“Operation El Dorado Canyon (1986) turned out to be a more decisive blow against Libyan-sponsored terrorism than I could ever have imagined. There were revenge killings of British hostages organized by Libya, which I bitterly regretted. But the much-vaunted Libyan counter attack did not and could not take place. There was a marked decline in Libyan-sponsored terrorism in succeeding years.”
Margaret Thatcher — The Downing Street Years (Memoirs 1993, pp 448-9)
December 21 2021 — On December 21 1988, N739PA — the Boeing 747 aircraft operating the transatlantic leg of Pan Am Flight 103 — broke up in flight over Scotland. All 243 passengers and 16 crew died as well as 11 residents of Lockerbie. This horrific crime has been called the world’s biggest unsolved murder. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today
RELATED POST: LOCKERBIE — Analysis of the New Indictment [UPDATE II : Unhindered by truth, BBC doubles down on factless allegations]
Lockerbie — Three Decades of Lies: J’Accuse…!
QUICK NOTE— To make it easier for the readers to retrieve various chapters of my 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.
Lockerbie — Three Decades of Lies: J’Accuse…!
“I tend to the view that the disaster is due to mechanical failure. Although I keep an open mind, I have great doubts about the bomb theory.”
William Trench — Chief inspector of Air Accidents from 1974 to 1981 (December 27 1988)
The three Lockerbie judges wrote [Court Opinion] :
[1] At 1903 hours on 22 December 1988 Pan Am flight 103 fell out of the sky. The 259 passengers and crew members who were on board and 11 residents of Lockerbie where the debris fell were killed. The Crown case is that the cause of the disaster was that an explosive device had been introduced into the hold of the aircraft by the two accused whether acting alone or in concert with each other and others.
[2] It is not disputed, and was amply proved, that the cause of the disaster was indeed the explosion of a device within the aircraft. Nor is it disputed that the person or persons who were responsible for the deliberate introduction of the explosive device would be guilty of the crime of murder.
Pan Am Flight 103 disintegrated in flight over Lockerbie on December 21 1988 — not December 22 — because of a massive structural failure due to well-known issues of metal fatigue in section 41 and 42 of the Boeing 747, not because of an explosive device.
Perhaps, someone should have written a foreword to the court opinion. I would suggest the following warning:
“This verdict is based on a fictional story. Any similarity with real events or characters is purely coincidental.”
In the final chapter of my book, I exposed some of the characters who certainly played an important role in one of the greatest cover-up in modern history.
One should never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, but, as Einstein argued, don’t rule out malice!
Tam Dalyell was MP for Linlithgow for 43 years and Father of the House of Commons when he retired from Westminster in 2005.
During an official dinner, Dalyell asked Thatcher why in 800 pages of her Memoirs, she did not mention Lockerbie once?’
Mrs Thatcher replied:
“Because I do not know what happened and I do not write about things that I do not know about.”
This answer can not be entirely true. In her memoirs — The Downing Street Years (Memoirs 1993, pp 448-9) — British prime minister Margaret Thatcher wrote:
“[Operation El Dorado Canyon] turned out to be a more decisive blow against Libyan-sponsored terrorism than I could ever have imagined. …
There were revenge killings of British hostages organized by Libya, which I bitterly regretted.
But the much-vaunted Libyan counter attack did not and could not take place …
There was a marked decline in Libyan-sponsored terrorism in succeeding years.”
Published two years after the indictment of Fhimah and Megrahi, Thatcher’s Memoirs is evidence that the Iron Lady was well aware that Libya had no involvement in the Lockerbie tragedy.
On July 24 2018, the UK National Archives released files from the Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Office predominantly covering the year of 1993. A Lockerbie file dated 1992-93 was however withheld.
Two years before, on November 2 2016, the UK Government [Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS)] decided to withhold all Lockerbie air accident investigation reports [dating from 1990 Jan 01 to 1992 Dec 31] until at least 2026, and possibly indefinitely. Why on earth?
Why on earth would the UK Government decide to withhold these technical reports if they did not reveal foul play or gross incompetence?
If ever released, these reports will show that the AAIB investigators knew all along that there was no bomb on Pan Am Flight 103, and that they knew the real cause of the tragedy long before the crash even happened.
Why on earth? — On December 21 2020, we learned that the US DoJ intends to charge Abu Agila Massud, and perhaps Abdullah Senussi, in connection to the Lockerbie bombing.
Just ask yourself just one question. Why is it that they are not charging Mousa Kousa who was their boss for almost two decades?
It is fairly obvious to understand what Lady Thatcher meant when she wrote:
“The much-vaunted Libyan counter attack did not (…) take place.”
But what did she mean when she said:
“The much-vaunted Libyan counter attack (…) could not take place.”
Think about that.
PS — Allow me to remind you that there is ZERO evidence of a bomb having caused the tragedy of Pan Am 103. I have summarized all my research on this subject in a single graphic.
RELATED POST: Lockerbie — Why I ruled out the bomb theory [Technical Analysis of the Debris Lines]
I would argue that anyone who understands these data does not need to wait until at least 2026, and possibly much longer, to determine the real cause of the tragedy. It is plain obvious!
“There was a single (Radar) primary return received 16 seconds before SSR returns were lost. No explanation can be offered for its presence.” [AAIB]
REFERENCES
U.S. Said to Be Near Charges for Another Suspect in 1988 Lockerbie Bombing — NYT (21 Dec 2020)
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On This Day — Pan Am Flight 103 disintegrates over Lockerbie (December 21 1988)
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