[This is the headline over an article in today's edition of the Sunday Mirror. It reads as follows:]
Barack Obama will demand the Lockerbie bomber as the price of supporting a new government in Libya.
The US President says the deportation of freed Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi is a condition of him backing the rebels if they win power.
Mr Obama wants Megrahi to be tried in the States for putting a bomb on the New York-bound jet that blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, a crime for which he was convicted by a Scottish court.
Cancer-stricken Megrahi has disappeared in Libya where he has been living after being released from jail because he supposedly had only months to live.
Intelligence sources fear he has been taken into ruler Colonel Muhamar Gaddafi’s own compound - and that Libyan leader would rather kill him than let his Lockerbie secrets be revealed.
Megrahi is believed to know the full story of the bombing in which 270 died and can name everyone involved - including Gaddafi.
The Sunday Mirror understands that top US officials have held talks with rebel leaders and demanded Megrahi be handed over.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held a conference on Wednesday with FBI Director Robert Mueller and Attorney-General Eric Holder about how bring Megrahi and Gaddafi to justice.
A Washington source said: “This is seen as a real chance to get hold of the bomber who killed 189 American citizens.
“He may have spent a few years in a Scottish prison but in the eyes of the American people he has never faced justice.
"The US Justice Department said the indictment of Megrahi and another suspect remained pending and the investigation into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 remains open.”
Democratic Senator Robert Menendez said the deportation of al-Megrahi should be a condition of the US recognising a new Libyan government.
[The United States Government, along with that of the United Kingdom, proposed the UN Security Council resolutions that set up the Lockerbie trial at Camp Zeist. Both governments thereby undertook internationally binding obligations to comply with the legal processes thus set in motion. The United States cannot lawfully renounce those obligations either unilaterally or in conjunction with whatever new government it chooses to recognise in Libya. To have Abdelbaset Megrahi lawfully handed over to the US would require a further UN Security Council resolution. The United States, as a permanent member of the Security Council could, of course, propose such a resolution. But would the other members support it? The US could also, naturally, simply ignore international legality (as it did, with the UK's supine support, in launching the invasion of Iraq) and seize Megrahi by force (with or without the connivance of a new Libyan regime).
The IntelliBriefs website yesterday published an interesting article entitled Libya, Kaddafi and Lockerbie. It incorporates articles from Tam Dalyell, Robert Fisk and others.
An article by Susan Lindauer on Lockerbie and Libya can be read here on The People's Voice website.]
MISSION LOCKERBIE, 2011. MATTER OF FACT:
ReplyDeleteLockerbie Trial Document: Susan Lindauer Deposition. Susan Lindauer, was former U.S. Asset covering Iraq and Libya
This deposition pertains to my direct and immediate knowledge of an American named Dr. Richard Fuisz, and unequivocal statements by Dr. Fuisz directly to me that he has first hand knowledge about the Lockerbie case. Dr. Fuisz has told me that he can identify who orchestrated and executed the bombing. Dr. Fuisz has said that he can confirm absolutely that no Libyan national was involved in planning or executing the bombing of Pan Am 103, either in any technical or advisory capacity whatsoever. He has also made direct statements to me describing harassment that he has suffered for trying to provide this information to the families of Pan Am 103 and prosecuting authorities in the United States government. Please visit URL:
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2011/03/06/lockerbie-diary-gadhaffi-fall-guy-for-ci
Thank you Susan, they speak the truth.
by Edwin and Mahnaz Bollier, MEBO Ltd., Switzerland. URL: www.lockerbie.ch
This is all academic, or will become so in the timescale required to depose Gaddafi - and Megrahi will be long deceased when/if this happens, most probably. Right now, Gaddafi is going nowhere (and will outlast Obama) because he looks capable of defending himself for a long time.
ReplyDeleteAnd what happens when Gaddafi regains full control, and down the road, hands over power to his 'now become' radicalised sons?
Well, I suppose that will be a foreign policy challenge to the next republican administration - and President Palin.
Megrahi is out on licence just now Blogiston. He is still the prisoner of the Scottish Criminal Justice system. The US is therefore way off here. They have no legal right to seize him and take him to the US for another trial for heaven's sake. Its an absurd statement from Obama but it shows how ludicrous this whole situation is becoming.
ReplyDeleteMegrahi is legally obliged to remain in touch with Scotland and the US have NO role to play in his future.
Doesn't it make you almost want to laugh when you read stuff like this from Obama? There he is leading lectures to Gaddafi about "democracy" while also threatening to steamroll his way through another country's legal processes and seize that country's prisoner to set up a new trial? Note I said "nearly" want to laugh. In fact it really is quite disturbing.
ReplyDeleteAnd actually, in view of the situation in Libya, Prof B, could the Scottish Justice System or the Scottish Government move to request Megrahi's return?
ReplyDeleteMISSION LOCKERBIE, 2011:
ReplyDeleteU.S. Senate and President Barack Obama to finally learn democracy and stick to human rights. The Swiss politician can you teach the necessary skills.
First piece of advice: let the second hand of Libya, it is enough that the U.S. has already lost 5 fingers of right hand, in other countries.
Set right to your transgressions >>> see at WikiLeaks...
***
USA Senat und Präsident Obama lernen Sie endlich Demokratie und halten Sie sich an die Menschenrechte. Die Schweizer Politiker können Ihnen die nötigen Kenntnisse beibringen.
Erster Ratschlag: lasst die zweite Hand von Libyen es reicht, dass USA bereits 5 Finger von rechten Hand verloren hat.
Orientieren Sie sich an Ihre Übertretungen bei >>> WikiLeaks...
My belief is that if Megrahi has been taken into Gadaffi's compound then it would be for Megrahi's own protection.
ReplyDeleteMegrahi knows exactly what went on at the time of his release which I am sure would severely damage the UK and US. Hence, the need for the US to have him imprisoned in their country.
On a positive note Megrahi is a hero to the Libyans and I'm sure everyone of them other than those who would sell the sovreignty of their country to the West would die to keep him in Libya.
"The Sunday Mirror understands that top US officials have held talks with rebel leaders and demanded Megrahi be handed over."
ReplyDeleteAnd we now know that SAS people were also in Libya seeking to make similar connections with rebel leaders.
This is blatant interference and in my view it is shocking that we are doing this.
Why is the UN not actively urging dialogue? Why is it not speaking directly to Gaddafi? Why instead are the US and the UK already in there looking to assist one side in the armed battle and increasingly looking like pushing to take the battle forward? I say one side: we don't even know how many sides there are or the people we are dealing with! The West is playing a very dangerous game indeed. British elsewhere in the world could suffer for this insanity, including right here at home, again!
I suspect that the 'diplomatic' mission of the SAS plus diplomat captured carrying ammunition, explosives, maps and fake passports was in reality a covert operation to blow up the arms depot at Rajma.
ReplyDeleteAnd also I wonder is it the aim of the UK and its partners to weaken the rebels so that the UK and its partners will be called in to assist the rebels leading to the UK and US controlling Libya's oil and gas industry as has happened in Iraq.
I see Obama has just reopened the Al Qaeda recruitment centre at Guantanamera Bay. Maybe, he's readying a special cell for Megrahi - that way they can avoid all the diplomatic and legal nonsense, and get on with retribution - American style.
ReplyDeletePresident Obama isn't likely to care what any of us think. He will protect what he believes in in the US National Interest, and that is not, nor has it ever been, for the truth about Lockerbie to come out unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteHe can ask Hillary what deal her husband signed (or just look it up assuming he has security clearance).
I just wanted to say how insane this is. Hand over the comatose man, so we can kangaroo his not-dead ass to Gitmo, I guess wake him up and torture him into saying a few names, and then, whatever the hell the point of all that was, we do that next. Sounds great.
ReplyDeleteAangirfan has posted on Lockerbie today 10 March
ReplyDeletehttp://aangirfan.blogspot.com/2011/03/libya-lindauer-lockerbie.html
Susan Lindauer ought to have her own pad on Fantasy Island. She managed to attend 150 meetings at the Libya Embassy in New York when the Libyan Embassy or Libyan People's Bureau (In Washington DC of course) was shut in 1981 when the Americans broke off diplomatic relations.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, didn't know about that. What was the shocking incident that triggered that closure?
ReplyDeleteNo incident in particular was cited or at least made public but according to Wikipedia it was due to the Libyan People's Bureau ongoing course of action. Perhaps they had been targetting "stray dogs".
ReplyDeleteOf course following President Reagan's inauguration the CIA/FBI were alerted that Colonel Gaddafi had sent a hit team to assasinate him. The source of this allegation was an Iranian exile
Manucher Ghorbanifar who became a close associate of colonel north and General Secord in "the enterprise" and became a key figure in the Iran-Contra scandals.
Presumably the flake Susan Lindeauer would claim her meetings were with the UN delegation (not an Embassy). Why 150 meetings, why the US Government would try to persuade Libya to agree to a trial (when the US was perfectly happy with the status quo)and why Libya would be persuaded by Miss Lindauer are questions unanswered.