[This is the headline over an article published late yesterday (Washington DC time) in the Embassy Row section of the website of The Washington Times. It reads in part:]
The Libyan foreign minister is a "cowardly terrorist" who should never be honored in Washington, the president of the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 said Wednesday as he questioned why a prominent Arab-American business association would hold a reception to salute the man linked to the bombing of the airliner.
"Why would anyone want to honor someone with as much blood on his hands as [Foreign Minister] Musa Kousa?" asked Frank Duggan, who represents relatives of the 270 people killed when the flight exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. The victims included 190 Americans.
The National US-Arab Chamber of Commerce and the Libyan Embassy are the co-sponsors of the Thursday evening reception, which also will celebrate recent US-Libyan trade deals. The chamber did not respond to an e-mail seeking a comment.
Libyan Ambassador Ali Suileiman Aujali, however, expressed outrage over an Embassy Row column on Tuesday that included references to news reports that linked Mr Kousa to the Pan Am bombing, as well as to the 1986 La Belle discotheque attack in Berlin that killed three US soldiers and injured 230 others, including 50 American soldiers.
Mr Kousa was expelled from Britain in 1980 after London accused him of using his position as head of the Libyan diplomatic mission to order hit men to kill Libyan dissidents. Mr Kousa has never been charged with any act of terrorism and has denied any link to the attacks.
"Libya and the United States have entered a new era in relations, and editorials such as yours devoid of fact and accompanied by slander only allow for the set back of improvements with respect to the emerging bilateral relationship between our two countries," Mr Aujali said in an e-mail.
"I would also like to note, that I strongly object to the slanderous remarks used to describe Secretary Kousa. It is important to note that Secretary Kousa holds the position of Libyan Foreign Minister. He is recognized by his peers, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, from whom he received this invitation to visit Washington, and is therefore deserving of the same respect consummate with other ministers of foreign affairs and persons of his rank."
Mr Aujali noted that Libya paid $2.7 billion in compensation to the relatives of the victims of the Pan Am flight and has established normal diplomatic relations with the United States.
"Having closed this chapter, neither Libya nor the United States will accept to live in the shadow of Lockerbie, as we continue to move forward with the future of our bilateral relationship," Mr Aujali said.
When Mr Duggan, who was a member of or associated with the President's Commission on terrorism, set up by HW Bush, enters the lists it is not for the purpose of spreading understanding and light.
ReplyDeleteMr Moussa Koussa (I use the French rendition of the name) passed the Lockerbie Investigation's radar, but he was never fingered, and given how thin the evidence is (created by the CIA) to convict Mr Megrahi, it is certain they did not bother to attack MK as well. On much stronger grounds the Juge interviewed MK over UT-772 in Libya, and virtually accused him of being involved, but the man did not become a defendant in the subsequent trial. He leads a charmed life. He may be an MI6 asset.
This is far too complex for Mr Duggan, who I shall remind you has no connection with Pan Am 103, other than being parachuted into a families' group by his employers. He thinks that I am against the CIA and anti-American and believes I would deny the Holocaust. I don't.
I am simply someone who wants the truth about Lockerbie out, has put an entirely credible alternative story, which can only be denied rudely by Mr Duggan, by throwing mud, or more elegantly, but equally ineffectively, by Mr Marquise by adopting an ex-cathedra position of authority, and one is told one has to believe him simply because he is right. His training in logic was deficient in his undergraduate days.
The last refuge of a child caught doing something wrong is to say "I didn't do it", "why me?" or to blame his accuser. And the likes of Mr Duggan and Mr Marquise follow that line, while as ever the CIA stays mum.
They must be aware of my views, but they are very careful never to attack me. I wonder why? Are they as Mrs Thatcher would put it "frit".