tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073021351804532798.post879340860614779372..comments2024-03-15T06:02:30.623+00:00Comments on The Lockerbie Case: Parliamentary questions and answers on LockerbieRobert Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03606456028430261555noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1073021351804532798.post-52757272511501296282017-03-06T22:26:32.140+00:002017-03-06T22:26:32.140+00:00Yes, once the case was just that to me - 'two ...Yes, once the case was just that to me - 'two Libyan nationals'. <br />Why not? We all knew about Libya and Gadaffi, vs. us, the good guys. And we run fair trials.<br /><br />Mr. Hogg:<br />"...exhaustive consideration to all information relevant to the Lockerbie bombing..."<br />If only he would have said 'selective consideration'. Maybe somebody will give him 'Adequately explained...' for his 73rd birthday?<br /><br />"...the available evidence does not support charges against the nationals of any country besides Libya". <br />If only he would have said ', including Libya'<br /><br />Now I understand the interesting advantage of thin evidence and ditto background knowledge: the case can be taken whereever it is most convenient. The less we know about the guy we grab, the less chance that there are good arguments against lynching him.<br /><br /><br />A couple of years earlier, in 1992:<br /><br />Mr. Bernie Grant: "To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy to support the efforts of the Government of Libya to prosecute the Libyan nationals alleged to have committed offences in connection with the Lockerbie bombing; and if he will make a statement."<br /><br />Mr. Hogg: "No. We believe that Libyan intelligence services are heavily involved in the functioning of the Libyan judiciary. As is clear from the Lord Advocate's announcement on 14 November, it is alleged that the Libyan intelligence services are implicated in the bombing of Pan Am 103. There can therefore be no confidence in the impartiality of a Libyan court."<br /><br />The right thing to say again, and this time he is right without modifications. <br />I would also not trust a Libyan trial. Why should they be any better than we are?<br /><br />Our investigative authorities, our indictions, our courts, our evidence, our selected judges, our verdicts.<br /><br />And so few Tim Dalyells to ever bother putting question marks to any of it. Maybe because there is little to gain and much more to lose, in our popularity-based democracy.<br />SMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13272238187226269250noreply@blogger.com