Thursday 24 February 2011

Gaddafi ordered Lockerbie bombing, claims ex-Libyan minister

[This is the headline over the report in today's edition of The Herald on the claim by the former Libyan justice minister that Colonel Gaddafi personally ordered the Lockerbie bombing. It reads in part:]

Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, who resigned on Monday amid violent clashes between protesters and security forces, said: “I have proof that Gaddafi gave the order about Lockerbie.”

Mr Abdel-Jalil, who has not revealed yet what the proof is, quit over the “excessive use of force” used against demonstrators during anti-regime uprisings across the north African state.

The Scottish Government said yesterday it never doubted the safety of the conviction of Libyan Abdelbaset al Megrahi, 58, who was controversially freed from prison on compassionate grounds in August 2009 as he was suffering from prostate cancer. (...)

Pamela Dix, from the group UK Families Flight 103, who lost her brother Peter in the bombing, said of the latest development: “If this is true, it is shocking. It really rocks to the core the way that the UK Government has dealt with the whole Lockerbie issue, which is to sweep it under the carpet.

“It is really incredible. I would be really interested to know what evidence he has got. Perhaps he is trying to ingratiate himself with the US.”

Ms Dix also called for a fresh investigation into the bombing in light of the claims.

She said: “If he has really got evidence, the Crown Office in Scotland should investigate. If this is a lead, they should be following this up.”

[The Scotsman's report on the issue can be read here. A related article in the same newspaper headined "Yes or no: Was he really behind act of mass murder?" can be read here.

There was a visit to this blog yesterday from within Libya, the first such visit for over a week.

Because I have to make a trip from the Roggeveld Karoo to Cape Town to pick up a Scottish visitor, it is unlikely that I shall be in a position to make further posts to this blog until Saturday 26 February.]

20 comments:

  1. MISSION LOCKERBIE, 2011, doc. nr.1058.rtf, google translation german/english:

    Become tries the bereaved families of victims of Pan Am 103 and the financial victims of the "Lockerbie-Affair", with a new unproven story, in the question of guilt make an end final ?
    An interesting purposeful *ASSERTION at the right time, from the Former Libyan Justice Minister Mohamed Mustafa Abud Al Jeleil.
    Thus, there must not be a problem for the Scottish Parliament and the First Minister Alex Salmond, to open the secret documents of the Scottish Criminal Cases Reappeal Commission (SCCRC) and the document under National Security (PII) ?

    The world waiting on clean evidence --- or does it mean that this *ASSERTION with a new deal was completed with a unknown "Security Service"...?
    +++

    Wird versucht zu Lasten der Hinterblieben Familien der Opfer von PanAm 103 und den Finanz-Geschädigten in der Lockerbie-Affäre, mit einer neuen unbewiesenen Story, der Schuldfrage ein endgültiges Ende zusetzen ?
    Eine interessante gezielte *Behauptung zur richtigen Zeit, von "Former Libyan Justice Minister Mustafa Mohamed Abud Al Jeleil".
    Somit muss es für das "Scottish Parliament" und "First Minister Alex Salmond" kein Problem sein, die geheimen Dokumente der "Scottish Criminal Cases Reappeal Commission" (SCCRC) und das Dokument unter "National Security" (PII) offen zulegen ?
    Die Welt warted auf saubere Beweise --- oder bedeuted das, dass mit dieser *BEHAUPTUNG bereits ein neuer Deal mit einem "Security Service" ausgehandelt wurde...?

    by Edwin Bollier, MEBO Ltd Switzerland. URL: www.lockerbie.ch

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  2. Hes clearly lying..
    here is wikipedia:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muammar_al-Gaddafi

    as we see Gaddafi is eccentric, blamed for backing left wing terrorism, but otherwise no history of massmurder.
    But here is Mandela on Gadaffi:

    "This man (Gaddafi) helped us at a time when we were all alone, when those (Britain and the US) who say we should not come here (Libya) were helping the enemy."
    Nelson Mandela, 1997

    Colour revolution 101: 'get the govt to react violently...that way you can nundercut its support and finally it will collapse'

    thats what we see happenng in Libya

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  3. MISSION LOCKERBIE, 2011:

    Dear Mr.Mustafa Abdel-Jeleil (sorry Jalil)
    The world media and we are urgently waiting for your "garden fresh" PROOFS
    before you get your asylum pledge and before the evidence are manipulated purposefully !

    by Edwin Bollier, MEBO Ltd. Switzerland. URL: www.lockerbie.ch

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  4. We have just two statements from the ex-Justice Minister: "I have proof that Gaddafi gave the order about Lockerbie" and "To hide it, he [Gaddafi] did everything in his power to get al-Megrahi back from Scotland." That's it. So let's have a) this proof and b) a new investigation

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  5. That doesn't even make any sense. There was nothing about Megrahi's appeal that had any bearing on Gadaffi ordering the Lockerbie bombing. It was all about Megrahi not having been reliably identified as the man who bought the clothes in the bomb bag, spiced up with a few plausible but unsubstantiated allegations that the authorities fabricated evidence.

    I strongly suspect Jalil doesn't have the first clue about the details of the Lockerbie evidence, what was alleged and what was and wasn't proved. Nice line to ingratiate yourself with the West though, when Gadaffi is on the way out.

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  6. This is all a bit surreal. OMG Gadaffi ordered Lockerbie!!! Eleventy-one!!!

    Hang on a minute. The people shouting that as if it's a surprise to them are the very people who have been adamant for two years that Megrahi is "the Lockerbie bomber". So what were they suggesting? That Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer, just woke up one morning and decided, quite unilaterally, that he was going to bomb a US airliner? Without any orders? And that he went ahead with this, without Gadaffi having any idea what he was up to? And that Gadaffi, if he'd known, would have said, "Oh no Abdelbaset, we couldn't do that, that would be WRONG!"

    Get real. You can't blow your nose in Tripoli without signed permission in triplicate from the colonel.

    If we imagine a parallel world in which there was actual evidence Megrahi had in fact put a bomb on KM180 that morning, then OF COURSE he did it because Gadaffi ordered it. It's a complete no-brainer. It should not even require to be said. So why all this big fuss and shock?

    Seems to me the establishment is deeply embarrassed by all the cosying up to Gadaffi that's been going on. Tony Blair practically snogging Muammar in 2007. The hypocrisy of that was sickening, on the one hand screaming hate against Megrahi and demanding that he die in jail, while on the other hand sucking up to the man who would have given the order and talking about a new era in improved relations.

    So we're giving history another little revision. Tony (and Jack and George and Donald and all the rest of them) had NO IDEA Gadaffi had anything to do with Lockerbie. They just jailed a Libyan intelligence officer for the crime, in the belief that he wasn't acting under orders and had in fact no motive at all. They thought dear Muammar was just a bit eccentric but I'm sure we can all get along now, but that mass-murderer Megrahi must die in jail.

    Yeah, right.

    But now, oh dear, we had no idea. Gadaffi actually GAVE THE ORDER for his intelligence officer to do what he did? Who knew?

    Oh dearie, dearie me.

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  7. Brian said: "This man (Gaddafi) helped us at a time when we were all alone, when those (Britain and the US) who say we should not come here (Libya) were helping the enemy."
    Nelson Mandela, 1997


    Which reminds me of the letter I wrote to The Guardian on 22 April 1992:
    ANC as the fall-guys for Lockerbie bombing
    If my theory that Winnie Mandela has been and continues to be framed is correct and the ANC are being groomed as the real Lockerbie culprits, the Western media are about to tell us that Libya trained ANC guerrillas and figured on one of Nelson Mandela's first overseas itineraries after his release from a 25-year incarceration.

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  8. Interesting that BBC Newsnight Scotland speculating that Megrahi is, paradoxically, in more danger being back home with the latest turn of events - since he knows the degree of Libya's involvement back in 1988, and therefore may be considered a threat now to Gaddafi (maybe Gaddafi will have too many other things to occupy his mind, right now)
    And Jalil was deemed credible by some Libyan expert from London, by virtue of him having a track record of telling the truth on previous occasions, even when it ran counter to Gaddafi's official line.

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  9. People should check out the history of the Libyan Opposition esp NFSL:

    The Voice of the Libyan People had a four year career with broadcasts against Muammar Qadhafi and Libya between 1984 and 1988. It was proclaimed as the voice for the National Front for the Salvation of Libya (NFSL), a group consisting of exiled opponents of Qadhafi's regime headed by Aly Abuzaakouk that was founded in 1981. This group, according to Perry Shultz,, established ties with the CIA which saw the organization as the most potent opposition against Tripoli (Perry, p.165).

    The station began broadcasting from the Sudan in March 1984 as a psychological warfare tool, just two months before the NFSL attempted a coup. The coup was crushed and an estimated 75 exiles were killed by the Libyan government, resulting in strained relations between Libya and the Sudan. As tensions heightened, Qadhafi supported a successful revolution in the Sudan and the US-friendly government was overthrown in 1985. The Voice of the Libyan People was immediately taken off the air by the new Sudanese leadership in April of that year (Soley, p.134).

    The CIA planned another covert action, called Flower / Rose, which consisted of an armed NFSL rebellion based in Egypt, Algeria and Chad in 1986 while the US military failed to knock out Qadhafi with its airstrikes, and the Voice of the Libyan People resumed its transmissions. By late 1988, however, Secretary of State George Schultz stopped the plans and CIA funding for the NFSL was effectively yanked. As a result, the station was no longer broadcast from Egypt and Chad and the station disappeared from the airwaves.

    The Voice of the Libyan People was nearly a textbook case of Cold War covert broadcasting action. It was a "gray" clandestine that was on to engage in psychological war and to prepare Libya for an invasion. The loss of support from Sudan came as a setback for both the NFSL and the CIA, but separate contingencies were developed and the station continued its work. But after the failure of multiple attempts for covert action, its own value collapsed and the station fell into oblivion.
    etc
    http://www.qsl.net/yb0rmi/libya.htm

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  10. Gadaffi the man...till recently:

    'al-Ahmed: Unlike other leaders, Gaddafi, himself, did not live a life of luxury. He lives, at least publicly, a simple life. He lives in a small place. He does not have massive palaces. His children yes, but himself, no. He basically lives a fairly simple life and until a month and a half ago he was walking in Tripoli among the people without fear of anybody attacking him. So, he has support within the Libyan society. It is not maybe over 50 percent; I would say maybe 40 percent - for some because he distributed money among them and for some because he was the only person they knew and they think this is the best thing that could happen to Libya. But the majority of the people do not like him, because he could have done better. To be honest, I do not understand why he could not use that oil money to make his country better; maybe it is because of his own incapacity to understand the need to build'
    ...
    Press TV: With the popular support that you say he enjoys among some part of the population, it is ironic that his relationship with the people is one of love and hate. As you say, about 45 days ago he was walking among them and nothing was happening to him, and today we have people who are willing to give their lives for him to be collapsed
    http://www.presstv.ir/detail/166452.html

    Very different to BenAli or Mubarak..
    id like to see any american president do this!
    But it underlines the strange change we see...

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  11. The thing I am uneasy about is the American twang in many of the accents of those being interviewed in the various "revolutions".

    Blogiston I would be surprised if you find anyone in London who isn't happy to call this man "credible". That's the other issue here, the hypocrisy of the West slavering at the thought of Gadaffi being actually publicly murdered.

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  12. Taken from another forum, but apposite to post here as well:



    I'm afraid I would not trust any politician when it comes to Mr Megrahi and the Lockerbie atrocity ever again and Mr Salmond is only seeking to court favour as there is an election campaign afoot in a few weeks time.

    Dr Swire gets it about right over Mr Salmond's re-election promises ...

    From a recent newspaper article:

    But Dr Jim Swire, the father of a Lockerbie victim who has been an outspoken critic of the Megrahi conviction, had doubts about the latest concession and believed the Scottish Government was continuing to stall.

    He said: “I had a nasty shock when I discovered that the Government had made it more difficult to get at the material that the SCCRC had assembled – something they changed by secondary legislation that they are now proposing to change back by primary legislation.”

    Never trust a politician - especially when it comes to Megrahi / Lockerbie or justice issues and reforms in Scotland. There have been none of any significance under Messrs Salmond and MacAskill over the past four years after all - and will not be if they are re-elected either.

    This forum is a very damning testimony and endictment of the SNP's idea of radical justice reforms and justice for Scotland's 5,200,000 ordinary souls.

    But call me an apolitical cynic if you like!

    I wish you well.

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  13. Dear Jo G

    Strangely, I am not uneasy about anything very much. It is so blindingly obvious that the ex justice minister is desperately trying to avoid becoming soap on a rope that I suspect that even the Zeist judges would treat whatever he pulls out of the hat with considerable circumspection.

    Fortunately, there is little or nothing that he can do or say which would impinge on JFM's case, since we, quite specifically, focus on only those matters pertaining to what occurred in (and around, with respect to the peculiarities of the reporting of the Heathrow break in etc) the court at Zeist and the the appeals.

    If Mustafa Abdel-Jalil does eventually produce documentary evidence to support his claim, clearly its provenance will have to be put under the microscope of an independent forensic team with no links to the case. In that regard, I strongly recommend that the task be given to Scotland's Lord Advocate, Elish Angiolini.

    Toodle pip,
    Robert Forrester.

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  14. Quincey Riddles:
    Being honest, I am uneasy about your lack of unease.
    Get some quickly, coz events in Libya will most likely pull the carpet from right underneath you.
    I am sure I do not need to expand how this will probably play out to the detriment of the JFM.

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  15. Dear Blogiston,

    You are right. I entirely understand and respect your concerns. And, yes, of course, I am uneasy. I am sure it won't take too much imagination to picture my thoughts when I heard about this (rather like some of Goya's darker works if truth be told). Nevertheless, this particular animal is far less perverse and twisted than some of the more deranged and devious agents and arguments that we have normally had to cope with on this campaign. I apologise if I give the impression of being complacent or flippant. Given what we deal with, sometimes I feel the need to vent my anger through a little humour occasionally.

    We are neither complacent nor flippant, we are simply optimists who can be deadly serious but laugh at the same time (albeit dryly). We have to be. If we weren't, we would have bitten on the cyanide a long time ago. That, combined with the very specific focus that our campaign has and the glaringly incomprehensible judgement that was made at Zeist, not to neglect the position of the Crown throughout to the present day (all of which has constantly had to have new and ever more inventive and novel applications of glue applied to them in order to maintain appearances and some semblance of consistency to them), is what drives us.

    We are fully aware that this is not some kind of academic discussion group. It's as real as it gets. The bottom line is that JFM can't do a thing until something material is produced. It is then down to which ever authority wishes to to pass comment, thereafter, we can pitch in (I'm sharpening my sabre right now). It isn't exactly as if this was unexpected or that the beast that we are dealing with is an unknown quantity.

    I hope this affords you at least some degree of reassurance. And believe me when I say that I appreciate your concern.

    This is the second time that you have taken my blade. As a direct result of the last occasion, I ended up writing two lengthy articles for The Firm. At this particular instance, I am not sure if I have either sufficient material to deal with the point you raise or the time to devote to the issue given my current circumstances. However, please feel free to contact Prof Black if you wish to get in touch with me directly to discuss aspects of our campaign on a more personal basis. He has my permission to release my e-mail address to you.

    Yours,
    Robert.

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  16. Just a note from the other side of the wall:

    It is beyond my comprehension why Abdel-Jalil would ever make this kind of statement to a damned Swedish backwater rag, yet remain completely silent and unquestioned about it by much more relevant outlets such as al-Jazeera and the Libyan media. There is not the slightest weight to this story. In any case, Abdel-Jalil is not considered (by Libyans) to be in very hot water. He is seen as one who "stood up" to Gaddafi fairly recently, submitting his resignation over the case of some 300 prisoners that were being held past their sentence or else despite being found not guilty. Of course, on the matter of justice in general, and how it relates to Libya and Libyans, I am not surprised that the JFM spokesman, Mr. Forrester, misses the boat by a few parsecs.

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  18. Dear Suliman,

    Excellent to see you back again. Not only that but, for the first time, we seem to have found at least a little common ground. I'm not that desperately concerned though about how many light years I may have missed a non existent boat by. Doubtless tickets will be available for further embarkations. We'll just have to wait and see what takes form.

    Yours,
    Robert.

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  19. Suliman, thank you for your take on this latest development. I was wondering what you might make of it.

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  20. Blogiston, regardless of how this all plays out the case put by the SCCRC does not change one iota.

    We still have US millions being paid to witnesses. Not permitted in a Scottish Court.

    We still have a break in a Heathrow on the morning of the day Pan Am 103 went down. (Information which was withheld from the court.)

    We still have forensic evidence which can be challenged.

    We still have an issue with conflicting weather reports when it comes to the weather described by Gauci on the day the clothes were bought and the weather on the day judges decided Megrahi bought them.

    We still have documentation from Air Malta regarding all baggage being accompanied from Luqa and accounted for at Frankfurt.

    We still have Gauci's failure to positively identify Megrahi even once.

    Nothing that has emerged recently challenges any of those things.

    Rugs have been getting pulled out from under the truth about Lockerbie since the very beginning. So nothing much will change really with recent events.

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