Hillary Clinton, BP and Lockerbie

News: 17 07 2010 Hillary Clinton raises concerns over Lockerbie bomber release. Hillary Clinton, the United States Secretary of State, has raised concerns about the release of the Lockerbie bomber after Britain's foreign secretary admitted the decision to free him was "a mistake". Mrs Clinton said Britain may wish to explain the circumstances behind Abdelbaset al-Megrahi's releaseduring a conversation with William Hague.

 

Lockerbie was an indeed a sad day to which victims families still await JUSTICE but is Hillary Clinton simply interested in undermining BP or attacking the British Government. If the latter be so perhaps she could also investigate the Iraq War as to Bush, Blair and dear Dr Kelly in determining the TRUTH too.

 

 

15 07 2003 Mr Kelly appears before a televised Foreign Affairs Select Committee. Although one of the hottest days of the year the Air conditioning had to switched off to hear the words of a man under severe stress. The committee came to the conclusion that Mr Kelly was not the source. In the questioning MP Andrew MacKinlay, asked Mr Kelly to list the journalists that he met but Mr Kelly replied that the list be supplied by the MoD. In response MacKinlay announces that This is the high court of Parliament and I want you to tell the Committee who you met. You are under an obligation to reply - and 'I reckon you are chaff; you have been thrown up to divert our probing. Have you ever felt like a fall-guy? You have been set up, have you not?'. Mr Kelly became deeply upset by his treatment before the committee and described MacKinlay as an “Utter Bastard”.

 

Old News

Lockerbie Bombing - Pan Am Flight 103

21 December 1988 / Pan Am Flight 103 / Lockerbie, Dumfries and <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />Galloway, Scotland.Fatalities - 270 (259 in aircraft, 11 on ground). Boeing 747-121 / Aircraft name: Clipper Maid of the Seas. Operator: Pan American World Airways / Tail number: N739PA. Flight origin: London Heathrow Airport. Destination: John F. Kennedy International Airport. The jumbo jet was the fifteenth 747 built and was delivered in February 1970 - one month after the first 747 entered service with Pan Am.

VERDICT

Lord Sutherland, Lord Coulsfield and Lord Maclean heard 230 witnesses and studied some 621 exhibits during 84 days of evidence, spread over eight months in reaching a verdict.

The verdict begins“At 1903 hours on 22 December 1988 Pan Am flight 103 fell out of the sky." when the actual date was December 21st 1988.

See: IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY AT CAMP ZEIST - Case No: 1475/99 Visit: http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/library/lockerbie/docs/lockerbiejudgement.pdf

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05 12 1988 Warning: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issues a security bulletin about a threat towards Pan Am flights over the next 2 weeks. The FAA sent it to all U.S. carriers, including Pan Am, which had charged each of the passengers a $5 security surcharge, promising a "program that will screen passengers, employees, airport facilities, baggage and aircraft with unrelenting thoroughness". The security team in Frankfurt found the warning hidden under a pile of papers on a desk the day after the bombing. One of the Frankfurt security screeners, whose job it was to spot explosive devices under X-ray, told ABC News that she had first learned what Semtex (a plastic explosive) was during her ABC interview 11 months after the bombing

13 12 1988 Hoax: As a result of the FAA warning on Pan Am passengers changed airlines leaving empty seats on PA103 which were later sold cheaply in "bucket shops". PA103 investigators subsequently said the telephone warning had been a hoax and a chilling coincidence.

21 12 1988 Wed: Pan Am Flight 103 – A flight from Los Angeles and San Francisco, USA. Arrived London Heathrow Airport (noon) parking at stand Kilo 14 Terminal 3 where it was guarded for two hours by Pan Am's security company, Alert Security. In 2009 It was revealed that a security guard had reported that Heathrow's Pan Am baggage area had been broken into 17 hours before flight 103 took off. Police lost the report and it was never investigated or brought up at trial.

01 10 1990 Scottish Fatal Accident Inquiry opens. Prominent among the passenger victims was the UN Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson, At least four U.S. intelligence officers on the passenger list with a possible fifth. (1) Matthew Gannon, the CIA's deputy station chief in Beirut, Lebanon (2) Major Chuck "Tiny" McKee, an army officer on secondment to the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in Beirut (3) Two Diplomatic Security Service special agents, acting as bodyguards to Gannon and McKee also (4) Ronald Lariviere a security officer from the U.S. Embassy in Beirut (5) Daniel O'Connor a security officer from the U.S. Embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus (6) There was also a Department of Justice Special Agent on the flight, Assistant Deputy Director Michael S. Bernstein.

00 001992 Pan Am found guilty of willful misconduct due to lax security screening. Alert Management Inc. and Pan American World Services, two subsidiaries of Pan Am, were also found guilty; Alert handled Pan Am's security at foreign airports.

05 04 1999 Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah handed over to Scottish police at Camp Zeist, Netherlands, chosen as a neutral venue for their trial. United Nations sanctions against Libya and protracted negotiations with Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi forced the hand over.

03 05 2000 TRAIL BEGINS of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah

31 01 2001 Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was convicted of murder by a panel of three Scottish judges and sentenced to 27 years in prison. Fhimah was acquitted.

00 02 2001 REPORT 1 by Hans Köchler, who had been an international observer at Camp Zeist, Netherlands appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

00 03 2002 REPORT 2 by Hans Köchler, who had been an international observer at Camp Zeist, Netherlands appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Köchler described the decisions of the trial and appeal courts as a "spectacular miscarriage of justice".Köchler also issued a series of statements in 2003, 2005, and 2007 calling for an independent international inquiry into the case and accusing the West of "double standards in criminal justice" in relation to the Lockerbie trial on the one hand and the HIV trial in Libya on the other.

14 03 2002 al-Megrahi – appeal against his conviction refused

00 07 2003 al-Megrahi– Application to the European Court of Human Rights was declared inadmissible

23 09 2003 al-Megrahi - applied to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) for his conviction to be reviewed

28 06 2007 The SCCRC announces its decision to refer the case to the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh after it found he "may have suffered a miscarriage of justice". Köchler criticised the SCCRC for exonerating police, prosecutors and forensic staff from blame in respect of Megrahi's alleged wrongful conviction.

29 06 2007 Köchler tells The Herald of 29 June 2007: "No officials to be blamed, simply a Maltese shopkeeper." Köchler also highlighted the role of intelligence services in the trial and stated that proper judicial proceedings could not be conducted under conditions in which extrajudicial forces are allowed to intervene.

18 07 2007 Ulrich Lumpert [ Witness No 550 ] admitted he had lied at the trial. In a sworn affidavit before a Zurich notary, Lumpert stated that he had stolen a prototype MST-13 timer PC-board from Mebo and gave it without permission on 22 June 1989, to "an official person investigating the Lockerbie case". Dr Hans Köchler, UN observer at the Lockerbie trial, who was sent a copy of Lumpert's affidavit, said: "The Scottish authorities are now obliged to investigate this situation. Not only has Mr Lumpert admitted to stealing a sample of the timer, but to the fact he gave it to an official and then lied in court".

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Mebo's owner, Edwin Bollier, later revealed that in 1991 he had declined an offer from the FBI of $4 million to testify that the timer fragment was part of a Mebo MST-13 timer supplied to Libya. MST-13 fragment - police photograph No PT/35(b)

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11 10 2007 Procedural hearing at the Appeal Court took place when prosecution lawyers and Megrahi's defence Counsel, Maggie Scott QC, discussed a number of legal issues with a panel of three judges. One of the issues concerned a number of documents that were shown before the trial to the prosecution, but were not disclosed to the defence. The documents are understood to relate to the Mebo MST-13 timer that allegedly detonated the PA103 bomb. Maggie Scott is also asking for documents relating to an alleged payment of $2 million made to Maltese merchant, Tony Gauci, for his testimony at the trial, which led to the conviction of Megrahi.

04 08 2008 “US President Bush signed on August 4, 2008 into law: S.3370, the ‘Libyan Claims Resolution Act.’ The bill that grants Libyan immunity law and full diplomatic and economic status.”

15 10 2008 Five Scottish judges decided unanimously to reject a submission by the Crown that the scope of Megrahi's second appeal should be limited to the specific grounds of appeal that were identified by the SCCRC in June 2007.

00 01 2009 Reported that Megrahi's second appeal against conviction was scheduled to begin on 27 April 2009, the hearing could last as long as 12 months because of the complexity of the case and volume of material to be examined.

19 02 2009 Secret: According to The Herald the Crown is fighting to keep 48 pieces of Lockerbie trial evidence secret. “Prosecutors are trying to keep secret 48 pieces of evidence relating to the Lockerbie trial, including a secret fax that could discredit a key Crown witness. “Lawyers for Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, the man convicted of the 1988 bombing, yesterday began a challenge over material they believe will free their terminally ill client. “But the Crown Office and the UK Advocate General are fighting against disclosure.”

20 02 2009 PAY-OFF: According to The Herald, on 20 February 2009, previously undisclosed documents show that Scottish police recommended to US authorities that both the main witness in the Lockerbie trial (Gauci) and his brother should be paid up to $3m.

27 04 2009 Documentary entitled "Lockerbie revisited" aired in which the film's director and narrator, Gideon Levy interviewed officials involved with the case. Former FBI laboratory scientist Fred Whitehurst described the FBI laboratory itself as a "crime scene", where an unqualified colleague Thomas Thurman would routinely alter his scientific reports. The interviews also revealed that the timer fragment had never been tested for explosives residue due to "budgetary reasons". Thurman, who led the forensic investigation and identified the fragments' Libyan connection, confirmed that it was the "only real piece of evidence against Libya" and when asked of the importance of the timer in the conviction of al-Megrahi, FBI Task Force Chief Richard Marquise stated, "It would be a very difficult case to prove ... I don't think we would ever (have) had an indictment". Investigators also discovered that an unaccompanied bag had been routed onto PA 103, via the interline baggage system, from Luqa airport on Air Malta flight KM180 to Frankfurt, and then by feeder flight PA 103A to Heathrow. This unaccompanied bag was shown at the trial to have been the suitcase that contained the bomb.

12 08 2009 Sky News reported that Megrahi was "to be freed on compassionate grounds" in consideration of his having terminal Prostate cancer.

12 08 2009 Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi applied to have his appeal dropped. Megrahi's defence team stated in a press conference that their client had been pressurised into dropping the appeal prior to the decision being made on compassionate release, however in his public statement Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill stated that that decision had been entirely Megrahi's own choice.

20 08 2009 Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi released from Prison. The news of his release sparked rage and admonitions from families of the US victims - contrasting with the families of British victims who, in general believe Megrahi to be innocent and support his release.

00 00 2009 Baggage area broken into: Now evealed that security guard Ray Manley had reported that Heathrow's Pan Am baggage area had been broken into 17 hours before flight 103 took off. Police lost the report and it was never investigated or brought up at trial.

22 08 2009 Lord Mandelson has denied suggestions made by Colonel Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, that Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi's release was linked to a trade deal between Libya and the UK. The Business Secretary said "no brokered deal or no agreement between the Libyan government or the British government" had been made.

22 08 2009 Gaddafi thanks Brown for release. Col Gadaffi's son Saif al-Islam called Megrahi's release a "victory", and reportedly claimed that the issue had been raised repeatedly by Britain's former prime minister Tony Blair. "In all commercial contracts, for oil and gas with Britain, (Megrahi) was always on the negotiating table," Mr Islam told Libya's Al Mutawassit channel. Mr Blair visited Libya in May 2007, during which UK energy giant BP signed a $900m (£540m) exploration deal.Meanwhile, Megrahi has told the Times newspaper he intends to present new evidence proving his innocence. He said he would present the evidence through lawyers in Scotland and ask the British and Scottish communities to "be the jury".

25 10 2009 Relatives back new Lockerbie probe. Families of British victims have been advised that police are following several new lines of inquiry, including a review of forensic evidence into the 1988 bombing. It is understood that the Crown Office in Scotland has contacted relatives via email informing them of the plans for a new investigation. The Sunday Telegraph has reported that Lindsey Miller, a senior Procurator Fiscal who was involved in preparing evidence for Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi's trial, has written: "Throughout the investigation we have, at various times, taken stock of the evidence as a whole with a view to identifying further lines of inquiry that can be pursued. The situation is unresolved and it is unfinished business."

31 10 2009 Malta in fresh Lockerbie bomb probe. According to the Daily Telegraph, the Maltese government wants to examine the claims of Tony Gauci, the shopkeeper who identified Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi as the man responsible for placing explosives on Pan Am flight 103. Gauci ran a clothes shop in Swieqi, Malta, at the time and claimed that Megrahi bought a piece of clothing found among the debris of the aircraft in December 1988. His evidence was crucial in securing the 2001 conviction of the former Libyan intelligence officer, but doubts have since been raised about Gauci's reliability. The 82-page trial judgment detailed how the three judges were satisfied Megrahi walked into Gauci's shop one day in 1988 and bought random items of clothing. These were packed around the bomb that exploded in a suitcase on board the Pan Am Boeing 747 two weeks later, and Gauci picked out the Libyan as the man who bought the clothes.

06 01 2010 'Flaws' in key Lockerbie evidence. An investigation by BBC's Newsnight has cast doubts on the key piece of evidence which convicted the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi. Tests aimed at reproducing the blast appear to undermine the case's central forensic link, based on a tiny fragment identified as part of a bomb timer. The tests suggest the fragment, which linked the attack to Megrahi, would not have survived the mid-air explosion. Newsnight has been reviewing that evidence, and has exposed serious doubts about the forensics used to identify the fragment as being part of a trigger circuit board. The fragment was found three weeks after the attack. For months it remained unnoticed and unremarked, but eventually it was to shape the entire investigation. The fragment was embedded in a charred piece of clothing, which was marked with a label saying it was made in Malta. So the focus turned to Malta and the question of who had bought the clothes.A shopkeeper on the island identified Megrahi, but this came only years later after he saw him pictured in a magazine as a Lockerbie suspect. Newsnight has discovered that the fragment - crucial to the conviction - was never subjected to chemical analysis or swabbing to establish whether it had in fact been involved in any explosion. And the UN's European consultant on explosives, John Wyatt, has told Newsnight that there are further doubts over the whether the fragment could have come from the trigger of the Lockerbie bomb. He told Newsnight: "I do find it quite it extraordinary and I think highly improbable and most unlikely that you would find a fragment like that - it is unbelievable. "We carried out 20 tests, we didn't carry out 100 or 1,000, but in those 20 tests we found absolutely nothing at all - so I found it highly improbable that you would find anything like that, particularly at 10,000 feet when bits are dropping into long wet grass over hundreds of miles.

14 07 2010 Now US senators blame BP for release of Lockerbie bomber. Pressure: U.S. senators are pushing for an investigation into the role played by BP in the release of convicted terrorist Abdel Basset al-Megrahi .17 07 2010 Hillary Clinton raises concerns over Lockerbie bomber release. Hillary Clinton, the United States Secretary of State, has raised concerns about the release of the Lockerbie bomber after Britain's foreign secretary admitted the decision to free him was "a mistake". Mrs Clinton said Britain may wish to explain the circumstances behind Abdelbaset al-Megrahi's release during a conversation with William Hague.

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Issues:

Timer Fragment: Found by DC Gilchrist and DC McColm. A piece of charred material was found by them which was given the police number PI/995 and which subsequently became label 168.". The officer had initially labelled the bag 'cloth (charred)' but had later overwritten the word 'cloth' with 'debris'. "The original inscription on the label, which we are satisfied, was written by DC Gilchrist, was “Cloth (charred)”. The word ‘cloth’ has been overwritten by the word ‘debris’. There was no satisfactory explanation as to why this was done.". The judges said in their judgement that Gilchrist’s evidence had been "at worst evasive and at best confusing".

Forensic Dr Thomas Hayes and Allan Feraday worked at the DERA Forensic laboratory at Fort Halstead in Kent. On 12 05 1989 Dr Hayes testified that he collected the tiny fragment of the circuit board which he said was green and colleague Alan Feraday confirmed his story at the Zeist trial. This record is inserted as a loose leaf page within five subsequent pages that be renumbered by hand. could not give a reasonable explanation for this strange entry, and yet the Judges simply concluded that: "Pagination was of no materiality, because each item that was examined had the date of examination incorporated into the notes.". Feraday in the Sept of 1989 sent a Polaroid photograph of the fragment writing that it was "the best he could do in such short time." Yet after many months after collection. Dr Hayes (43) resigned a few months later. ****** This was the same Dr Hayes whose forsensic(k) evidence jailed an entire family, the Maguire seven in 1976 – in 1992 they were acquitted on appeal. As to Allan Feraday In three separated cases of convictions based upon his forensic evidence the initial ruling was overturned in appeal. In 2005 a Lord of Justice said that Feraday should not be allowed to present himself as an expert in the field of electronics.

Continued in the comments...