tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073021351804532798.post525510837998487920..comments2024-03-15T06:02:30.623+00:00Comments on The Lockerbie Case: 'Door wide open' for appeal against Lockerbie plane bombing conviction Robert Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03606456028430261555noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073021351804532798.post-32441319601524229222016-05-19T21:55:42.308+01:002016-05-19T21:55:42.308+01:00True words said could not have said them better.True words said could not have said them better.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15127977471387619455noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073021351804532798.post-6274735896186784142016-05-19T14:46:12.413+01:002016-05-19T14:46:12.413+01:00The point many commentators are failing to get abo...The point many commentators are failing to get about the identification evidence is that Megrahi being identified as the clothes purchaser was an essential underpinning for the finding that the bomb suitcase travelled on KM180.<br /><br />The judges were faced with an investigation that had focussed hugely on Frankfurt and Malta, and had dismissed the Heathrow evidence with "phooey, not interested" and a wave of the hand. However, the evidence from Heathrow was substantial. A suitcase matching the description of the bomb suitcase was seen in the container, more or less in the position of the explosion, an hour before the feeder flight landed. Airside security was very lax, people were coming and going all afternoon, and the baggage handler in charge of the container testified that "anyone who worked at the airport" could have put a suitcase into the container during that time. The prosecution had no answer to the question "if that wasn't the bomb suitcase, what was it?" and merely relied on pointing to Frankfurt and Malta and shouting "look over there!" The main argument against that case being the bomb seemed to be that the police had never thought it was worth following up.<br /><br />In contrast the evidence from Frankfurt was anything but compelling. Partial records that survived after the main dataset was lost were very difficult to interpret. A record existed that suggested an undocumented, unaccompanied item had been transferred from KM180 to PA103, but then there were records that suggested undocumented items had been transferred from flights from New Delhi, Berlin Tegel and Warsaw as well as Malta. The only thing that made Malta special in that respect was that the man who bought the clothes was present at the airport when that flight departed. (There is no record of the Lockerbie investigation showing the slightest interest in the goings-on at New Delhi, Berlin Tegel or Warsaw that morning.) It was on that basis that the judges decided that was what had happened, despite complete, clear and coherent paperwork from Malta showing pretty definitely that no such suitcase existed.<br /><br />I have no idea whether Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was a bad guy in the Libyan regime, or an ordinary Joe trying to get by as best he could in a difficult economic climate. I never met him. He says one thing, others say another, and there's precious little evidence either way. Nevertheless, the middle east and indeed the world is full of bad guys. They didn't all bomb that plane. The police can't just go out and arrest some random known housebreaker after a burglary, they have to prove that the accused actually did the crime in question.<br /><br />So there is really no relevance in repeating a litany of which known Libyan bad guys Megrahi knew or was related to. So he had a Swiss bank account. The Libyan passport office had given him a passport in a false name. He had had business dealings with Edwin Bollier. He was cheating on his wife. What does any of that have to do with the price of fish?<br /><br />If he didn't buy the clothes, and the bomb didn't travel on KM180, he could have been swanning round Malta with a passport in the name of Al Capone, treating half the Libyan secret service to a party in a night-club with his Swiss bank account money, and it wouldn't have the slightest relevance to the Lockerbie disaster.Rolfehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16206952819245786811noreply@blogger.com