Difference between revisions of "Pan Am Flight 103"

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==Geopolitical Background==
 
==Geopolitical Background==
 
===1988===
 
===1988===
* UK-US relations with Libya were icy over alleged Libyan sponsorship of terrorism and its stubborn refusal to 'see things the West's way'.  
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* UK/US relations with [[Libya]] were icy over alleged Libyan sponsorship of terrorism and its stubborn refusal to 'see things the West's way'.{{cn}}
* UK-US relations with Iran were slated for improvement following the cessation of the Iran-Iraq war in which both sides had been armed by the West.  
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* UK/US relations with [[Iran]] were slated for improvement following the cessation of the [[Iran-Iraq war]] in which both sides had been armed by the West.  
* On 3 July 1988 [[Iran Air Flight 655]], a civilian Airbus A300 airliner en-route from Bandar Abbas, Iran to Dubai, UAE was brought down by a missile fired by the US Navy guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes, with the loss of 290 lives. The US government claimed that the airliner had been mistaken for an attacking F14 Tomcat fighter.
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* On 3 July 1988 [[Iran Air Flight 655]], a civilian Airbus A300 airliner en-route from Bandar Abbas, Iran to Dubai, [[UAE]] was brought down by a missile fired by the US Navy guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes, with the loss of 290 lives. The US government claimed that the airliner had been mistaken for an attacking F14 Tomcat fighter.
 
* Within days of the [[Lockerbie disaster]] US government spokespeople were blaming "terrorists" possibly Palestinians. Early in 1989 a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBS_News CBS News] report "conclusively" placed the blame on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Jibril Ahmed Jibril], leader of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_Front_for_the_Liberation_of_Palestine_%E2%80%93_General_Command Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC)], asserting that Jibril's motivation was to discredit [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasser_Arafat Yasser Arafat] and cause the US to pull out of talks with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_Liberation_Organization PLO]. According to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBS_News CBS,] this "scoop" was provided by "reliable sources within the international terrorist community." In an age when "objectivity" is touted as the cornerstone of journalistic integrity, it is suspiciously convenient for a major network to about-face and refer to a "terrorist" as "reliable." It is unclear who constitutes the "international terrorist community."<ref>[http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2706&dat=19890214&id=7wVKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eB4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=1941,2315302 "Up in the air?"] ''The Michigan Daily'', 14 February 1989</ref>
 
* Within days of the [[Lockerbie disaster]] US government spokespeople were blaming "terrorists" possibly Palestinians. Early in 1989 a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBS_News CBS News] report "conclusively" placed the blame on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Jibril Ahmed Jibril], leader of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_Front_for_the_Liberation_of_Palestine_%E2%80%93_General_Command Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC)], asserting that Jibril's motivation was to discredit [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasser_Arafat Yasser Arafat] and cause the US to pull out of talks with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_Liberation_Organization PLO]. According to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBS_News CBS,] this "scoop" was provided by "reliable sources within the international terrorist community." In an age when "objectivity" is touted as the cornerstone of journalistic integrity, it is suspiciously convenient for a major network to about-face and refer to a "terrorist" as "reliable." It is unclear who constitutes the "international terrorist community."<ref>[http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2706&dat=19890214&id=7wVKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eB4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=1941,2315302 "Up in the air?"] ''The Michigan Daily'', 14 February 1989</ref>
  
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==Accident Inquiries==
 
==Accident Inquiries==
 
{{FA|Pan Am Flight 103/Fatal Accident Inquiry}}
 
{{FA|Pan Am Flight 103/Fatal Accident Inquiry}}
 
 
The [[Air Accidents Investigation Branch]] submitted a detailed 54-page report on the accident to [[Cecil Parkinson]], [[Secretary of State for Transport]], on 6 August 1990.<ref>[http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/2-1990%20N739PA.pdf "AAIB report on the accident to Boeing 747-121, N739PA at Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire, Scotland on 21 December 1988"]</ref> Informed by this report, Sheriff Principal [[John S. Mowat]] carried out a [[Pan Am Flight 103/Fatal Accident Inquiry|Fatal Accident Inquiry]] in Dumfries, [[Scotland]]. His report ran to 47 pages and was in broad agreement with the {{on}}.
 
The [[Air Accidents Investigation Branch]] submitted a detailed 54-page report on the accident to [[Cecil Parkinson]], [[Secretary of State for Transport]], on 6 August 1990.<ref>[http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/2-1990%20N739PA.pdf "AAIB report on the accident to Boeing 747-121, N739PA at Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire, Scotland on 21 December 1988"]</ref> Informed by this report, Sheriff Principal [[John S. Mowat]] carried out a [[Pan Am Flight 103/Fatal Accident Inquiry|Fatal Accident Inquiry]] in Dumfries, [[Scotland]]. His report ran to 47 pages and was in broad agreement with the {{on}}.
  
 
==The Investigation==
 
==The Investigation==
 
 
The investigation involved the following figures:{{cn}}
 
The investigation involved the following figures:{{cn}}
 
* [[Vincent Cannistraro]]  - [[CIA]] task force officer in the brutal 1980s [[Iran-Contra]] campaign. Deployed a training manual of invasion and killing of [[Nicaragua]]n citizens and officials. Wrote "the anatomy of a lie" to cover up US government involvement in Nicaragua. In 1986 was commissioned by the [[US President]] to "Destabilize [[Libya]] and destroy the Gaddafi regime". Secretly worked to arm the [[Afghanistan]] [[Mujahadeen]] and [[Ossama Bin Laden]]. His chief [[Admiral Poindexter]] chaired a top-level meeting - to which Cannistraro had access - to discuss the manufacture of evidence to destabilize the government of Yemen. He was head of the CIA Lockerbie team, but did not attend the trial to give evidence.
 
* [[Vincent Cannistraro]]  - [[CIA]] task force officer in the brutal 1980s [[Iran-Contra]] campaign. Deployed a training manual of invasion and killing of [[Nicaragua]]n citizens and officials. Wrote "the anatomy of a lie" to cover up US government involvement in Nicaragua. In 1986 was commissioned by the [[US President]] to "Destabilize [[Libya]] and destroy the Gaddafi regime". Secretly worked to arm the [[Afghanistan]] [[Mujahadeen]] and [[Ossama Bin Laden]]. His chief [[Admiral Poindexter]] chaired a top-level meeting - to which Cannistraro had access - to discuss the manufacture of evidence to destabilize the government of Yemen. He was head of the CIA Lockerbie team, but did not attend the trial to give evidence.
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[[File:Lockerbie_Trial_Judges.jpg|400px|right|thumb|Lockerbie Trial Judges: Lord Abernethy, Lord Coulsfield, presiding Judge Lord Sutherland and Lord MacLean]]
 
[[File:Lockerbie_Trial_Judges.jpg|400px|right|thumb|Lockerbie Trial Judges: Lord Abernethy, Lord Coulsfield, presiding Judge Lord Sutherland and Lord MacLean]]
 
Having been indicted in November 1991 in relation to the Lockerbie bombing, the two Libyans [[Lamin Khalifah Fhimah]] and [[Abdelbaset al-Megrahi]] were charged with conspiracy to murder, murder and a breach of the Aviation Security Act 1982, Section 2. Their trial at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands began on 3 May 2000 with a bench of three Scottish Judges - Lords Coulsfield, MacLean and Sutherland (Lord Abernethy as an alternate) - sitting without a jury. Eight months later, the Crown said it intended dropping the charges of conspiracy and breach of aviation security and would be focusing on the charge of [[murder]]. On 31 January 2001, the Judges' verdict was announced: [[Lamin Khalifah Fhimah|Fhimah]] was found not guilty, [[Abdelbaset al-Megrahi|Megrahi]] was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/493242.stm "Full wording of initial charges"]</ref>
 
Having been indicted in November 1991 in relation to the Lockerbie bombing, the two Libyans [[Lamin Khalifah Fhimah]] and [[Abdelbaset al-Megrahi]] were charged with conspiracy to murder, murder and a breach of the Aviation Security Act 1982, Section 2. Their trial at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands began on 3 May 2000 with a bench of three Scottish Judges - Lords Coulsfield, MacLean and Sutherland (Lord Abernethy as an alternate) - sitting without a jury. Eight months later, the Crown said it intended dropping the charges of conspiracy and breach of aviation security and would be focusing on the charge of [[murder]]. On 31 January 2001, the Judges' verdict was announced: [[Lamin Khalifah Fhimah|Fhimah]] was found not guilty, [[Abdelbaset al-Megrahi|Megrahi]] was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/493242.stm "Full wording of initial charges"]</ref>
 +
 +
==Media cover-up==
 +
{{FA|Lockerbie Bombing/Cover-up}}
 +
Within a few weeks of the December 1988 newspaper reports, [[Bernt Carlsson]]'s name would hardly ever be mentioned again by the {{ccm}} in the Lockerbie context. He rapidly became something of a "nonperson" whose death was never properly investigated. Patrick Haseldine]] alleges that [[Tiny Rowland]] recruited Emeritus Professor of Scots Law [[Robert Black]] to organise the British news blackout and that "for the past 20 years, Professor [[Robert Black]] has been suppressing the truth about the Lockerbie disaster".<ref>[https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3870955126581&l=5950a6622d "Blackout over Lockerbie"]</ref>
  
 
==Continuing Doubts==
 
==Continuing Doubts==
 
{{FA|Pan Am Flight 103/Continuing Doubts}}
 
{{FA|Pan Am Flight 103/Continuing Doubts}}
In 2015, doubts about the justice of [[Abdelbaset al-Megrahi|Megrahi]]'s conviction are more widespread than ever.
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As of 2015, doubts about the justice of [[Abdelbaset al-Megrahi|Megrahi]]'s conviction are more widespread than ever.
[[File:Dr_John_Cameron.jpg|300px|right|thumb|[[Dr John Cameron]], Church of Scotland's scientist]]
+
 
[[File:Hans_Koechler.jpg|300px|right|thumb|[[Hans Köchler]] UN Observer at the Lockerbie trial]]
 
 
===Cameron's Report on Forensic Evidence===
 
===Cameron's Report on Forensic Evidence===
 
{{FA|Cameron's Report on Lockerbie Forensic Evidence}}
 
{{FA|Cameron's Report on Lockerbie Forensic Evidence}}
 +
[[File:Dr_John_Cameron.jpg|300px|right|thumb|[[Dr John Cameron]], Church of Scotland's scientist]]
 
At the beginning of 2003, former South African president [[Nelson Mandela]] asked the Western Christian churches to intervene in what he termed "a clear miscarriage of justice", referring to the conviction of [[Megrahi]] at Camp Zeist. In July that year, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Rt Rev Professor Iain Torrance, took up the challenge and appointed the Church of Scotland's leading scientist Dr [[John Urquhart Cameron]] to conduct a scientific examination of all the forensic evidence which had convicted Megrahi. As a result, Cameron produced a damning report on the conduct of the forensic experts and on the evidence presented to the trial.<ref>[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4453168801559&l=a92a2892d4 "Lockerbie: Mandela and Dr John Cameron's Report"]</ref>
 
At the beginning of 2003, former South African president [[Nelson Mandela]] asked the Western Christian churches to intervene in what he termed "a clear miscarriage of justice", referring to the conviction of [[Megrahi]] at Camp Zeist. In July that year, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Rt Rev Professor Iain Torrance, took up the challenge and appointed the Church of Scotland's leading scientist Dr [[John Urquhart Cameron]] to conduct a scientific examination of all the forensic evidence which had convicted Megrahi. As a result, Cameron produced a damning report on the conduct of the forensic experts and on the evidence presented to the trial.<ref>[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4453168801559&l=a92a2892d4 "Lockerbie: Mandela and Dr John Cameron's Report"]</ref>
  
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==High profile victims==
 
==High profile victims==
{{FA|Bernt Carlsson}}
+
The highest profile victim aboard Pan Am Flight 103 was [[UN Commissioner for Namibia]], [[Bernt Carlsson]], on his way to attend a ceremony at [[United Nations]] headquarters in New York the next day when South Africa agreed to grant independence to [[Namibia]]. However, after a brief spell of attention, this angle of the bombing was not pursued by the {{ccm}}.
Newspaper reports quickly identified the highest profile Pan Am Flight 103 victim as UN Commissioner for Namibia, [[Bernt Carlsson]], who was to have attended a ceremony at United Nations headquarters in New York the next day when South Africa agreed to grant independence to Namibia. However, after a brief spell of attention, this angle of the bombing was not pursued by the {{ccm}}.
 
  
 
===US Intelligence===
 
===US Intelligence===
Four US intelligence agency employees were also aboard, having flown together from Cyprus on flight CY504 which arrived at Heathrow at 14:34:
+
Four US intelligence agency employees were also aboard, having flown together from [[Cyprus]] on flight CY504 which arrived at Heathrow at 14:34:
* [[Matthew Gannon]], the [[CIA]] deputy station chief in Beirut, [[Lebanon]]<ref>{{cite web|title=EverythingPanAm.com The Virtual Pan Am Museum |url=http://www.everythingpanam.com/index.html |accessdate=21 August 2009}}</ref>  
+
* [[Matthew Gannon]], the [[CIA]] deputy station chief in Beirut, [[Lebanon]]<ref>{{cite web|title=EverythingPanAm.com The Virtual Pan Am Museum |url=http://www.everythingpanam.com/index.html |accessdate=21 August 2009}}</ref>
 
* Major [[Chuck McKee|Chuck "Tiny" McKee]], US Army Major on secondment to the [[DIA]] in Beirut
 
* Major [[Chuck McKee|Chuck "Tiny" McKee]], US Army Major on secondment to the [[DIA]] in Beirut
 
Two [[Diplomatic Security Service]] special agents were acting as bodyguards to Gannon and McKee:
 
Two [[Diplomatic Security Service]] special agents were acting as bodyguards to Gannon and McKee:
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* Dedara Woods, Air Force Sergeant
 
* Dedara Woods, Air Force Sergeant
 
* Joe Woods, Civilian Military worker<ref>[https://www.victimsofpanamflight103.org/victims "Victims of Pan Am Flight 103"]</ref>
 
* Joe Woods, Civilian Military worker<ref>[https://www.victimsofpanamflight103.org/victims "Victims of Pan Am Flight 103"]</ref>
 
==E-petition to HMG==
 
[[File:Lockerbie_Cameron.jpg|400px|right|thumb|[[David Cameron]] laying a wreath at the [[Lockerbie Bombing|Lockerbie Memorial]] in Dryfesdale Cemetery on a 2-day visit to Scotland in May 2014]]
 
In November 2013, former diplomat [[Patrick Haseldine]] created this e-petition calling upon HM Government (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) to:
 
 
:'''"Support a United Nations Inquiry into the deaths of UN Secretary-General [[Dag Hammarskjöld]] and UN Assistant Secretary-General [[Bernt Carlsson]]"'''
 
 
:On 9 September 2013, the London-based [[Hammarskjöld Commission]] reported that there was "significant new evidence" about the plane crash that killed United Nations Secretary-General [[Dag Hammarskjöld]] and recommended that the adjourned 1962 UN Inquiry should now be reopened.
 
 
:UN Assistant Secretary-General [[Bernt Carlsson]] was the highest profile victim on Pan Am Flight 103 which was sabotaged over Lockerbie on 21 December 1988.
 
 
:Since [[Bernt Carlsson]]'s death has never been investigated, the British Government should propose extending the remit of the new UN Inquiry to cover the deaths of both senior diplomats: [[Dag Hammarskjöld]] and [[Bernt Carlsson]].
 
 
The e-petition was open for signature by UK citizens and residents from 13 November 2013 to 13 May 2014.<ref>[http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/56550 E-petition to HM Government]</ref>
 
 
On 14 May 2014, Haseldine sent this email to [[David Cameron]] via the [https://email.number10.gov.uk/ Prime Minister's Office:]
 
 
:Dear Prime Minister,
 
 
:[http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/56550 My e-petition to HM Government] had 56 signers when it closed yesterday. That petition requested HMG to "Support a United Nations Inquiry into the deaths of UN Secretary-General [[Dag Hammarskjöld]] and UN Assistant Sec-Gen [[Bernt Carlsson]]".
 
 
:On 13 May 2014, I created four new e-petitions each calling on you to "Open all [[MI6]] files on state sponsored murders":
 
:1. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/859/022/615/open-all-mi6-files-on-state-sponsored-murders/
 
:2. http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/prime-minister-david-cameron-open-all-mi6-files-on-state-sponsored-murders/
 
:3. https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/open-all-mi6-files-on-state-sponsored-murders/
 
:4. https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Prime_Minister_David_Cameron_Open_all_MI6_files_on_state_sponsored_murders/
 
 
:I hope you can agree to open these [[MI6]] files to assist the UN in its reopened investigation.
 
 
:Patrick Haseldine
 
:[[Emeritus Professor of Lockerbie Studies]]
 
 
==Media cover-up==
 
{{FA|Lockerbie Bombing/Cover-up}}
 
Within a few weeks of those December 1988 newspaper reports, [[Bernt Carlsson]]'s name would hardly ever be mentioned again by the {{ccm}} in the Lockerbie context. He rapidly became a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonperson "nonperson"], whose death was never properly investigated. [[Patrick Haseldine]] alleges that [[Tiny Rowland]] recruited Emeritus Professor of Scots Law [[Robert Black]] to organise the British news blackout and that "for the past 20 years, [[Robert Black|Professor Robert Black]] has been suppressing the truth about the Lockerbie disaster".<ref>[https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3870955126581&l=5950a6622d "Blackout over Lockerbie"]</ref>
 
  
 
{{SMWDocs}}
 
{{SMWDocs}}
  
 
==See also==
 
==See also==
===On WikiSpooks===
 
*[[The How, Why and Who of Pan Am Flight 103]]
 
*[https://wikispooks.com/wiki/File:Koechler-lockerbie-appeal_report.pdf UN Report on the first Lockerbie case appeal] Professor [[Hans Koechler]] Vienna 26 March 2002
 
*[[Document:How Megrahi and Libya were framed for Lockerbie|How Megrahi and Libya were framed for Lockerbie]] - Alexander Cockburn in "The First Post" July 2010
 
*[[Document:The Lockerbie case and the corruption of justice|The Lockerbie case and the corruption of justice]] - Dr [[Hans Koechler]]
 
 
===External sites===
 
 
*''Highly Recommended'' - [http://www.heraldscotland.com/search-7.548?q=%22Lockerbie+bombing%22 The Herald, Scotland - Lockerbie archive] - A substantial Establishment-sceptic resource.
 
*''Highly Recommended'' - [http://www.heraldscotland.com/search-7.548?q=%22Lockerbie+bombing%22 The Herald, Scotland - Lockerbie archive] - A substantial Establishment-sceptic resource.
 
*''Highly Recommended'' - [http://english.ohmynews.com/english/article_list.asp  - ohmynews - list of articles on the Lockerbie Bombing]
 
*''Highly Recommended'' - [http://english.ohmynews.com/english/article_list.asp  - ohmynews - list of articles on the Lockerbie Bombing]
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*[http://www.lockerbietruth.com/ Jim Swire's Web Site]
 
*[http://www.lockerbietruth.com/ Jim Swire's Web Site]
 
*[http://www.facebook.com/groups/118951448146734/ Facebook group: U.N. must investigate the targeting of Bernt Carlsson on Pan Am Flight 103]
 
*[http://www.facebook.com/groups/118951448146734/ Facebook group: U.N. must investigate the targeting of Bernt Carlsson on Pan Am Flight 103]
#[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1808501&l=314e4520ce&id=1059719984 'Lockerbie Conspiracy' by Thatcher and Reagan]
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*[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1808501&l=314e4520ce&id=1059719984 'Lockerbie Conspiracy' by Thatcher and Reagan]
#[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2470800&l=b833ebd5ac&id=1059719984 Lockerbie: Apartheid General Targeted UN Commissioner]
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*[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2470800&l=b833ebd5ac&id=1059719984 Lockerbie: Apartheid General Targeted UN Commissioner]
#[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1814223&l=13dd4ee5d8&id=1059719984 Pan Am Flight 103: Why has it taken so Long for the finger of suspicion to point towards South Africa?]
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*[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1814223&l=13dd4ee5d8&id=1059719984 Pan Am Flight 103: Why has it taken so Long for the finger of suspicion to point towards South Africa?]
#[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1733078&l=9e3cde0e96&id=1059719984 Lockerbie Bombing: The 'Finnish' Question]
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*[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1733078&l=9e3cde0e96&id=1059719984 Lockerbie Bombing: The 'Finnish' Question]
#[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1477102&l=07c5547c01&id=1059719984 Bernt Carlsson in Secret Meeting with 'Pressuriser' from the Diamond Cartel]
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*[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1477102&l=07c5547c01&id=1059719984 Bernt Carlsson in Secret Meeting with 'Pressuriser' from the Diamond Cartel]
#[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3415159851984&l=b32ddec019 Major Craig Williamson: the 'real' Lockerbie bomber]
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*[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3415159851984&l=b32ddec019 Major Craig Williamson: the 'real' Lockerbie bomber]
#[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1517249&l=dfb02c6e47&id=1059719984 Gordon Brown says Lockerbie victim Bernt Carlsson was the target]
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*[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1517249&l=dfb02c6e47&id=1059719984 Gordon Brown says Lockerbie victim Bernt Carlsson was the target]
#[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1791426&l=0a93a8bdfd&id=1059719984 Lost on Flight 103: A Hero to the Wretched of the World]
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*[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1791426&l=0a93a8bdfd&id=1059719984 Lost on Flight 103: A Hero to the Wretched of the World]
#[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1826405&l=b2e1f6e5c2&id=1059719984 Bernt Carlsson: A Very Private Public Servant]
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*[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1826405&l=b2e1f6e5c2&id=1059719984 Bernt Carlsson: A Very Private Public Servant]
#[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1852822&l=e73f3c5198&id=1059719984 Dr Jim Swire petitioned PM to compensate Lockerbie campaigner Patrick Haseldine]
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*[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1852822&l=e73f3c5198&id=1059719984 Dr Jim Swire petitioned PM to compensate Lockerbie campaigner Patrick Haseldine]
*[http://www.lockerbiecase.blogspot.com/ Professor Robert Black's Blog]
 
 
*[http://lockerbiecase.blogspot.com/2009/10/lockerbie-truth-is-finally-coming-out.html Comments from Patrick Haseldine on Robert Black's Blog - 6 October 2009]
 
*[http://lockerbiecase.blogspot.com/2009/10/lockerbie-truth-is-finally-coming-out.html Comments from Patrick Haseldine on Robert Black's Blog - 6 October 2009]
 
*[http://www.heraldscotland.com/crown-fights-to-keep-48-pieces-of-lockerbie-trial-evidence-secret-1.903103 Crown Fights to keep 48 pieces of evidence secret - Glasgow Herald 19 February 2010]
 
*[http://www.heraldscotland.com/crown-fights-to-keep-48-pieces-of-lockerbie-trial-evidence-secret-1.903103 Crown Fights to keep 48 pieces of evidence secret - Glasgow Herald 19 February 2010]

Revision as of 12:59, 28 May 2015

Synthesis.png A synthesis page at The How, Why and Who of Pan Am Flight 103 summarises the material in this page and other related pages..


Event.png Pan Am Flight 103  Rdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
PA103cockpit4.png
Wreckage of "Clipper Maid of the Seas" Cockpit section near Tundergarth Church
Date21 December 1988
Coordinates55°6′55.99″N 3°21′30.69″W / 55.1155528°N 3.3585250°W / 55.1155528; -3.3585250
Fatal error: The format of the coordinate could not be determined. Parsing failed.


TypeBombing.jpg bombing
Deaths270
Survivors0
Interest of'SlimVirgin', Safia Aoude, Juval Aviv, Robert Black, Ludwig De Braeckeleer, John Urquhart Cameron, William Chasey, Marina de Larracoechea, Adam Larson, Charles Norrie, Pierre Péan, George Thomson, Barry Walker
SubpagePan Am Flight 103/Cover-up
Pan Am Flight 103/Fatal Accident Inquiry
Pan Am Flight 103/The Trial
Pan Am Flight 103/Unanswered questions
DescriptionWhen Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland on 21 December 1988, killing all 259 passengers and crew on board, news reports cited UN Assistant Secretary-General, Bernt Carlsson, as its highest-profile victim. US and British intelligence operatives, posing as Lockerbie investigators, ignored the evident targeting of the UN diplomat and instead focused on the jumbo jet. With the result that the wrong country was blamed and an innocent person convicted of the Lockerbie bombing.
Boeing 747-121 "Clipper Maid of the Seas" pictured at Frankfurt Airport in July 1986
Crater and property damage in Lockerbie caused by main wreckage of Pan Am 103

On 21 December 1988 Pan Am Flight 103, a Boeing 747-121 named "Clipper Maid of the Seas", was on a scheduled transatlantic flight from London's Heathrow Airport to New York's JFK International Airport when there was an explosion on board. The aircraft broke up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie (Map), killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew members. Eleven people in Lockerbie were killed by large sections of the plane which fell in and around the town, bringing total fatalities to 270.

Thirteen years later, on 31 January 2001, a juryless trial convicted Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi of involvement in the bombing and sentenced him to life imprisonment in Scotland and acquitted his co-defendant, Lamin Khalifah Fhimah. Megrahi's appeal was refused on 14 March 2002 by a panel of five Scottish judges[1] but on 28 June 2007, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission granted Megrahi leave for a second appeal on the basis of evidence that a miscarriage of justice could have occurred.[2] After a delay of two years appeal proceedings began at Edinburgh's Court of Criminal Appeal on 28 April 2009. However, Megrahi abandoned the second appeal on 18 August 2009. Two days later the Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill released Megrahi on compassionate grounds, as suffering from terminal prostate cancer, and he returned to Libya on 20 August 2009.[3]

Megrahi's guilt is not agreed upon[4] and Wikispooks editor, Patrick Haseldine has petitioned the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon to investigate the theory that Lockerbie was a clandestine assassination of Bernt Carlsson.[5]

Official Narrative

Full article: Lockerbie Official Narrative

In August 2001, Scottish Lord Advocate Colin Boyd presented what might be considered the definite statement of the Lockerbie Official Narrative at a conference of the International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law (ISRCL):[6] While admitting that "Politics and diplomacy were necessarily interwoven with this case from the start", there is no mention of Bernt Carlsson, UN Commissioner for Namibia, and the evidence led at the trial is presented as the unvarnished truth. Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines, was determined at the trial to be a member of the Libyan Intelligence Services and of being guilty of the bombing. The narrative is predictably self-congratulatory: "In conclusion, it seems to me to be absolutely right that the investigation of crime and the prosecutorial decisions which flow from that investigation must be taken independently of political influence... Political and diplomatic action secured the trial. The investigation of the case and the prosecution of the trial were driven by the evidence."

Geopolitical Background

1988

  • UK/US relations with Libya were icy over alleged Libyan sponsorship of terrorism and its stubborn refusal to 'see things the West's way'.[citation needed]
  • UK/US relations with Iran were slated for improvement following the cessation of the Iran-Iraq war in which both sides had been armed by the West.
  • On 3 July 1988 Iran Air Flight 655, a civilian Airbus A300 airliner en-route from Bandar Abbas, Iran to Dubai, UAE was brought down by a missile fired by the US Navy guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes, with the loss of 290 lives. The US government claimed that the airliner had been mistaken for an attacking F14 Tomcat fighter.
  • Within days of the Lockerbie disaster US government spokespeople were blaming "terrorists" possibly Palestinians. Early in 1989 a CBS News report "conclusively" placed the blame on Ahmed Jibril, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC), asserting that Jibril's motivation was to discredit Yasser Arafat and cause the US to pull out of talks with the PLO. According to CBS, this "scoop" was provided by "reliable sources within the international terrorist community." In an age when "objectivity" is touted as the cornerstone of journalistic integrity, it is suspiciously convenient for a major network to about-face and refer to a "terrorist" as "reliable." It is unclear who constitutes the "international terrorist community."[7]

2000

  • UK-US relations with Libya were being 'normalised' following Libya's agreement to extradite al-Megrahi for trial and its abandonment of its allegedly belligerent stance over previously core issues of policy on trade, oil and support for groups antagonistic to Western interests. The accommodation resulted in the lifting of UN trade sanctions against Libya which had progressively paralysed its economy over the preceding decade.
  • UK-US relations with Iran were close to all-time lows and deteriorating over the usual issues of Iranian refusal to 'see things the West's way'.

Accident Inquiries

Full article: Pan Am Flight 103/Fatal Accident Inquiry

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch submitted a detailed 54-page report on the accident to Cecil Parkinson, Secretary of State for Transport, on 6 August 1990.[8] Informed by this report, Sheriff Principal John S. Mowat carried out a Fatal Accident Inquiry in Dumfries, Scotland. His report ran to 47 pages and was in broad agreement with the official narrative.

The Investigation

The investigation involved the following figures:[citation needed]

  • Vincent Cannistraro - CIA task force officer in the brutal 1980s Iran-Contra campaign. Deployed a training manual of invasion and killing of Nicaraguan citizens and officials. Wrote "the anatomy of a lie" to cover up US government involvement in Nicaragua. In 1986 was commissioned by the US President to "Destabilize Libya and destroy the Gaddafi regime". Secretly worked to arm the Afghanistan Mujahadeen and Ossama Bin Laden. His chief Admiral Poindexter chaired a top-level meeting - to which Cannistraro had access - to discuss the manufacture of evidence to destabilize the government of Yemen. He was head of the CIA Lockerbie team, but did not attend the trial to give evidence.
  • Stuart Henderson - Former Detective Chief Superintendent with the Lothian and Borders Police, replaced John Orr as the Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) at the Lockerbie Incident Control Centre in 1991, and led the Lockerbie bombing investigation.
  • Richard Marquise - FBI's chief investigator and appointed US Task Force leader in the Pan Am Flight 103 case when the Lockerbie bombing investigation began to focus on Libya.

The Trial

Full article: Pan_Am_Flight_103/The Trial
Lockerbie Trial Judges: Lord Abernethy, Lord Coulsfield, presiding Judge Lord Sutherland and Lord MacLean

Having been indicted in November 1991 in relation to the Lockerbie bombing, the two Libyans Lamin Khalifah Fhimah and Abdelbaset al-Megrahi were charged with conspiracy to murder, murder and a breach of the Aviation Security Act 1982, Section 2. Their trial at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands began on 3 May 2000 with a bench of three Scottish Judges - Lords Coulsfield, MacLean and Sutherland (Lord Abernethy as an alternate) - sitting without a jury. Eight months later, the Crown said it intended dropping the charges of conspiracy and breach of aviation security and would be focusing on the charge of murder. On 31 January 2001, the Judges' verdict was announced: Fhimah was found not guilty, Megrahi was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.[9]

Media cover-up

Full article: Lockerbie Bombing/Cover-up

Within a few weeks of the December 1988 newspaper reports, Bernt Carlsson's name would hardly ever be mentioned again by the commercially-controlled media in the Lockerbie context. He rapidly became something of a "nonperson" whose death was never properly investigated. Patrick Haseldine]] alleges that Tiny Rowland recruited Emeritus Professor of Scots Law Robert Black to organise the British news blackout and that "for the past 20 years, Professor Robert Black has been suppressing the truth about the Lockerbie disaster".[10]

Continuing Doubts

Full article: Pan Am Flight 103/Continuing Doubts

As of 2015, doubts about the justice of Megrahi's conviction are more widespread than ever.

Cameron's Report on Forensic Evidence

Full article: Cameron's Report on Lockerbie Forensic Evidence
Dr John Cameron, Church of Scotland's scientist

At the beginning of 2003, former South African president Nelson Mandela asked the Western Christian churches to intervene in what he termed "a clear miscarriage of justice", referring to the conviction of Megrahi at Camp Zeist. In July that year, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Rt Rev Professor Iain Torrance, took up the challenge and appointed the Church of Scotland's leading scientist Dr John Urquhart Cameron to conduct a scientific examination of all the forensic evidence which had convicted Megrahi. As a result, Cameron produced a damning report on the conduct of the forensic experts and on the evidence presented to the trial.[11]

Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission

Full article: Pan Am Flight 103/Continuing Doubts#Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission

On 23 September 2003 lawyers acting for Megrahi applied to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) for a review of the case (both sentence and conviction), arguing that there had been a miscarriage of justice. On 1 November 2006, Megrahi was reported to have dropped his demand for the new appeal to be held at Camp Zeist.[12] After a four-year review the SCCRC concluded that there was evidence that a miscarriage of justice might have occurred, so Megrahi was granted leave to appeal against his conviction for a second time.[13]

Full article: Abdelbaset al-Megrahi/Compassionate release

On 20 August 2009, Megrahi was granted compassionate release, after having agreed to abandon his appeal.

Alternative Possibilities

South African Apartheid Regime

President P W Botha ruled apartheid South Africa between 1978 and 1989 and was responsible for gross human rights violations, including all the violence that was sanctioned by the State Security Council (SSC), an executive organ of his apartheid regime. Such violence included using torture, abduction, arson and sabotage, and murdering those opposed to apartheid.[14] An SSC subcommittee, chaired by 'superspy' Major Craig Williamson, targeted anti-apartheid groups and individuals.[15]

From Chequers to Lockerbie

The distance by road from Chequers, the Prime Minister’s country residence in Buckinghamshire, to the site in Scotland of the Pan Am Flight 103 crash on 21 December 1988 is 310 miles. It took more than 4½ years for President P W Botha to complete his murderous journey from meeting Margaret Thatcher at Chequers on 2 June 1984 to the sabotage at Lockerbie.[16]

The full article "From Chequers to Lockerbie" by Patrick Haseldine can be read here.

Ayatollah's Vengeance Exacted by Botha's Regime

Iran Air Flight 655's destruction depicted on an Iranian postage stamp

The following is a transcript of Patrick Haseldine's Facebook article published in March 2011:

On 3 July 1988, the US Navy deliberately shot down Iran Air Flight 655 in the Persian Gulf killing all 290 civilian passengers and crew on the Airbus A300. Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini vowed that the skies would 'rain blood' in revenge. Months passed and no attempt at Iranian retaliation was made, even though there were hundreds of US passenger aircraft worldwide to target each day. A truce had been arranged for the duration of the US presidential election campaign, which ended on 8 November 1988 when Vice President George Bush was elected to succeed the incumbent Ronald Reagan. Thus, nearly six months would elapse before Iran's revenge attack finally happened.
The eventual target was a Pan American Airways Boeing 747 jumbo jet that was scheduled to depart London's Heathrow Airport on 21 December 1988. Early that morning, South African Airways Flight 234 from Johannesburg carrying an official delegation which included two government ministers landed at Heathrow. The 23-strong party was led by South African Foreign Minister Pik Botha – not to be confused with South Africa’s autocratic President P W Botha – and Defence Minister General Magnus Malan. For over a decade, apartheid South Africa had been defying UN Security Council Resolution 435 by continuing to occupy neighbouring Namibia (which President Botha insisted on calling South-West Africa) and by exploiting its valuable mineral resources in violation of UN law. On 22 December 1988 at UN headquarters in New York Pik Botha would sign an historic agreement bringing an end to the apartheid regime’s occupation of Namibia and handing over control to the United Nations. Seats had been reserved for the South African party on Pan Am Flight 101 which, following a special security check of the aircraft, took off from Heathrow at 11:00hrs GMT. Flight Pan Am 101 landed safely at JFK, New York at 13:45hrs EST.
In the evening of 21 December 1988, without any security check, Pan Am Flight 103 destined for New York took off from Heathrow at 18:25hrs GMT. Thirty-eight minutes after take-off, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie in Scotland killing all 259 people on board the aircraft, and eleven in the town of Lockerbie. Iran’s revenge attack thus resulted in 270 fatalities, of whom Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, Bernt Carlsson, was the most prominent. It would have been Bernt Carlsson’s responsibility as UN Commissioner for Namibia to take charge of the country as soon as South Africa agreed to cede control on 22 December 1988. Carlsson had already issued a clear warning to the companies and countries that were flouting the UN prohibition on exploiting Namibia’s minerals (especially uranium and diamonds) that he intended to take legal action against them. Iran was one of the countries facing prosecution because, as well as owning 15% of the Rössing Uranium Mine, it was receiving shipments of Namibian uranium to develop its nuclear programme. In targeting Pan Am Flight 103 therefore Iran not only avenged Iran Air Flight 655 but also took out the one individual at the United Nations with the power to prosecute the companies eg Rio Tinto Group (joint owner of the Rössing Uranium Mine) and De Beers (owner of CDM diamond mines) and the countries eg Iran and South Africa that were in breach of UN law.[17]

Q & A Session

Q. Why didn't Pik Botha's party fly South African Airways direct to New York?

A. Because the 1986 US Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act banned SAA flights from landing in America.

Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and UN Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson

Q. How did the Iranians know that UN Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson, would travel on Pan Am Flight 103 of 21 December 1988?

A. They relied on their apartheid South African friends to ensure Carlsson joined that particular flight. He was induced to rearrange his Brussels/New York itinerary, and took a flight from Brussels to Heathrow (arriving by flight BA391 at 11:06hrs on 21 December 1988) for a meeting in London with De Beers, the South African diamond mining and marketing conglomerate. After the meeting, De Beers chauffeured Carlsson back to Heathrow in good time to catch Pan Am Flight 103.

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. Masterminded by the apartheid regime's superspy Major Craig Williamson, Iran's revenge attack was carried out by the Europe Branch (based in London) of South Africa’s Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB), whose operatives substituted the ‘bomb bag’ for Bernt Carlsson’s suitcase at Heathrow Airport. No trace of his suitcase was ever found.

Q. Who supplied the bomb?

A. Marwan Khreesat, a Jordanian double agent who infiltrated the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC), told FBI special agent Edward Marshman and forensic investigator Thomas Thurman in 1989 that he had built five barometrically triggered aircraft bombs when he was in Neuss, West Germany in October 1988. German BKA police intercepted four of these devices in November 1988 following the arrest of a PFLP-GC terrorist cell in Neuss. Khreesat said that the fifth bomb had been taken by a senior PFLP-GC agent named Abu Elias, who escaped arrest in Germany. Abu Elias is suspected of supplying the South African CCB with the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103.

Q. How was the bomb transported from Germany to Heathrow?

A. According to Paul Foot's article "Lockerbie: The Flight from Justice": "In August 1997, the German magazine Der Spiegel published a long article about Lockerbie that was completely ignored in the British Press. It cited 'a new witness who has been making detailed statements to the German police and prosecutors.' The man was named as Abolghasem Mesbahi and was described as 'a credible witness.' What he was saying contradicted 'the Anglo-American thesis of the sole involvement of Libya.' Mesbahi’s story was as follows: 'The bomb had been loaded in single pieces at Frankfurt airport into an aeroplane to London. The head of IranAir at Frankfurt at that time, a secret serviceman, had smuggled them past the airport controls. They had then been assembled in London and put on the Pan Am clipper.'

"Despite Der Spiegel’s evidence for the credibility of Mesbahi, and his numerous high-level contacts in Iranian intelligence, this story was quickly and effectively buried."[18]

Q. Was the break-in at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 3 on 20 December 1988 anything to do with the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103?

A. Possibly. Security guard Ray Manly, who discovered that the padlock had been cut on security door CP2 leading to the Pan Am baggage area, told the Lockerbie appeal court at Camp Zeist in 2002: "I believe it would be possible for an unauthorised person to obtain tags for a particular Pan Am flight and then, having broken the CP2 lock, to have introduced a tagged bag into the baggage build up area." Manly immediately reported the break-in to the police but was not interviewed by the Metropolitan Police until 31 January 1989. No mention of the Heathrow break-in was made at the 2000-2001 Lockerbie trial of the two Libyans Megrahi and Fhimah.

Q. Why wasn’t the bomb timed to go off when the aircraft was over the Atlantic Ocean?

A. The bomb had a barometric detonator and automatically exploded 30 minutes after the aircraft reached a set altitude. Because the aircraft came down on land rather than into the ocean it was demonstrably not an accident (important when revenge is the motive for the bombing).

On 3 March 2011, Oliver Tickell asked three questions:

Q1. Why did South Africa want to carry out this attack on behalf of Iran?
Q2. What part did Iran play in the attack?
Q3. How was this narrative, if true, suppressed?

Patrick Haseldine replied:

A1. To prevent prosecution by UN Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson, for breaching UNCN Decree No 1, the apartheid regime and Iran both wanted Carlsson dead.
A2. Iran helped in targeting Bernt Carlsson on Pan Am Flight 103.
A3. It is not for me to speculate how it was suppressed. All I can say is that nothing of mine has been published since 22 December 1993.[19]

High profile victims

The highest profile victim aboard Pan Am Flight 103 was UN Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson, on his way to attend a ceremony at United Nations headquarters in New York the next day when South Africa agreed to grant independence to Namibia. However, after a brief spell of attention, this angle of the bombing was not pursued by the commercially-controlled media.

US Intelligence

Four US intelligence agency employees were also aboard, having flown together from Cyprus on flight CY504 which arrived at Heathrow at 14:34:

Two Diplomatic Security Service special agents were acting as bodyguards to Gannon and McKee:

US Military

Sixteen US military personnel died on Pan Am Flight 103:

  • Philip Bergstrom, Army Sergeant
  • Willis Coursey, US military
  • Joseph Curry, Army Captain
  • Edgar Eggleston, Air Force Sergeant
  • Kenneth Gibson, Army Specialist
  • Lloyd Ludlow, Army Sergeant
  • Douglas Malicote, Army Specialist
  • Jewel Mitchell, Army 2nd Lieutenant
  • Mary Smith, Army Sergeant
  • Michael Stinnett, Army Specialist
  • Lawanda Thomas, Air Force Sergeant
  • Bonnie Williams, US military
  • Eric Williams, Army Sergeant
  • George Williams, Army 1st Lieutenant
  • Dedara Woods, Air Force Sergeant
  • Joe Woods, Civilian Military worker[21]


 

A Pan Am Flight 103 victim on Wikispooks

TitleDescription
Matthew GannonCIA officer killed in the Lockerbie Bombing

 

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Abdelbaset al-Megrahi
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