[This is the headline over a report in today's edition of The Daily Telegraph. It reads in part:]
Victims of the Lockerbie bombing have criticised the Government for paying for tens of thousands of pounds-worth of advice from Libya on airline safety.
Documents show that taxpayers covered the cost of flying Libyan security experts to the UK, while British officials met Libyan counterparts at Tripoli airport.
In all five different visits were made to discuss “aviation security” at a total cost to the taxpayer nearly £25,000 between 2007 and 2009.
The Government declined to say what was discussed at the meetings, insisting it does not comment on “specific operational issues”. (...)
Pamela Dix, whose brother, Peter, was killed in the bombing, said that while she was "entirely in favour for a deepening of our links with Libya", it was "bizarre and inappropriate to receive advice in this way".
She added: "Whatever the level of responsibility for Lockerbie, they have been responsible for the destruction of other aircraft.
"The idea of the Department for Transport seeking advice on aviation security - let alone paying for it - from Libya is quite shocking.
"I was in favour of diplomatic relations being restored with Libya, in the interests of mutual understanding and to reduce the likelihood of terrorist activity, but not at the expense of good sense and an understanding of the political context."
The details of the controversial programme were disclosed in a response to a Freedom of Information request from The Daily Telegraph.
The details included how six British officials met four Libyan officials in Britain in March last year to discuss “aviation security” and officials from the Department for Transport visited Tripoli airport twice in 2007, and on two more occasions earlier this year.
Other talks have also taken place since 2001 about increasing the number of flights between the UK and the north African country. (...)
Around 140,000 passengers fly regularly between the UK and Libya on three airlines - British Airways, Libyan Arab Airlines and Afriqiyah Airways.
Anglo-Libyan relations are under intense scrutiny after Lockerbie bomber Abdelbasset al-Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds in August, a move which was denounced as a “mistake” by US President Barack Obama.
>>The Government declined to say what was discussed at the meetings, insisting it does not comment on “specific operational issues”.<<
ReplyDeleteIn praxis understandable.
>>Pamela Dix, The idea of the Department for Transport seeking advice on aviation security - let alone paying for it - from Libya is quite shocking.<<
Libya would have a lot to say about aviation security.
There are so many examples of "too little dialogue" and so few of "too much".
- - -
So, it would probably not be in our interest if our governments could not engage in talks for whatever reason they might see fit, without having to justify details to the public.
But in cases, where there are reasons to suspect foul play, and attempts are being made to hide matters, we have all rights to demand answers and openness. The Lockerbie case is one grave example.
>>they have been responsible for the destruction of other aircraft.<<
Have they? Maybe. I don't know what to believe in anymore. My childhood conviction of our Western societies being bastions of truth and justice lies death with the tens of millions of people that we have have been murdering since WW2.
"The revelations come at a sensitive time, with police reopening the investigation into the 1988 Libyan bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie and fresh questions over the shooting by a Libyan gunman of WPC Yvonne Fletcher in 1984."
ReplyDeleteAccording to Dumfries & Galloway Chief Constable Patrick Shearer, the so-called "reopening" of the police investigation will be limited to a review of the evidence to see if any further lines of inquiry can be explored. Shearer stressed it was not a re-launch of the police investigation into the Lockerbie disaster (see http://lockerbiecase.blogspot.com/2009/10/police-boss-dismisses-lockerbie-case.html ).
That much is in the public domain, but the Daily Telegraph should explain what is meant by fresh questions over the shooting by a Libyan gunman of WPC Yvonne Fletcher in 1984 ?
Could my post on this blog on 4 November 2009 have any bearing on this matter, I wonder?
Patrick Haseldine said...
baz said he suspected the Khreesat device from Neuss was brought over on the Gothenburg Ferry, prior to its ingestion at Heathrow.
Which reminded me of what Channel 4's well-researched film Dispatches - Murder In St James's discovered about the German gun that was used to kill WPC Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan Embassy on 17 April 1984. The murder weapon was supplied by the Hein terrorist group in West Berlin, brought over on the ferry in a "gold-coloured Mercedes", and delivered to the anti-Gaddafi organisation, al-Burkan ('Volcano'), in London.
Al Burkan was said to have been financed by the Reagan White House (ie Ollie North) and had several of its operatives installed in the Libyan Embassy at 5 St James's Square. The film demonstrated that the fatal shot had been fired not from a Sterling submachine gun inside the Embassy, but from a less powerful and more accurate weapon on the sixth floor of 3 St James's Square, presumably by another al-Burkan operative.
Al Burkan's leader, Ragab Zatout, had planned to overthrow Gaddafi, and seize control of Libya's oil wealth, but his coup attempt was thwarted 10 days after WPC Fletcher's murder. (Zatout is apparently alive and well, and living comfortably somewhere in the USA!)
This is what the film's blurb says:
"Dispatches - Murder in St James's (1997)
"Investigation into the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher, who was shot whilst on duty during a protest outside the Libyan Embassy in 1984.
"The two-part documentary suggests that she was killed, not by someone inside the Embassy as originally claimed, but by a gunman in an adjacent building used by the British security services. The film probes deeper, and finds evidence indicating that the murder was carried out by an anti-Gaddafi terrorist organisation backed by the CIA. By killing a British police officer and blaming Gaddafi's Libya, the plan, it seems, was to start a coup in order to remove Gaddafi and install a puppet regime to seize Libya's oil.
"The downing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie could have been another attempt at this plan to remove Gaddafi."
The film is riveting and can be viewed in eight parts here: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=19f4b36972ec4b2a
Enjoy!
04 November, 2009
The next day, I was amazed to find that the eight youtube videos of Murder In St James's, which were previously viewable on demand, were suddenly "not available in your country due to copyright restrictions."
However, courtesy of the copyright owner, Fulcrum TV, a 1 min 24 sec clip of the film is freely available here: http://www.fulcrumtv.com/murder%20in%20st.%20james.html.
The clip shows a gold-coloured Mercedes leaving the cross-channel ferry at Dover, on its way to deliver the WPC Fletcher murder weapon to al-Burkan in London.
Correcting what I said above, the unsuccessful coup attempt against Gaddafi actually took place on 8 May 1984, 21 days after WPC Fletcher's murder (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Front_for_the_Salvation_of_Libya#Military_action ).
ReplyDelete