||Hakki Alacakaptan:
||
||In 1988, The USS Vincennes downed an Iran Air jet killing 290 people.
||Iran put out a contract for a retaliatory terrorist attack. The
||contractor was Ahmed Jibril of the FPLP-GC, based in Damascus. Ollie
||North's arms/drugs/hostages operation also got involved and less than 6
||months after the Iran Air massacre, PanAm 103 went down with the full
||knowledge of the CIA, taking with it a DIA team that was headed back to
||Washington to blow the whistle on Ollie. The "evidence" incriminating
||Libya was planted on the Lockerbie crash site weeks later in
||afterthought. Read about it here.
||
||<<SNIP>>
||
||OK, this is an amazing claim. So I go to that link marked in the "here"
||in the last line above, and it is a website run by a person who runs
||the Constitutional Militia listserver. Let's be generous, and call them
||a right-wing Patriot activist and Militia supporter. Great source,
||Hakki. OK, what about the article you link to at that site:
||
||http://www.constitution.org/ocbpt/ocbpt_08.htm
||
||"Lockerbie - A Parallel"
||
||Let's check some of the cites.
||
<<SNIP>>
Gotta hand it to Chip, he knows the right-wing lunatic fringe like the back of his hand. He’s torn those nutty cites to shreds, but sadly none of them are on the document referred to. The footnotes on ocpbt_08.htm go from 1001 to 1050. The ones Chip pounced on go from 1226 to 1365. More random mud- slinging, as in parts I and II
The documents containing Chip’s favorite cites have to do with a biased, dubious, and inconsistent exoneration of Timothy McVeigh, which nevertheless raises some interesting questions. The pages are from a book called “The Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror”, by David Hoffman. Gore Vidal, whom McVeigh invited to his execution, wrote in Vanity Fair[i]: “Thus far, David Hoffman's The Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror is the most thorough of a dozen or two accounts of what did and did not happen on that day in April.” The document that I referred to[ii] is an account of the Lockerbie bombing based on the Interfor investigation (see below). Hoffman uses the Lockerbie “parallel” to suggest that the federal government has a habit of killing Americans. The document shows that 270 people were murdered both for revenge and for protecting Iran-Contra. Crippling sanctions were imposed on Libya although it had nothing to do with it. The perps walked or were rewarded; international justice was perverted. Needless to say none of this counts for Chip, whose number one priority is to score points, regardless.
The official US-UK version of the Lockerbie story is well known. It’s shocking to see people on this list buying into it. Here’s what William Blum, author of *Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II* wrote before the trial:
“Pan Am Flight 103? Oh yes, Christmas time 1988, those two Libyans did it, but the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar Qaddafi has refused to allow them to be tried in an American or British court. He knows they’ll be found guilty, and the whole world will condemn him.
He does indeed. But not necessarily because the two men are guilty. The acquittal of the Los Angeles police in the Rodney King beating was sufficient confirmation of the Libyan leader’s lack of illusions about the workings of the American justice system. The verdict in the O.J. Simpson case may well have reinforced that view, while “The Guilford Four,” the “Birmingham Six,” and other infamous miscarriage-of-justice cases in Britain have reportedly imparted to Qaddafi a similar lesson about the U.K.”[iii]
Here’s what the Middle East Intelligence Bulletin had to say 1 month into the trial:
“Scotland's Sunday Herald reported last week that the U.S. government placed a gag order on a former CIA agent to prevent him from testifying in the trial of two Libyans accused of carrying out the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 270 people.
Dr. Richard Fuisz, a wealthy businessman and pharmaceutical researcher who was a major CIA operative in Damascus during the 1980s, told a congressional staffer in 1994 that the perpetrators of the bombing were based in Syria. "If the government would let me, I could identify the men behind this attack . . . I can tell you their home addresses . . . you won't find [them] anywhere in Libya. You will only find [them] in Damascus," Fuisz told congressional aide Susan Lindauer, who has submitted a sworn affidavit describing this conversation to the Scottish court that is trying the two suspects.
One month after their meeting, a Washington DC court issued a ruling that prohibits Fuisz from discussing the Lockerbie bombing on national security grounds. When a reporter called Fuisz last month with questions about Lindauer's affidavit, he replied: ‘That is not an issue I can confirm or deny. I am not allowed to speak about these issues. In fact, I can't even explain to you why I can't speak about these issues.’The report quoted a senior UN official who has seen the affidavit as saying that ‘in the interests of natural justice, Dr. Fuisz should be released from any order which prevents him telling what he knows of the PanAm bombing.’”[iv]
Here’s what The Guardian concluded after the verdict:
“The Lockerbie trial was meant to end the saga of Pan Am flight 103. But it
didn't take into account the wads of US dollars, or the heroin, or the
Hizbullah T-shirt found in the wreckage. As the man convicted of the
bombing prepares to appeal, John Ashton and Ian Ferguson argue that there
has been a top-level cover-up
There are two versions of the Lockerbie story. One - told at the trial - is neat, clearcut and, ultimately, reassuring. The other, which we believe is the true story, is far less comfortable. In the official version it was bad guys against good: Muammar Gadafy and his recently convicted henchman Abdel Baset al-Megrahi versus the heroic international investigation led by the tiny Dumfries and Galloway police force. It ends with the triumph of justice over terror. In the alternative version the heroics of the cops are obscured by dirty politics. It ends with a dreadful miscarriage of justice.”[v]
The trial and verdict were widely criticised, and Meghari is expected to win his coming appeals. Now let’s look into the detail.
As before, I’ll ignore Chip’s irrelevant muckraking and get down to the point-by-point development of the document I referred to. Text in quotes is verbatim, square brackets are footnotes.
OCPBT_08:
“Several minutes before flight 103 took off from London's Heathrow airport, FBI Assistant Director Oliver "Buck" Revell rushed out to the tarmac and pulled his son and daughter-in-law off the plane.[1001] How did he know?” “[1001]: Paul Hudson, head of U.S. Pan Am survivors group, interview with author.”
OTHER SOURCES:
Oliver Revell, A G-Man’s Journal, Pocket Books,1998. Several pages of that book deal with Pan Am 103, the criminal investigation and Ollie´s lucky son - who escaped Pan Am 103 by changing tickets.
OCPBT_08:
Perhaps Revell knew because North told him, and Revell would then subsequently keep North informed of the investigation. Oliver North was dealing with Syrian arms and drugs smuggler Monzer Al-Kassar to arm his Contras. Kassar was a crony of Syria’s ruling elite, including the chief of intelligence, who ran the drugs racket in the Bekaa Valley. However, this time Ollie needed Kassar to obtain the release of American hostages held by Iran. North would pay Kassar by by letting him use an existing DEA drug pipeline[vi] through Frankfurt to deliver Syrian heroin to the USA, and by laundering the proceeds through BCCI.
Footnotes: 1002 – 1004
NOTES:
The association between FBI Assistant Director Revell and Oliver North has received ample coverage. Here’s an example: “Oliver "Buck" Revell: Former Assistant Director of the FBI. Part of Terrorist Incident Working Groups (TIWGs) in the NSC under Bush. Very close to Ollie North. Responsible for harassment of Contra drug witnesses and the cover-up of criminal conduct leading into the White House.”[vii] Robert Parry, of the Consortium for Independent Journalism, has a story entitled Lost History: Ollie's 'Enemies' & the FBI, where Revell’s “work” for North is described.[viii]
Al-Kassar’s activities in connection with PanAm 103 are fully described in the Interfor report made for PanAm’s insurers.[ix] The report, by alleged ex-Mossad agent Juval Aviv, states that the CIA received intelligence about a succesful French arms-for-hostages deal with Iran in March 1988, which it decided to emulate. The BCCI connection is mentioned by Joel Bainerman in his book and an article[x], as well as by TIME magazine:
“Al-Kassar has many passports and identities. Most important, he was part of the covert network run by U.S. Lieut. Colonel Oliver North. During the Iran- contra hearings, it was revealed that al-Kassar was given $1.5 million to purchase weapons. Questioned about al-Kassar, former U.S. National Security Adviser John Poindexter said, ''When you're buying arms, you often have to deal with people you might not want to go to dinner with.''
It was through al-Kassar's efforts, or so he claimed, that two French hostages were released from Lebanon in 1986 in exchange for an arms shipment to Iran. The deal caught the eye of a freewheeling CIA unit code-named COREA, based in Wiesbaden, Germany. This special unit was reported to be trafficking in drugs and arms in order to gain access to terrorist groups.
For its cover overseas, COREA used various front companies: Stevens Mantra Corp., AMA Industries, Wildwood Video and Condor Television Ltd. Condor paid its bills with checks drawn on the First American Bank (account No. 2843900) in Washington, D.C., which was subsequently discovered to be a subsidiary of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International.” [xi]
OCPTB_08:
Al-Kassar had connections to Hezbollah and to Palestinian groups like Ahmet Jibril’s FPLP-GC, all based in Damascus. On July 3, 1988, an Iranian airliner had been shot down accidentally by the USS Vincennes. In retaliation, Iran paid Ahmet Cibril $10 million to down a US airliner. Cibril was aware of Al-Kassar’s Frankfurt drugs pipeline and decided to use the luggage-switching arrangement at the airport to put a bomb on a PanAm flight. Jibril had a number of bombs made by Marwan Abdel Razzack Khreeshat and obtained Al-Kassar’s agreement for using his drugs route. German police raided Khreeshat’s bomb-making operation but did not get all the bombs, which were concealed inside Toshiba cassette recorders. Khreeshat was released because he was a Jordanian agent and a CIA asset.
Footnotes: 1005 – 1011
NOTES:
All of this has been covered by numerous sources, the first and most complete being the Interfor report. Hoffman’s reference for the $10 million payment is US News & Weather Report, but Allan Francovich’s documentary The Maltese Double-Cross reveals a National Security Agency document dated March 4, 1991, which states that Iranian President Rafsanjani " recently paid $10 million in cash and gold to these two organisations [FPLP-GC and PLF] to carry out terrorist activities and was the one who paid the same amount to bomb Pan Am 103 in retaliation for the US shoot-down of the Iranian Airbus." Lester Coleman, a former DIA agent, wrote[xii]: "US government sources let it be known that the CIA had traced wire transfers of money to Jibril's secret bank accounts in Switzerland and Spain".
OCPTB_08:
While the COREA team in Wiesbaden was negotiating with Al-Kassar for the
hostage release, a second team was dispatched to Lebanon to assess the odds
for a rescue operation. The second team was headed by DIA’s Major Charles
McKee, who was seconded by the CIA’s Beirut Deputy Station Chief Matthew
Gannon. The team located the hostages and prepared the rescue operation,
but also uncovered the parallel arms-for-hostages operation. McKee reported
back to Langley about this but got no reply. Outraged and believing they
had been compromised, McKee decided to report back in person and took his
team on board PanAm 103. The CIA received several warnings that
an attack was about to take place. It knowingly allowed it to happen.
Footnote: 1012
NOTES:
The footnote refers to the famous Time article[xiii] quoted earlier: PanAm103: Why Did They Die?. The sub-heading is: “Washington says Libya sabotaged the plane. Provocative evidence suggests that a Syrian drug dealer may have helped plant the bomb -- and the real targets were intelligence agents working for the CIA”. The article starts with the following sentences: "'FOR THREE YEARS, I've had a feeling that if Chuck hadn't been on that plane, it wouldn't have been bombed,' says Beulah McKee, 75. Her bitterness has still not subsided. But seated in the parlor of her house in Trafford, Pennsylvania, the house where her son was born 43 years ago, she struggles to speak serenely. 'I know that's not what our President wants me to say,' she admits."
The Time story also reveals the following:
"A story that appeared in the Arabic newspaper Al-Dustur on May 22, 1989, disclosed that the terrorists set out to kill McKee and his team because of their planned hostage-rescue attempt. The author, Ali Nuri Zadeh, reported that 'an American agent known as David Love-Boy ((he meant Lovejoy)), who had struck bargains on weapons to the benefit of Iran,' passed information to the Iranian embassy in Beirut about the team's travel plans."
IOW Lovejoy “who had struck bargains on weapons” was part of Oliver North’s Iran-Contra operation.
Interfor’s report details the various increasingly specific warnings issued through the intelligence and the security measures taken by German authorities at all airlines _except_ PanAm, ostensibly in order to channel the terrorists to the surveillance operation set up there. The German Bundeskriminelamt received a Mossad tip-off that a bomb was to be placed on PanAm 103. The report states that a German BKA agent spotted the bomb suitcase as being different than the usual drug suitcases. Both pieces of information were passed on to the COREA team, which either did not respond or told the Germans not to interfere. At the same time, some passangers of PanAm 103 changed their travel plans. One was already mentioned: FBI Assistant Director Revell’s son and his daughter-in-law. Alan Francovich’s film also shows that South African Prime Minister Pik Botha and his delegation switched to another flight at Heathrow.
Well, I think I’ll leave it there. Anyone wishing to follow up on the CIA tampering with evidence and bodies on the crash site, the CIA fabricating of evidence and testimonies, the threats, legal harassment and murders of hostile witnesses, etc., can surf. And don’t forget Jack Anderson’s scoop on Bush’s call to Maggie Thatcher telling her to “cool it”, which she did by leaning on the Scottish cops who were hot on Jibril’s tail[xiv]. Here are some starting points:
http://www.wsws.org/sections/category/news/me-lib.shtml http://americanradioworks.org/features/lockerbie/index.html http://website.lineone.net/~comleague/combat/lockerbi.html
||
||So Hakki, I think I can rest my case here?
Is that what you call it? I guess you’d _have_ to call it something else, now that it’s all kicked out of shape. Yes, you’ll certainly have to rest it.
||
||Ta!
||
||-Chip
Cheers,
Hakki
[i] Gore Vidal: “The Meaning of Timothy McVeigh”, Vanity Fair, Saptember 2001, http://www.geocities.com/gorevidal3000/tim.htm
[ii] http://www.constitution.org/ocbpt/ocbpt_08.htm
[iii] William Blum: “Pan Am 103 & The Charge Against Libya: Case Closed or More Disinformation?”, Covert Action Quarterly, http://www.covertaction.org/full_text_66_pa103.htm
[iv] Gary C. Gambill: “The Lockerbie Bombing Trial: Is Libya Being Framed?”, Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, June 2000, http://www.meib.org/articles/0006_me1.htm
[v] John Ashton and Ian Ferguson: The Guardian, June 27, 2001
[vi] This was a sting operation in which a controlled delivery of drugs was made in order to collar the US dealers. North’s deliveries were not part of the sting, obviously.
[vii] Michael C. Ruppert: “A Witness List for House Hearings on Volume II of the CIA's Inspector General's Report on CIA Drug Trafficking”, From the Wilderness Publications, http://www.copvcia.com/stories/previous/witness_list.html
[viii] http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/lost16.html
[ix] http://americanradioworks.org/features/lockerbie/ resources/pdf/interfor_report.pdf
[x] Joel Bainerman:”Bush Administration's Involvement in Bombing Pan Am 103”, Portland Free Press, May/June 1997, http://www.radio4all.org/pfp/panam103.html
[xi] Roy Rowan:”Pan Am 103: Why Did They Die? “,Time Europe, April 27, 1992, http://www.time.com/time/europe/timetrails/lockerbie/lock920427.html
[xii] Donald Goddard & Lester K. Coleman: 'Trail of the Octopus: From Beirut to Lockerbie: Inside the DIA'; London; 1993, p.14.
[xiii] http://www.time.com/time/europe/timetrails/lockerbie/lock920427.html
[xiv] Goddard & Coleman, op. cit.