Wednesday 20 July 2011

General Magnus Malan

The obituary in The Telegraph of General Magnus Malan, South Africa's defence minister at the time of the Lockerbie disaster, who died on 18 July, can be read here. That in the Cape Times can be read here. The controversy over whether a South African delegation to the United Nations, including Malan, was initially booked on Pan Am 103 but transferred onto an earlier flight to New York is explored in blog posts and comments that can be read here and by typing "Magnus Malan" into the blog's Google search facility.

[Yesterday, for the first time in a month, this blog was accessed from within Libya.]

23 comments:

  1. Extract from Magnus Malan's Telegraph obituary:

    By the time de Klerk was sworn in as president in September [1989], the clouds were already gathering around Malan. In early 1990 a police investigation was ordered into the suspected involvement of the Defence Force’s shadowy Civil Co-operation Bureau, known as CCB, which operated under his authority, in the assassination of two prominent anti-apartheid activists, David Webster and Anton Lubowski, the previous year.

    Malan ignored calls for his resignation and issued a categorical denial that he had ordered CCB members to commit murder. But in November 1990 an official government commission of inquiry found that the (now disbanded) CCB had assumed powers to try, sentence and punish people without disclosing the charges against them.

    The CCB, the commission declared, had contaminated the entire security system in South Africa by hiring murderers and people "with personality defects". These conclusions were followed by a report by the Auditor-General into the finances of the CCB which disclosed that Malan’s department had spent millions of Rand in unauthorised payments to "hit squads".

    Malan fought off demands for his resignation, saying he could not be held responsible for possible offences committed by members of CCB. But the revelation of the "secret slush fund" sealed his fate. FW de Klerk removed Malan from his post and in 1993 Malan retired from politics. The following year Nelson Mandela became the President of a fully democratic South Africa.


    Extract from Lockerbie: Ayatollah's Vengeance Exacted by Botha's Regime:

    Q. Was it the Iranians or the South Africans that put the bomb in Bernt Carlsson’s checked-in suitcase while it was unsupervised at Heathrow?

    A. The Europe Branch (based in London) of South Africa’s Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB) executed Iran’s revenge attack. CCB operatives substituted the ‘bomb bag’ for Carlsson’s suitcase. No trace of his suitcase was ever found.

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  2. The internet's back on in Benghazi

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  3. Ruth, For months I've gotten emails from a former co-worker that lives in Benghazi. She said that there is a blackout of certain sites, though.

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  4. Wait a minute, if this site is blocked, it isn't the Qadaffi government doing it. Maybe blocking sites that address reopening an investigation into Lockerbie doesn't bode well for the "rebels".

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  5. I'm not sure what Benghazi's Internet connection/disconnection has to do with General Magnus Malan's death on 18 July 2011 but please see Lockerbie: Apartheid General Targeted UN Commissioner.

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. Accusation

    Eeben Barlow, commander of South Africa's Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB) Europe Branch coordinated the Lockerbie bombing on 21 December 1988 by targeting UN Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson, the most prominent of the 270 victims.

    At Heathrow airport, CCB operatives had six hours in which to substitute the 'bomb bag' for Bernt Carlsson's checked-in suitcase, while Carlsson was attending a meeting in London with the De Beers diamond cartel. No trace of his suitcase was ever found following the Pan Am Flight 103 disaster.


    Lockerbie: J'accuse....Eeben Barlow!

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  8. I have posted the following on my blog (http://eebenbarlowsmilitaryandsecurityblog.blogspot.com/)

    LOCKERBIE BOMBING: ANOTHER BLOG, ANOTHER LIE

    I am used to being falsely accused of many things although I never expected a so-called Professor Emeritus to allow his blog to be used for disinformation purposes – unless, of course, he has proof of what he allows to be placed on his site or he is acting as someone’s propaganda agent...

    I would love to stand trial for this alleged crime and I cannot wait to hear what evidence Haseldine and Black will present during my trial.

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  9. The following statement appears on every page of this blog:
    "Readers are invited to comment on blog posts. There is no moderation of comments. But I will erase comments (a) that are not related to the Lockerbie disaster or (b) that fail to meet my -- perhaps idiosyncratic -- standards of courtesy towards other contributors. I do not erase comments simply because I disagree with them or because I, or other contributors, find them irritating."

    Patrick Haseldine's views are well and truly all his own.

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  10. I have just posted the following comment on Eeben Barlow's Milsec Blog:

    In The Guardian today, John Ashton wrote: "There is also a wealth of circumstantial evidence that suggests Lockerbie was the work of Iranian proxies, rather than Libya."

    A wealth of circumstantial evidence now points towards apartheid South Africa as the Iranian proxy that sabotaged Pan Am Flight 103 (see Lockerbie: Ayatollah's Vengeance Exacted by Botha's Regime).

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  11. INCREDULOUS! where did you get your intel from? prey tell? hells teeth, that is some fancy mental gymnastics you tout about Eeben Barlow. next you will blame him for the biblical plagues, world war two, 9/11 and the crucifixion. you are obviously an educated man but education does not necessary mean intelligent. you need more than circumstantial evidence to support a theory before publishing possibly libellous comments. you of all people should know this. what gives? did you have a brain fart? i am an ex Executive Outcomes employee and i am not some pseudo assassin of the old apartheid state or of Eeben Barlow. check your factoids before spewing garbage.
    michael b da silva

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  12. Eeben Barlow's reply to my first comment was as follows:

    "As your superior once wrote, you do seem to have 'some serious weaknesses, not good enough to get by', Patrick.

    "I would suggest you get some serious help before it is too late.

    "Anyway, I look forward to your evidence once I have been extradited to stand trial for something you imagined.

    "No rgds,

    "Eeben"

    To which I commented:

    "Fair enough, Eeben!

    "See you in Court,

    "Regards,

    "Patrick"

    Eeben Barlow refused to post this second comment.

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  13. patrick, the reason Eeben has "refused" to comment to your second comment is that he has stated on his blog that he has zero wish nor need to contact you anymore relating to your wild accusations and has marked you as spam. oh and the spam he has tagged you as is not the corned beef variety you find in a can. i agree fully with Eeben! if you bothered to go and look at his blog you would have noted that before making redundant comments. to your original accusations i say BWAHAHAHAHA! brilliant, now i know who to blame for the fact that the tooth fairy did not bring me money for my tooth that i put under my pillow. Eeben obviously had him whacked!

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  14. Questions for alleged Lockerbie bomber Eeben Barlow:

    Extract from 'Lockerbie: Ayatollah's Vengeance Exacted by Botha's Regime': "The Europe Branch (based in London) of South Africa’s Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB) executed Iran’s revenge attack. CCB operatives substituted the ‘bomb bag’ for UN Commissioner Bernt Carlsson’s suitcase. No trace of his suitcase was ever found."

    Extract from Eeben Barlow's blog: "I am sure that either Athol Visser is a pseudonym but possibly someone who is making cheap capital out of CCB. Having met people who have either claimed to be me (that’s how they introduced themselves to me – using my name) or claimed to be in CCB, Region 5, I somehow doubt his story – but, he may have been tasked by a different CCB region to do work in London. Certainly in my time, there was no Athol Visser in Region 5. I would know as I recruited everyone who served in Region 5 – Europe and Middle East."

    Dear Eeben,

    1. On 21 December 1988, you were based in London as Regional Manager of CCB Region 5 when a bomb was placed on Pan Am Flight 103 at Heathrow airport. Suppose you were charged with the Lockerbie bombing, would you admit to the crime?

    2. If not, could you please publish your alibi?

    3. Could you please publish a list of all CCB operatives who were serving in Region 5 in 1988?

    Thank you,

    Patrick

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  15. Addressing Eeben Barlow, michael b said: "Patrick has asked me to ask you questions! I have made it clear as day that I am firmly encamped on your side. He asked me to ask you for your 'alibi' for December 21st 1988. Go figure?"

    Eeben replied: "Mike, you are welcome to act as Haseldine’s relay station if you want. However, I do not need to give you or him an alibi – in fact, as allegations were made about me, they must be substantiated with fact and not fiction. As I have stated before, it is not for me to prove anything but for him to prove his lies. Regards, Eeben."

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  16. Patrick,

    Why should Eeben be required to provide an alibi when your are the one making false accusations?

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  17. @ RJ. short but sweet and well said. it seems the legal "brains" that made these fantasmagorical claims are getting their intel via their thumbs! do they not think for an iota of a second that if there were any substance to such ludicrous claims that they would have been levelled 10 years + ago already? i wonder which novella they studied in order to get their degrees? james hadley chase`s collection of very tall short stories. i am glad to see there are others out there with some levity and rational thought patterns. mike da silva

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  18. RJ, Eeben Barlow has clearly stated: "I would love to stand trial for this alleged crime [the Lockerbie bombing]."

    If Eeben Barlow has nothing to hide, he should simply publish his alibi so that the whole world will know where he was and what he was doing on Wednesday, 21st December 1988.

    Regards,

    Patrick

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  19. And what would say to support you accusation if you were in court testifying against him?

    The burden of proof is on the accuser at all times.

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  20. RJ, these are the three questions I put to Eeben Barlow:

    1. On 21 December 1988, you were based in London as Regional Manager of CCB Region 5 when a bomb was placed on Pan Am Flight 103 at Heathrow airport. Suppose you were charged with the Lockerbie bombing, would you admit to the crime?

    2. If not, could you please publish your alibi?

    3. Could you please publish a list of all CCB operatives who were serving in Region 5 in 1988?

    Why doesn't Eeben publish his answers to questions 2 and 3?

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  21. "Why doesn't Eeben publish his answers to questions 2 and 3?"

    Why won't you produce evidence that he did what you claim he did?

    You are the one making the allegation, so why dodge the burden of proof instead of insisting Eeben must prove a negative?

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  22. Because Patrick Haseldine does not have any evidence.

    This correspondence is now closed. All further contributions will be deleted.

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  23. Since the date of this exchange, I have, because of the ravings of Patrick Haseldine, been reluctantly driven to introduce pre-moderation of comments. Mr Haseldine is now barred from commenting on this blog and readers are warned that he is a malign fantasist with not a scintilla of evidence for his "theories".

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