“We still hope the truth will come out. We know that very probably the plane was struck down by a missile. Too many people have been keeping this secret for too long but we will not give up until we know everything that happened.”
Daria Bonfietti
June 27 2019 — When the passenger jet crashed, the immediate theory was that it was a tragic accident caused by some kind of mechanical or structural failure. Then, there was the suggestion that terrorists could have planted a bomb, but that theory was also rejected. And then, the truth came out. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today
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“Time is no obstacle in the search for truth.”
Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano (Speaking about Flight 870)
UPDATE (June 27 2020) — The Other Side of Deception is a follow-up to the best-selling nonfiction book By Way of Deception by former Mossad agent Victor Ostrovsky.
The book reports the Mossad’s involvement in the Ustica Massacre (Itavia Flight 870) by a conversation taking place at the end of January 1990 in an hotel in Ottawa, Canada between the author and an English colleague.
Do you believe or think or know if the Mossad may have had any involvement in what happened to Flight 103 over Lockerbie?
I was dumbfounded. It took me several seconds to realize what the man had asked me. I responded almost automatically.
No way.
Why?
No reason. Just no way, that’s all.
Up to this point, every time Israel or the Mossad has been responsible for the downing of a plane, it’s been an accident, and related directly to the so-called security of the state…
like the shooting down of the Libyan plane over the Sinai and the Italian plane (thought to carry uranium) in 1980, killing eighty-one people.
There is no way that they’d do this [Lockerbie].
Victor Ostrovsky is a very credible source of information but I have great doubt about this story.
According to judge Priore’s investigation, the aircraft was shot down during a dog fight involving Libyan, United States, French and Italian Air Force fighters in an assassination attempt by NATO members on an unnamed ‘important Libyan politician’.
I believe that Flight 870 was shot by a NATO plane. Did you know that Belgium has refused to provide RADAR data to the investigators for reason of National Security? Seriously…
Radar evidence — declassified in 1997 — showed that there had been intense military activity in the area at the time of the tragedy, including the presence of US, French and Libyan military airplanes and a Brutish aircraft carrier.
In his 5,488 page report, Judge Rosario Priore concluded that his investigation and previous investigations into the tragedy had been deliberately obstructed by the Italian military and members of the secret service, who had complied with requests from NATO to cover up the tragedy.
Italian investigators have noted a number of “suspicious” deaths and other accidents among key witnesses. Two radar officers committed suicide. Alberto Dèttori, employed in the Poggio Ballone radar station, was found to have hung himself on duty in 1987. Marshal Franco Parisi was found hanged in 1995 after he was summoned to re-appear in court regarding issues with his testimony on the crash. General Roberto Boemio, who investigators believed could give them valuable testimony was found murdered in Brussels in 1993. His murder remains officially unsolved.
PS — As the readers of this blog certainly know already, I have concluded that Pan Am Flight 103 disintegrated in flight over Lockerbie because of a massive structural failure due to well-known issues of metal fatigue in section 41 and 42 of the Boeing 747 (Series 100 & 200), not because of an explosive device. I will post an important technical update soon. Stay tuned!
END of UPDATE
***** Lockerbie – Three Decades of Lies: J’Accuse…! *****
QUICK NOTE — To make it easier for the readers to retrieve various chapters of this book, I have created a special page “Lockerbie” where all the links to the chapters will be listed with a brief description. You can access that page directly as it appears at the far right of the top bar of this blog. END of NOTE
***** Lockerbie – Three Decades of Lies: J’Accuse…! *****
“Then, in 1999, an exhaustive investigation by Judge Rosario Priore — one of Italy’s most respected legal figures and an expert on terrorism cases — gave the definitive version of what happened.” — The Guardian
UPDATE (June 27 2020) — As you perhaps already know, I am currently writing the conclusions of my investigation regarding the Lockerbie tragedy.
QUICK NOTE — To make it easier for the readers to retrieve various chapters of this book, I have created a special page “Lockerbie” where all the links to the chapters will be listed with a brief description. You can access that page directly as it appears at the far right of the top bar of this blog. End of NOTE
Here is a short extract from the first chapter: Lockerbie – Three Decades of Lies: J’Accuse…! [Chapter I : A week in December]
On December 23 1988, the New York Times reported that Frank Taylor, a former investigator for the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, believed an explosion knocked out communications, electricity and severed the cockpit from the aircraft.
(…)
Vetting the sources of a story should be an important part of a journalist job. Had the reporters done a serious check on Frank Taylor, Thomas Thurman, Rick Hahn and Michael Charles, it is very likely that the Lockerbie Affair would have been perceived as transparent nonsense since the very beginning.
(…)
On June 27 1980, Itavia Flight 870 crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea near Ustica, killing all on board.
Frank Taylor (one of the British investigator participants of the third technical investigation) concluded that a bomb had been planted in the rear toilet.
On January 23 2013, Italy’s top criminal court ruled out the bomb theory and concluded that: “There is abundantly clear evidence that the flight was brought down by a missile.”
What does that story tell you about Frank Taylor? TRUTH never dies. Stay tuned!
END of UPDATE
“81 slowly pulsating lights hang from the ceiling, representing 81 souls oscillating between being forgotten and remembered.” — Ustica Museum
Itavia Flight 870 was an Italian commercial flight operated by a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15 which crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea between Ponza and Ustica, killing all on board, while en route from Bologna to Palermo on 27 June 1980.
In 1994 – a joint investigation carried out by the British Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) and Italian investigators concluded that a bomb had indeed exploded mid-flight in the rear lavatory.
(NOTE: The inspector in charge of the Ustica investigation will later play a key role in the Lockerbie Affair. Small world?)
“Then, in 1999, an exhaustive investigation by Judge Rosario Priore — one of Italy’s most respected legal figures and an expert on terrorism cases — gave the definitive version of what happened.” [The Guardian]
After a long and difficult investigation, Judge Rosario Priore concluded that the plane had been caught in a dogfight between NATO jet fighters and a Libyan MiG.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
Italian Air Force officials were charged with high treason in 1992 for omitting “information on the possibility of military operations” in the Tyrrhenian Sea and had “abused their authority and deliberately given the political authorities false information”.
But, due to a lapse in the statute of limitations for the charges, the defendants were acquitted by the Italian High Court of Appeal in 2007.
In September 2011 the Palermo civil tribunal ordered the Italian government to pay 100 million euros ($137 million) in civil damages to the relatives of the victims for failure to protect the flight and for concealing the truth and destroying evidence.
(Actually, a bit more than evidence has been destroyed. More than a dozen individuals directly linked to this case have died in suspicious circumstances.)
On 23 January 2013, Italy’s top criminal court ruled that there was “abundantly” clear evidence that the flight was brought down by a stray missile and confirming the lower court’s order that the Italian government must pay compensation.
In April 2015, the appeals court in Palermo confirmed the rulings of the Palermo civil tribunal of 2011 and rejected the appeal by the state attorney.
Question: Who fired the missile?
According to judge Priore’s investigation, the aircraft was shot down during a dog fight involving Libyan, United States, French and Italian Air Force fighters in an assassination attempt by NATO members on an unnamed ‘important Libyan politician’.
It is usually accepted that only two countries had military airplanes flying this area at that moment: the U.S. and France.
Francesco Cossiga — Prime Minister of Italy from 1979 to 1980 and President of Italy from 1985 to 1992 — has stated that the missile had been fired from a French Navy aircraft.
Speaking about Flight 870, Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano stated:
“Time is no obstacle in the search for truth.”
The Museum for the Memory of the Ustica Massacre
The museum opened on 27 June 2007, one year following the arrival of the remains of the DC9.
The Ustica Association, alongside president Bonfietti, hosts the permanent works commissioned by French-Ukrainian artist Christian Boltanski, with the museum also working in partnership with the Institution of Museums in Bologna.
Upon entering the museum, visitors can find 81 black mirrors hang along the walls, allowing each to “plunge” their gaze into the abyss of mortality as a “choir” of haunting voices whisper from 81 loudspeakers throughout the gallery, representing the “spirit of every missing person”, the museum said.
81 slowly pulsating lights hang from the ceiling, representing 81 souls oscillating between being forgotten and remembered.
REFERENCES
The mystery of flight 870 — The Guardian
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Suspicious Aviation Tragedies: Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870 (USTICA-1980)
Remembering Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870 [USTICA – June 27 1980]
Remembering Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870 (USTICA – June 27 1980) [2019]
40 Years Ago — Remembering Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870 (USTICA – June 27 1980)
On This Day — Remembering Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870 (USTICA – June 27 1980)
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