This is the headline over a report just published on the Telegraph website. For a fleeting instant I naively entertained the thought that the documents might be those in respect of which the UK government, acting through then Foreign Secretary David Miliband, in Mr Megrahi's most recent appeal claimed public interest immunity on grounds of national security. What a silly-billy I am! The papers that are to be released are as follows:
'In Washington, Mr Cameron said: “I am asking the Cabinet Secretary in the UK to go back over all the paperwork and see if there is anything else that should be released so there is the clearest possible picture out there of what decision [ie to repatriate Mr Megrahi] was taken and why.
'“I do not currently think that another inquiry is the right way to go. I don’t need an inquiry to tell me what I already know, which is that it was a bad decision.”'
So there we are. The circumstances in which Mr Megrahi was returned to his homeland are to be the focus of the document review rather than the circumstances in which he was wrongly convicted. Any meaningful inquiry would, of course, be too embarrassing to both the UK and the USA to be contemplated. O tempora, O mores!
What David Cameron obviously now needs to do is to lend his support to the campaign for a U.N. investigation into the targeting of Bernt Carlsson on Pan Am Flight 103.
ReplyDeleteRobert you weren't naive. I'm sure many hearts leapt on seeing those words.
ReplyDeletePatrick the problem with a UN investigation (I hope someone will correct me here if I'm wrong) is that whatever the outcome the US and UK could veto any conclusions reached? I hope I'm wrong that they could do that in an investigation.
The veto problem should not arise, Jo G, because this would be a UN Commission of Inquiry empowered by the UN General Assembly.
ReplyDeleteThe UN Security Council (where the veto does apply) is no longer "seized of" the Lockerbie issue.
As a lapsed diplomat, that's my understanding of the current situation at the United Nations!
Thank you Patrick. In that case a UN investigation is what we need. The views of Dr Hans Koechlar, the UN observer at the original trial, were shocking when he spoke of the conduct of the Scottish Judiciary (in delaying Megrahi's second appeal for more than two years) as being tantamount to the obstruction of justice. What a judgement on the Scottish Justice System.
ReplyDeletePatrick, your comments about an investigation on a conspiracy regarding the Lockerbie bombing pertaining to Bernt Carlsson are getting as boring as Ebola's "nutter" comments.
ReplyDeleteThis is how complimentary Caustic Logic was about you, Noyb, on 24 July 2010:
ReplyDelete"Something says this a deeply invested person, perhaps Frank [Duggan] himself or one of the American survivors. They all sound the same to me. Something about the name "Noyb" suggests he (I presume) won't be offering any explanation. I don't really care.
"But I did undersell myself above. Noybie, let me put it this way: Who I am is someone who, on review of the evidence, truly believes that Megrahi is probably innocent and the real killers of those 270 people have never been caught.
"Now, as a person who believes that, what kind of person would I be if I didn't get involved and alert people of the alarming possibility?
"You don't have any further comment, do you? You aren't interested in dialog or learning, just wanted to say you were angry and I shouldn't write about Frank Duggan and the families any more. Did I make any errors you can help me fix? I'd just really like a follow-up here..."
Still bored, Noyb?