relatively pro-American Iranians like Rafsanjani called for a measured response at the right time. The wilder elements including parts of the Pasdaran as many as 12 aircraft.
Imagine what that would have done for US-Iranian relations.
Washingtom realpolitik policy makers in chilled think tanks inside the Beltway that summer must have come to the same conclusion. If the Bush bandshow was to continue to fly (oops the metaphors) the Iranian demands for revenge had to be met, for Bush had not even secured party nomination. The doomed Carter campaign was the spectre at the feast, and involved the same country too. Brandone (pseud) was dispatched to Glion to treaty with the Iranians, under the guise of "hostage talks", and even then it took four rounds to stitch the deal. This was in the full sense an inter-Governmental agreement.
The plot had to take place after Bush was elected, and so Lockerbie happened just half way through the interregnum after the General election of 1988.
The CTC of the CIA were tasked with the project, and much was run out of the CIA office in Frankfurt, which was their Iranian office. Curious doctrinal issues prevented it from being located in Washington, and Teheran was definitely out.
Even the IED, which was a stick on, was probably manufactured or designed there. When US legal isssues are concerned the CIA can become curiously doctrinal.
So the plot went into action. Heathrow was broken into, and the made with the deadly cargo took to the skies.
But as you will learn, there was more to Lockerbie than a simple stick on IED.
If you are a brave journalist, with a taste for adventure and will guarantee prominent national publication and hence international cover, you may talk to my PR man.
For too long Lockerbie has been smothered in a sweet cofection like a ghatly barbecue sauce. It's time to claer the table and ask the waiter to bring on the steak - bleu.
No decent journalist will have any difficulty in finding me, and just to say, many many friends of mine know what I am talking about.
My bare thesis is short 30 pages, referenced (75) and involves no CIA interviews. Remember there are no deep throats in Washington or even London car-parks. It is all there on the web, if you only care to look and think.
The latest bright idea os ome spark is that it must be Mr Giaka. Lew comedy at best, an accusation worth of Nicol, at worst.
I have no problem peering into your rabbit-hole. Actually going there and buying that particular conspiracy theory is a different matter.
ReplyDeleteI've heard this one before. Tam Dalyell is a proponent. It sounds too monstrous even for the CIA. However, as with any theory, it stands or falls by its supporting evidence.
While I share many of Rolfe's views I do not understand why the concect of CIA (and MI5) collusion in the Lockerbie bombing "sounds too monstrous even for the CIA."
ReplyDeleteI think that at their core Charles has some interesting and valid ideas although I have issues with his "logic" and his conception of what constitutes "fact" and "evidence". Where can we read this 30 page exposition?
As I said, any theory stands or falls by its supporting evidence. If I see sufficient evidence to show that the CIA were actively complicit in the Lockerbie bombing, then of course I will accept that.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there were over 200 US citizens on that plane. Innocent students returning home for Christmas. To imagine that the CIA actively conspired in their murder is quite a shocking thought. When it's no more than supposition and speculation, it descends to the level of "LIHOP" 9/11 conspiracy theorising.
MISSION LOCKERBIE:
ReplyDeleteAnnauncement: BBC World TV, time 18:10 on Saturday 16th of January, 2010.
See the film of BBC World: The Conspiracy Files: Lockerbie
Link: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-327765978162851498
by Edwin and Mahnaz Bollier, MEBO Ltd., Switzerland
Rolfe: we have been here before. It depends on whether you view the "bombing" and the "solution" as two distinct aspects or intimately related. I see Megahi's presence on Malta on the 20-21/12/88 and the introduction of the bomb at Heathrow as being related i.e. the plan to blame Libya predated the bombing.
ReplyDeleteIt also depends how you view the "Autumn Leaves" affair. The foiling of a dastardly plot or its modification and postponement to a politically convenient time.
As I have also pointed out before Mrs Rimington claimed it was MI5 who identified "the two Libyan culprits" an aspect I suspect is related to the "Spiro murders".
I also think Mr Gannon's presence amongst the list of victims is of great significance.
While I do not think moral rectitude is an issue in a real sense the Lockerbie bombing and the creation of the "Libyan solution" saved many lives. If those poor people had not died others would have and arguably the creation of the "Libyan solution" was a laudable act.
You know, that is an appalling thing to say. That security forces just "gave up" and knowlingly sacrificed 270 innocent people, mostly of their own nationality, because they didn't think it was worthwhile trying to defend everyone.
ReplyDeleteOh, we don't feel up to the effort of securing all our aircraft for the next however many years, maybe we just can't be bothered. So we'll just let these people die and then it'll all be OK, we can relax.
Meh.
Yes Rolfe I agree it is an appalling thing to say. It is so beyond the bounds of credibility that most right-thinking people would dismiss the idea as inconceivable. I don't. My argument is that it was a solution to the insoluble crisis posed by the "Vincennes Incident". A lot of people were going to die anyway and outside introducing El-Al type security retaliation could not be prevented.
ReplyDeleteMay I ask if you have ever seen the film or read the novel of the Cold War thriller "Fail Safe"?