Libya
From World Press Network
Lockerbie, another example of the MSM being complicit in a massive crime, while "conspiracy theorists and investigative journalists" were hot on the trail from day one. Is the Military-Industrial Complex (MIC) getting a double dipping by now selling arms to Libya ?
- September 4, 2007
- Cecilia Sarkozy, the wife of the French president, has spoken for the first time about her controversial visit to Libya to help free six medical workers.
- She told a French paper that medical assistance was all that was offered in exchange - in response to suspicions that France had secured an arms deal.
- France had offered only medical help and equipment, she said, a reference to suspicions that an arms deal signed later between the two countries was linked to the prisoners' release.
- The president's wife said it was not her place to appear before a parliamentary inquiry, despite calls from opposition socialists for her to give evidence.
Vital Lockerbie evidence 'was tampered with'
- September 2, 2007
- One of the crucial witnesses, Swiss engineer Ulrich Lumpert, has apparently confessed that he lied about the origins of a crucial 'timer' - evidence that helped tie the man convicted of the bombing to the crime.
- The Zurich-based Swiss businessman Edwin Bollier, who has spent nearly two decades trying to clear his company's name, said
- 'I was shown fragments of a brown circuit board which matched our prototype. But when the MST-13 went into production, the timers contained green boards. I knew that the timers sold to Libya had green boards. I told the investigators this.'
- 'I was a defence witness, but the trial was so skewed to prove Libyan involvement that the details of what I had to say was ignored. A photograph of the fragments was produced in court and I asked to see the pieces again. When they were brought to me, they were practically carbonised. They had been tampered with since I had seen them in Dumfries.'
- Few people apart from conspiracy theorists and investigative journalists working on the case were prepared to believe Bollier until the end of last month, when Lumpert, one of his former employees, walked into a Zurich police station and asked to swear an affidavit before a notary.
Was Libya framed by US and Britain for Lockerbie to make Libya toe the line ?
In light of the pressure being applied on Syria and Iran by the UN, it is worthwhile revisiting another country, Libya, which was previously in the cross-hairs of the US. In Libya's case, like with Syria and Iran, the US, and its allies, used a broad spectrum of their arsenal, including cruise missiles, unilateral US sanctions, UN sanctions, no-flight bans, freezing of assets, legal actions etc, until Libya effectively surrendered (but not until many Libyan death, including multiple internal flight civil aircraft crashes due to lack of spare parts for US manufactured airplanes).
The main stream media has been avoiding any mention of the new evidence showing there was a miscarriage of justice at the "Lockerbie trial" where an innocent Libyan was sent to jail in Scotland (United Kingdom) and remains there to this day, where he will probably die in Jail.
There has been reports from ex-Scottish policemen about CIA manipulation of the evidence, including planting of the key circuit board allegedly used in the plot [similar to the alleged hijacker's passport found miraculously at the foot of the WTC towers after 911]. There is also conclusive evidence that the British prosecution service withheld evidence from the defence at the trial.
The US authorities took effective control the crash site in the United Kingdom (like after the 911 Pennsylvania crash), giving them amply time and opportunity to taint the evidence. Indeed, evidence of "evidence tampering" in the 911 attacks should be used by the Libyan's lawyers to show the US has no credibility.
It is time to shine a spotlight on this major miscarriage of justice where the real perpetrators are likely to be still out there, possibly planning another 9/11 type operation, whilst an innocent man is being held in prison in the United Kingdom for a crime he didn't do.
Of-course if a new suspect such as Iran or Syria are framed (i.e. the newest countries in the cross-hairs of the US) then it would be hard to take the US/Britain seriously, and not suspect another frame-up. Once the governments have been shown to act in bad faith, overlooking real evidence whilst manufacturing "dodgy" evidence, then who can take anything they say seriously, even if "confirmed" by "new evidence". After all, we have seen more than enough cases of purported "evidence" which later turns out to be pure propaganda and misinformation.
Lockerbie retrial demand over new evidence
- Oct 15, 2006
- THE Lockerbie bombing conviction seems certain to be sent back to the appeal court after it emerged Scottish prosecutors suppressed "absolutely crucial" German police evidence at the trial, Scotland on Sunday can reveal.
- The evidence - papers suggesting a key prosecution witness was implicated in the mass murder - will form part of an official report by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC).
- The results of the German inquiry were passed to the Crown Office in Edinburgh years before the 2000 trial and translated into English at considerable public expense.
- But lawyers for Abdelbaset ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Libyan serving life for the atrocity, were refused access to the documents by the Crown Office before the historic case opened in Holland.
- The papers could, it is claimed, have transformed the outcome of the case. German investigators established that a Palestinian terrorist called Abo Talb, funded by Iran, could have placed the bomb on board Pan Am flight 103. They also established that the Iranian government paid millions of dollars into a Swiss bank account belonging to one of Talb's colleagues two days after the Lockerbie bombing.
- However, Talb was produced at the trial as a vital witness for the prosecution, in return for lifetime immunity from prosecution. Defence sources claim this provided the motive for the Crown to suppress the German evidence.
- The Lockerbie disaster, on December 21, 1988, claimed the lives of 270 people in the aircraft and on the ground. Megrahi was found guilty in January 2001 after a three-month trial at Camp Zeist and his appeal dismissed the following year.
- But a team of lawyers and investigators has continued working on the case. The SCCRC is due to complete a report on Megrahi's conviction early next year.
- Sources close to the SCCRC have admitted that vital new evidence is contained in its report and concede it is almost certain it will order a fresh appeal. One source confirmed: "The documents are absolutely crucial. They would have proved very useful to the defence at the trial."
- Jim Swire, spokesman for the Lockerbie families, said: "We have always believed that the man in jail for the bombing should not be there. This seems to be a very important step in proving that and getting justice for the victims of the bombing."
Police chief- Lockerbie evidence was faked
- 28 Aug 2005
- A FORMER Scottish police chief has given lawyers a signed statement claiming that key evidence in the Lockerbie bombing trial was fabricated.
- The retired officer - of assistant chief constable rank or higher - has testified that the CIA planted the tiny fragment of circuit board crucial in convicting a Libyan for the 1989 mass murder of 270 people.
- The police chief, whose identity has not yet been revealed, gave the statement to lawyers representing Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, currently serving a life sentence in Greenock Prison.
- The evidence will form a crucial part of Megrahi's attempt to have a retrial ordered by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC). The claims pose a potentially devastating threat to the reputation of the entire Scottish legal system.
Alternative theories into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103
- Framing of Libya
- Warning against over-reliance upon forensic science to secure convictions, Britain's foremost criminal lawyer, Michael Mansfield QC, in the BBC Frontline Scotland TV program Silence over Lockerbie, broadcast on October 14, 1997, said he wanted to make just one point:
- "Forensic science is not immutable. They're not written in tablets of stone, and the biggest mistake that anyone can make—public, expert or anyone else alike—is to believe that forensic science is somehow beyond reproach: it is not! The biggest miscarriages of justice in the United Kingdom, many of them emanate from cases in which forensic science has been shown to be wrong. And the moment a forensic scientist or anyone else says: 'I am sure this marries up with that' I get worried."
- Various news media also investigated the bombing and the various theories that were put forward to explain it. In some cases, there were accusations of disinformation, including attempts to steer the investigation toward Libya. Pierre Salinger fired one member of his investigative team, because of suspicion that she was attempting to manipulate its inquiry
- Conclusion
- To prove the South-West Africa (Namibia) theory, as well as any of the other six alternative theories, only a further full criminal investigation can feasibly determine the ultimate responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing.
Welcome to the former pariahdom of Libya
- Dec 26, 2006
- FIVE minutes in the country and I ask my taxi driver the question that has baffled the West for three years: what changed so suddenly to make Libya acceptable to the West?
- "Now Gaddafi has his head right," is the response.
- On December 19, 2003, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi stunned the world when he renounced his nuclear, chemical and biological weapons ambitions, proclaimed himself a believer in the war on terror, and even managed to sound statesmanlike in the process.
- The announcement signalled a remarkable shift for a leader former US president Ronald Reagan once described as "the most dangerous man in the world" and whom the former Sudanese president, Jaafar Nimieri, reviled as having "a split personality — both evil".
- Libya could have been Iraq.
Pan Am 103 Families Still Waiting for Libya to Meet Pledge
- December 22, 2006
Lack of Surprise Greets Word of U.S.-Libya Ties
- May 16, 2006;
Libya 'disappointed' by rewards
- NOV 26, 2004
- Libya is disappointed at the level of reward it has received from the international community for renouncing weapons of mass destruction, according to leader Muammar al-Qadhafi.
- Interviewed by Le Figaro newspaper before a visit by President Jacques Chirac of France, al-Qadhafi on Wednesday said Libya still waited to be properly recompensed for its decision.
- "To tell you the truth, we have been a little disappointed by the reaction of Europe, the United States and Japan. They haven't really rewarded Libya for its contribution to international peace," he said.
- "And we're still waiting. If we are not recompensed, other countries will not follow our example and dismantle their own programmes."
- Al-Qadhafi said it was a point particularly made by North Korea and Iran, both of which are alleged to have weapons of mass destruction programmes.
- "They say to us: 'What did you get in return? What did you obtain from the international community? So why do you want us to dismantle our programme?'"
Libya seeks compensation for US air strikes in 1986
- Aug 11, 2004
- Feb 24, 2004
Sharon says U.S. should also disarm Iran, Libya and Syria
- Feb 18, 2003
Libya, Lockerbie families reach $2.7 billion settlement
- Oct 29, 2002
- The Libyan government and lawyers for families of the 270 people killed when Pam Am Flight 103 was blown up over Scotland in 1988 have come to a tentative agreement on a $2.7 billion settlement, according to documents obtained by CNN.
US welcomes Libya's 'Lockerbie offer'
- May 29, 2002
- Libya's reported offer of compensation over the bombing of a Pan Am flight in 1988 has been welcomed by US Secretary of State Colin Powell as a "step in the right direction".
Senators Warn Against Sale of Libyan Oilfields to German Company
- May. 04, 2001
- The law, passed by Congress in 1996, threatens foreign companies with sanctions if they invest more than $20 million in a single year in oil and gas projects barred to U.S. firms through unilateral U.S. sanctions. The bipartisan warning from Helms and Biden is likely to raise the profile of the Libya issue at a time when the Bush administration is increasingly concerned with the high cost of oil and energy.
WPN Note : When the Arabs had a boycott against firms which dealt with Israel, both the US and Israel said that was illegal. Another case of do what I say, not what I do.
To view or add your feedback on any article on WPN, click the "discussion" tab at the top of the page. You can also create new topic pages.
WPN will be featuring the best pages, and issuing awards for the best journalistic contributions (in WPN's sole discretion).
