Wednesday 21 October 2015

Lockerbie evidence points firmly in the direction of Libya

[This is the headline over an article by Magnus Linklater in today’s edition of The Times (subscription). It reads as follows:]

Every countertheory has been examined and has led nowhere

It is time to extinguish the last embers of controversy that have heated the Lockerbie case for so long. For more than two decades critics have argued that Scottish police got the wrong man and that the prosecution of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi was — perhaps deliberately — a botched job.

Yet last week, after a long and dogged investigation, the Crown Office announced that it had identified two further suspects, and was asking the government in Tripoli to allow it access to them in prison. It may not succeed — Libya is in chaos at the moment — but it is clear that enough prima facie evidence has now emerged to perhaps home in on those who planned and helped execute a terrorist attack that killed 270 innocent people 27 years ago.

Those who have argued down the years that this line of inquiry is misguided, and that Libya was not responsible, have some hard questions to answer. Why would the Crown Office still be spending public money and using scarce resources to shore up a case that is — as its critics claim — fundamentally flawed?

The central accusations that have sustained the conspiracy theorists is that evidence was manipulated by the CIA to accuse Libya rather than Syria or Iran; that information was withheld from defence lawyers representing al-Megrahi, the only man convicted of the bombing; and that Scottish judges presided over what they call “the worst miscarriage of justice in British legal history”.

Ever since, they argue, the Scottish judicial system has connived in an attempt to prevent the truth coming out. Allowing al-Megrahi back to Libya on condition that he dropped his appeal was part of the strategy.

Why, then, should that same legal process be obstinately nurturing a case that it must, by now, have conceded is wrong-headed? Perhaps, as one of its accusers has alleged, the explanation is sheer stupidity. Or, as another claims, it is desperately trying to cover its tracks by pursuing an empty investigation.

But perhaps it is simply following the evidence, and doing what every family of every Lockerbie victim wants it to, which is trying to get at the truth. The hard facts are that every countertheory, and every alternative thread of evidence, has been examined to distraction, and has led nowhere. The time has come for those who cling to them to accept that the evidence points firmly in the direction of Libya rather than the myriad of misty theories and unsupported allegations on which their case has rested.

[RB: Magnus Linklater is profoundly mistaken. The Justice for Megrahi campaign is not advancing “countertheories”. It is drawing attention to grave flaws in the evidence that resulted in the conviction of Abdelbaset Megrahi and to credible scientific and other evidence that further undermines the case against him. This evidence has been pointed out to Mr Linklater by John Ashton amongst others and he has been challenged to respond. Although promising to do so, he has not. All that he contributes is the assertion that the conviction was correct (because Scottish judges do not make mistakes, perhaps?) and that those who fail to swallow it hook, line and sinker are purblind conspiracy theorists. For Mr Linklater, as far as the Megrahi conviction is concerned all is for the best in the best of all possible legal systems. When the house of cards crumbles, as it assuredly will, Scotland’s Dr Pangloss will be deservedly left hanging his head in shame at his part in defending the indefensible.]

13 comments:

  1. DOSSIER LOCKERBIE, 2015: Unfulfilled quest in the Lockerbie case.

    At an early stage of Ken Dornstein’s planning of the film "My Brother's Bomber", MEBO have asked Ken to make an effort in order to get access to the MST-13 timer fragments (PT-35/b) and (DP-31/a) in Scotland. He said that he already made an unsuccessful attempt. He wrote in a mail end of November 2012: “I will look for the email from the Crown Office. I can't recall if I specifically asked to see the timer fragment. I was interested in access to evidence and "productions" in general and they gave me their general argument for refusing.”

    Mebo encouraged Ken Dornstein to apply again at the Crown Office and file an official request to film the MST-13 fragments. He thought it would be a good idea to try again, and to do it officially. As a brother of a victim – on a mission to find the truth – there was confident hope that he would break the wall and obtain permission to film the crucial pieces of evidence.

    Bad news from Ken Dornstein came by mail in July 2014: “I have tried to get access to any evidence held in Scotland—even things much less sensitive than the fragment—and they won’t allow it. They still believe that they need to preserve the evidence in case of another trial, or at least that’s what they say. But, trust me, I haven’t given up either!”

    Mebo knows from another professional UK filmteam that the access to the original MST-13 fragments was stonewalled... The reasons for the denials do not make any sense. The filmmakers would just have filmed the fragments - without touching them... Edwin Bollier suspects that the Scottish authorities have “something” to hide.
    +++
    CONTINUATION BELOW >>>

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  2. >>> CONTINUATION

    The Scottish Police have determined, after extensive investigation that the green circuit board (PT 35) is single sided and composed of nine (9) layers of glass cloth, type 7628.
    A solder mask has been applied to both sides of the board. The solder mask appears to be a wet epoxy base type that was either screen printed or brushed on to the circuit board. The tracks are coated with pure tin, probably from an electrolysis tin solution, presumably to aid in solderability. Normal electronic grade solder, 60 to 65 per cent tin (with the remainder lead), has been used to make a solder connection to the pad.
    Personnel from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Explosives Unit did cover a similarity between the circuit board fragment (PT 35) and a printed circuit board, which is a component part of an electronic timer recovered In Africa in September, 1986 (now referred as specimen K-l). On June 22, 1990, a side by side comparison of specimen K-l and PT 35, resulted in a positive identification of PT 35, as being similar to specimen K-l. In essence, it has been determined that the PT 35 circuit board fragment originated from a circuit board, that was like or identical to specimen K-l circuit board, Specimen K- 1 is described as part of a digital, battery operated, long delay timer detonator, capable of providing electrical power to fire an electrical detonator, which would initiate the high explosive main charge.
    Link to FBI declassified FBI-report: https://pt35b.wordpress.com/…/…/fbi-investigation-of-mst-13/
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    Based on research by Edwin Bollier & MEBO Ltd. the presented fragment (PT-35) to the FBI lab cannot be the original MST-13 fragment as allegedly found in Lockerbie. The reasons for this allegation:

    1) At the time of the presentation of the (PT-35) fragment at the FBI laboratory on June 22nd,1990, the original „carbonised“ MST-13 timer fragment (PT-35) consisted already of two pieces. The PT-35 fragment was cut by Siemens Germany on April 27th, 1990 into two pieces, 2 (two) months before the visit by Henderson & Co at the FBI laboratory in the USA. After the Siemens cutting session, the larger part was marked as (PT-35/b) and the smaller part was marked as (DP-31/a

    2) The FBI laboratory report confirms, that the examined (PT-35) timer fragment was covered on both sides with solder masque.

    3) The FBI laboratory report confirms, that the colour of fragment was green and consisted of 9 layers of fibreglass.

    All those characteristics confirm that they did not examine and compared the original black carbonised (PT-35) fragment as found in Lockerbie.
    A long time after the court verdict in Zeist - a secret kept fax by expert Feraday to SIO Chief Stuart Henderson – unveiled that the (PT-35) fragment was found on January 20th, 1990 in a Slalom shirt.

    The original fragment on the photo (red circle) showed - on a second look - 3 handmade scratches and the letter “M”. (short form for “Muster” = sample” in the German language)

    At the court in Zeist, witnesses as, Scottish Chief Inspector, William Williamson, Dr. Thomas Hayes (RARDE) and expert Allen Feraday (RARDE) made under oath, false statements. For example it was testified that the MST-13 timerfragment, registered on the additional page 51, was found already on Mai 12th, 1989 in a Slalom shirt.

    All those “flops” lead to a slowdown of a possible new review of the Lockerbie case. False statements – especially by high-ranking police officers and forensic experts - should be taken serious.

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    The Lockerbie case is a magnet for lies and false statements. An incredibly untrue story in the worldwide media led to a tremendous confusion in the Lockerbie case and was responsible for fatal misjudgement of the situation in an early stage of the Libyan civil war in 2011.

    CONTINUATION BELOW >>>

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  3. >>> CONTINUATION

    The former head of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) Mustafa Abdul Jalil (now based in Dubai) said, at the beginning of the civil war in Libya, in an interview with the Swedish newspaper "Expressen" (February 24, 2011) that he has the evidence and can prove that Gaddafi orchestrated the bombing of PanAm 103. Unfortunately the UN, USA and UK / SCOTLAND “believed” the statement by the head of NTC Mustafa Abdul Jalil. It was a welcomed story to put the blame on “Mad dog” Gadaffi for killing 270 civilians on board of PanAm 103. Mustafa Abdul Jali failed to come up with the promised evidence. Shamefully he blamed later the newspaper for misquoting him... It all turned out to be a well organised propaganda stunt.

    Former Libyan intelligence Chief Moussa Koussa has issued a statement denying any involvement in the Pan Am 103 atrocity, affirming for the first time the denials attributed to him by former Member of Parliament in the House of Commons Tam Dalyell and Saif Gadaffi, who both also said that Koussa was not involved in the Lockerbie event.

    Moussa Koussa is believed to have been an intelligence officer at the time of the 1988 Lockerbie bomb in which 270 people were killed. He made a high-profile defection to Britain in March 2012 and was interviewed by police and Scottish prosecutors investigating the bombing.

    He left the country as a free man. All sanctions against him have been lifted and he faced no longer travel restrictions. He also gained unlimited access to his frozen financial assets. The Crown Office, unveiled nothing about the content of the confidential discussions with Moussa Koussa... You might be wondering why such a high profile intelligence officer was allowed to leave the country as a free man... Moussa Koussa’s comment is very simple: "I had no involvement of any kind or knowledge of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988. (Koussa is now living in Qatar.)

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    Al Megrahi & Libya have nothing to do with the attack on PanAm 103 over Lockerbie ! Mr. Al Megrahi was innocently in imprisoned for 10 years - He remains the political victim No. 271! Was Dornstein's film made to satisfy the guilty conscience of some victim’s relatives? Was it due to the acceptance of – as Saif Gadaffi said – “blood money of US $ 2.7 billion”?

    Please visit information link, Clearing House: Lockerbie: $2.7 billion Sham and Shame !
    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4460.htm

    by Edwin Bollier, MEBO Ltd Telecommunication Switzerland, webpage: www.lockerbie.ch

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  4. sorry forgotten Part:

    Ken Dornstein set out in 2011 on a quest to identify a number of Libyan suspects who could have been responsible for the death of his elder brother David in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
    Former Scottish SIO Stuart Henderson, (Crown witness number 696), provided Ornstein with a list of eight to ten known names of individuals from the files of the original investigation who seemed to play a role in the bombing. So far they had never been indicted, because after extensive investigations by FBI, Scottish Police, BKA and Swiss BUPO, no evidence has been found. Obviously for dramaturgical reasons the names and photos of the so called suspects have been put on a “Wanted list” on the wall of Dornstein’s research office.

    As a reminder: SIO Chief Superintendent Stuart Henderson visited in June 1990 – accompanied by Chief Inspector, William Williamson and Forensic expert Allen Feraday (RARDE) - the FBI Criminal Laboratory in Washington lead by FBI Expert Tom Thurmann. Their task was to compare a manipulated MST-13 Timerfragment (PT-35) with a MST-13 Timer (K-1) in possession of the CIA. The K-1 Timer timer was allegedly found in Togo.

    The results of the investigations and comparison have been documented in a secret FBI-Report in Washington on August 20th, 1990. Dok. Nr. 262-23. The document is now declassified.

    by Edwin Bollier, MEBO Ltd

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  5. Some folks are asking that because Linklater's statements remain so clear in defiance of facts and logic, is he perhaps working to someone else's agenda?

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    1. That's a very delicate way of putting it. To me, certainly, it seems obvious that Magnus is acting as the press mouthpiece of Frank Mulholland.

      Interestingly, in an earlier piece a few years ago, Magnus was clearly acting in the same capacity for another lawyer. Bill Taylor, Megrahi's defence advocate. Mr. Taylor's views were not especially helpful to anyone advancing the case for his former client's innocence, shall we say. (We were also told by Magnus that Mr. Taylor was writing a book about the case, which I for one am gagging to read. However, almost three years on, and still no sign of it.)

      This is all pretty incestuous.

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  6. This is the most superficial piece of "journalism" that I have yet seen from Mr Linklater, who is intelligent enough to know what he's doing. Presumably he regards the SSCRC as conspiracy theorists, along with the rest of us. He probably assumes that his readership is totally uninformed, a reasonable assumption given the Scottish readership of the Times.

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    1. What is particularly galling is that Magnus is provided with a free platform in broadsheet newspapers (the Times and the Scotsman) to say what he likes without fear of contradiction. Those of us who know he's talking absolute cobblers simply have to bite our tongues. It was ever thus.

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    2. Actually, Ewan, depending on how you define "intelligent", I don't think Magnus has the intellectual capacity to understand what he's doing. He's like Ken Dornstein in a way. He has a fixed idea in his mind and absolutely no evidence and absolutely no logic is going to change that. He simply isn't listening and isn't receptive to any other point of view. He may listen politely, but he doesn't understand and he doesn't attempt to understand. He simply pigeon-holes the words away as "conspiray theories" and carries right on where he left off.

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  7. People always want to know who we think did it. Isabel Fraser asked me that on GMS on Saturday. I had already made it quite clear that my position (in public anyway, I'm entitled to consider other possibilities in the privacy of my own thoughts) is that the whole thing was a cock-up (her term), followed by a cover-up as so often happens. She asked me who I thought did it. I said that wasn't the point. The point was that the investigation went off the rails and missed the evidence of the introduction of the bomb at Heathrow. Only when that was acknowledged could we have a proper investigation of what happened at Heathrow and hopefully identify the real culprits.

    Perhaps Magnus wasn't listening to GMS on Saturday.

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  8. Linklater spouting his masters' propaganda, as we know, is nothing new. Even the cringeworthy crassness and dishonesty of this latest article is no great surprise. What is of some interest is the fact that the Times piece is part of a rash of Libya-did-it stories which have surfaced at pretty much the same time: the Dornstein PBS films, Linklater's drivel (at least two pieces recently), John Simpson popping up in Tripoli on the Today programme this morning and other TV, print and online pieces in Europe and the US; all pushing an assumption of Libyan guilt. Linklater's article is less about any new Libyan evidence and more about undermining those of us who don't accept the Crown story and I suspect that this campaign has come about because those who framed Megrahi are getting increasingly nervous that we are getting ever closer to the truth. In the last couple of years we have seen major works from John Ashton and Morag Kerr undermining the official version and we currently have some very exciting research from Ludwig De Braekeleer which looks likely to show that the main plank of the case against Libya was a deliberate fraud. Meanwhile the investigation into possible police malpractice in the case is due to report soon and the SCCRC report won't go away. Squeaky-bum time in Washington, Langley, Edinburgh and London?

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  9. A lot like Giaka, the name Moussa Koussa seems to have escaped Magnus.

    I wonder if Magnus remembers the Crown Office’s efforts to reprimand this long-time ‘suspect’ as an accomplice to the bombing of Pan Am 103? So sure and determined were the Crown Office of his involvement in the bombing that Moussa breezed into the hands of the UK authorities and the CO, only to simply saunter out the country again to somewhat more peaceful life. Only after ‘intense and extensive’ questioning by the Crown Office to be fair (so we are told) although nothing has been forthcoming of this particular charade/debriefing. An undoubted significant figure within the Gaddafi ‘regime’, and despite the caterwauling by investigators of his instrumental part in aiding Megrahi’s villainy, Moussa and this argument seems to have simply evaporated.

    Our new ‘suspects’ Senussi and Masud may not be afforded the charity Mr Koussa was by the Crown Office officials, but Magnus certainly seems to have selective memory when it comes to previous 'suspects' who have came and went, and paid liars providing testimony in court.

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    1. Your comment about Moussa Koussa BRILLIANT ...

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