BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?

Subject: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 09:16 AM

Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the only person convicted of involvement in the Lockerbie bombing, could soon be free. BBC report.

He is in prison in Scotland, terminally ill, and his release would be in order that he can be back with his family in Libya when he dies. An alternative would be to transfer him to a Libyan prison to complete his sentence, but that would require him to abandon an appeal against conviction which has been recommended by the Criminal Cases Review Commission in Scotland.

A New Jersey woman whose daughter died in the atrocity, said in a tv interview today that his potential release was the best argument she had ever heard for the death penalty. In the BBC report linked above, she said: "It makes me sick, and if there is a compassionate release then I think that is vile." "Vile" seems a strange way to describe an act of compassion, but other victim relatives in the US have reacted in much the same vein.

UK relatives, on the other hand, seem in the main to be relaxed about Megrahi's release, not least because many of them have serious doubts, as do many senior lawyers, about his guilt. Even if he was rightly convicted, they are of the view that he was at best a minor player whose conviction put paid to any serious quest to find those who masterminded the crime. (I don't think anyone anywhere thinks Megrahi acted alone, and there are many who think the crime should be laid at Iran's door rather than Libya's.)

Dischord within the relatives' group does not precisely follow the US/UK divide, but overwhelmingly that is where the faultline runs. The American voices I heard today sounded to me embittered, shrill and slightly irrational. Jim Swire and another Brit I saw interviewed sounded thoughtful and measured by comparison, and even... compassionate.

A comlex dilemma for Scotland's justice minister.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 11:22 AM

Give me a gun,I'd shoot the bugger right now.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: SINSULL
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 01:02 PM

I have to agree that the article made the US victims' families sound bent on vengeance vs.the UK familes who seem to think he may be innocent. Made me wonder if the writer has an axe to grind.
Politicians on both sides of the ocean lie. I wonder what this is really about - certainly not a humanitarian gesture to get him home for Ramadan because he has cancer. That I don't buy. I also don't believe that this "leak" was not arranged for any other reason than to see if public opinion will crucify the person who makes the final decision.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: heric
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 04:40 PM

I think I'd be embittered, shrill and slightly irrational if a guy deliberately blew up my daughter. It's only logical.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 05:41 PM

Maybe I would be too, heric (though I hope not). But I would certainly be a little bit concerned to know whether anyone convicted was actually guilty as charged.

One of the New Jersey woman's more idiotic remarks to a BBC interviewer was "Why don't you show some sympathy for ME?" To which Jim Swire, who was in the same discussion and who lost his daughter in the Lockerbie atrocity, asked how it could possibly help her if a potentially innocent man was made to die in prison. Her response was to say that her daughter had not been killed by a UFO, as Jim Swire obviously believed. Presumably that's where Paco Rabanne's coming from too. God almighty.

Sinsull, who thinks the BBC has an axe to grind, should do what very few in the US seem to have done and take a look at the case against Megrahi. It is wafer thin. And is Sinsull saying that the words attributed to American and British relatives have been distorted in some way?

For many Americans, and alas for many Brits too, such trivial considerations as the establishing of guilt beyond doubt are secondary to the thirst for revenge on any terms. But surely justice should rise above gut instincts and set itself a higher bar. Or are we supposed to abandon all civilised values in the face of crimes against us, and resort to an eye for an eye?

Why are American families of the victims not fighting, as many of the British families are, to find out why Britain and America are content to see a single individual jailed when it is crystal clear to both governments - as it was to the court that convicted Megrahi - that even if guilty he was far from being the atrocity's mastermind? Frankly those unquestioning families are acquitting themselves like an army of the brain-dead.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Megan L
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 05:48 PM

When we are hurt we want to hurt. Greater by far is my admiration for Gordon Wilson the father of Marie Wilson a young nurse who was killed in the bombing of the war memorial at Eniskillen he had the courage few of us could show the courage to forgive.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 06:09 PM

Peter K,
       That is a glorious example of mudcat obfuscation! A Libyan was convicted in open court, at great expense to the British taxpaxpayer. As usual the only people who benefitted were solicitors.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 06:32 PM

But convicted on very shaky evidence indeed. Courts convict innocent people from time to time, including British courts.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 06:39 PM

In any case, I'd have thought that, if it's a matter of vengeance, to have the object of that vengeance imprisoned for the rest of his life until just before he dies of cancer would be more satisfying than a swift execution.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Folkiedave
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 06:40 PM

The names Sean Hodgson and Stehpen Downing come to mind.

They were convicted at great expense to the British taxpayer. They will now be compensated at equally great expense to the British taxpayer.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Eric the Viking
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 06:47 PM

Oddly enough.......... two summers ago (early September) I was fishing off a jetty with my son in Scapa when we were joined by this well dresssed man who had parked his big posh merc near my car. We got chatting and fishing, he was asking me about life up here and what my job was, I told him and asked him. He was a barrister. He was up here examining evidence and taking new statements about the Michael Ross case for a prosecution case later in the year. But he was mostly working on the Lockerbie bombers' appeal and had been for quite a while. He told me that there was much evidence and lots of concealed evidence that convinced him and his team that the bomber was the "fall guy". He was talking about big bribes paid to people to alter their stories and the involvement of the CIA. We chatted and fished. Time passed as it does. He told me that just the money he had made so far from the Lockerbie case was well into 6 figures. He was sure that the appeal would be heard and freedom granted. I never saw him again.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 06:49 PM

Lionel Hutz move over... Smith and Wesson 38? two shots.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: catspaw49
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 07:03 PM

If so many think he is a patsy, than there should be evidence available for a retrial or at least a review of the actual case with that new info by an appeals judge. Or hell, let him out.......say about a week before he might die and then give him a ten spot and a bus ticket.

There's more to this.....I'm with Sinsull......

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 07:23 PM

There is indeed evidence justifying an appeal (and this has been recommended by the Criminal Cases Review Commission in Scotland), and if Megrahi lives long enough there should be one, unless the government manages to stop it happening.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: SINSULL
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 07:55 PM

Re-read my post PeterK. You too seem hell bent on distotion.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: SINSULL
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 07:55 PM

distortion.
Sorry - typo.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 09:01 PM

Made me wonder if the writer has an axe to grind.

I couldn't see the writer's opinions in evidence, Sinsull. The quotes speak for themselves, unless you think they've been manipulated. Do you?

Many informed voices, including Scotland's most senior law academic, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, the UN's observer at the trial and many British relatives of victims (who have followed the case more diligently than some of their US counterparts) believe Megrahi's guilt is highly questionable, or in some cases are convinced of his innocence. If they were proved right, it would put in question some of the behaviour of the Scottish prosecution service and the CIA. The "my country right or wrong" attitude that still seems to prevail in some US circles may partly explain the reluctance to dig deeper.

Paco Rabanne may like to know that one of Britain's most senior judges, Lord Denning, shared his mentality. Shortly before an appeal court overturned the convictions of the Birmingham Six (for crimes to which an IRA gang had long-since confessed) he regretted that the six had not been hanged, as that would have put paid to any campaign for their release. (He himself had disallowed an earlier appeal on the ground that it would have meant police officers had lied - a prospect he was not prepared to contemplate.)

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: SINSULL
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 09:34 PM

Victims' families in the USA also doubt his guilt or at least that he acted alone. The writer chose to include quotes only from those who rabidly opposed his freedom. I repeat the author had an axe to grind. This article does not present the facts but a biased version of the facts.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: heric
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 11:11 PM

That's fair on mudcat. On the health reform thread, we've just decided to support multi-trillion dollar, still unformed legislation (that's not even single payer) because some irrational and obnoxious woman in Lebanon, Pa opposes single payer.


Eric: That was an unusually talkative lawyer (if he's not a celebrity lawyer from Hollywood) you charmed. (I don't doubt a word you say - maybe not his, either.)

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: goatfell
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 03:58 AM

that is good news, now they might get the real murderers now, I don't support terrorism but I don't support vigelantes either, unless they have proof that he had done it then go ahead but why then where so meany americans 'tourists' told that night not fly on th that plane then.
the man is dying leave him with his family

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Eric the Viking
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 06:50 PM

Heric. Every word was true. We struck up this conversation on a jetty whilst fishing for mackeral. Only my son (aged 20) was there with us. We fished for about an hour on the top of the tide. It was the calmest and warmest of evenings and just one of those conversations. I felt he was feeling me out about the Ross case, of which I knew nothing except the divided local opinion. It was quite interesting and he was obviously well informed. This guy fished in a really posh suit !! I got the feeling he was high enough up to be in the Cherrie Blair league.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: DougR
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 07:52 PM

I agree with Sinsull and Spaw. All I have read here are opinions. The decision whether or not to release him should be made on facts, not popular opinion. The fact that he has testicular cancer should have nothing to do with it. Otherwise, any inmate on death row or in the general population of a prison could plead for mercy and expect release for no reason other than he had a life-taking disease.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 07:53 PM

I see they've managed to use this as a way of stopping the appeal process, thus avoiding the political embarassment of having the verdict overthrown...

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: goatfell
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 08:44 PM

well have a word with the CIA or the FBI

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: DougR
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 01:28 AM

Goatfell: Er, ah, isn't this really more of a MI5 problem?

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: goatfell
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 08:59 AM

now Scotland relises him, does that make us an enemy of America?

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 09:13 AM

No, er, ah, Doug. It's not. Even if the malfeasance was British rather than American, it would not come down to MI5 but MI6. (But then I suppose you still regard talk of a US recession as "horse-pucky.")

Here's a link from The (London) Times today, which gives the background to McGoH's point above: Claims of a Lockerbie cover-up

Two governments and many gullible victim relatives (mostly on the US side of the water) will now rest content that Megrahi's conviction sovled the crime. For those who believe the atrocity was in response to Americans killing a similar number of Iranians a few months earlier (as the US admin itself maintained for a long time afterwards) many questions remain unanswered. Likewise for those who believe Megrahi could not have done the job on his own (as Megrahi's prosecutors also believed).

Someone contributing a comment in the attached link recalled George Bush Snr's thoughtful response to the shooting down of that Iranian civilian aircraft, Flight 655: "I'll never apologise for the United States of America, ever. I don't care what the facts are." And that was before 9/11 gave US admins some excuse for their barbarities.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: DougR
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 04:05 PM

Peter K: not that it has anything to do with the Lockerbie situation, Peter, but when did I describe the US recession as "horse pucky?"

I noted in today's Wall Street Journal that Megrahi has withdrawn his appeal. How will this affect the situation (the title of the thread, not the US recession)?

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Peace
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 07:09 PM

Isn't MI6 now called the SIS (Secret Intelligence Service)?

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 03:41 AM

Shush, it's supposed to be a secret.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 05:37 AM

DougR, McGrath had already pointed out a few posts before yours that Megrahi had withdrawn his appeal. The last link I provided enlarged on that. It might have been better to follow the link before asking your question.

But since you asked, I don't think Megrahi's release will require a change of thread title. If it's the reference to his imminent freedom you're thinking about, that's still likely to happen. The sequence of events is 1) Megrahi is visited in jail by Scotland's justice minister, who has no obvious reason for taking such an exceptional step. 2) Megrahi withdraws his appeal, to the huge relief of the US admin (and because of that, to the supine UK government too). 3) Scotland's justice minister decides Megrahi should be released to die with his family.

The first two have already happened, the third is still likely, although withdrawal of the appeal has opened the way for another option: transfer to a Libyan jail to serve out the rest of his sentence nearer to his family (or to die from cancer if that comes sooner).

If you're worried about the fall-guy bit, the fact that his conviction will stand doesn't affect that. As I have pointed out already, even the prosecution case against him acknowledged that he was not the architect of the atrocity and could not have done the deed on his own. (Another guy was prosecuted alongside Megrahi, but that guy was found not guilty.)

You have tended to confirm, DougR, my impression that many Americans who have waded in on this matter really know very little about it. Which doesn't alter the fact that there are some very well informed American commentators too - but they don't seem to get much airtime, either side of the Atlantic.

(Thread drift to answer DougR's other question: The horse-pucky comment was made here in response to Steven Perlstein and Robert Samuelson writing this in the Washington Post in June 2007: "It is impossible to predict when the magic moment will be reached and everyone finally realizes that the prices being paid for these companies, and the debt taken on to support the acquisitions, are unsustainable. When that happens, it won't be pretty. Across the board, stock prices and company valuations will fall. Banks will announce painful write-offs, some hedge funds will close their doors, and private-equity funds will report disappointing returns. Some companies will be forced into bankruptcy or restructuring.")

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: akenaton
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 05:10 AM

Wow!....isn't politics a dirty business, almost as bad as banking and seemingly just as far above the law.

Who are the criminals in this case?

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: DougR
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 02:10 PM

Peter K: thank you for pointing out my deficiencies. I did not see McGrath's post before posing the question.

Thank you for posting the newspaper article. I can see where there is reason to suspect a cover-up.

(Continuing thread drift)I certainly was wrong back in 2007. Evidently that was the beginning of the current recession.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 05:59 PM

Post appreciated DougR. I fear you're way ahead of me when it comes to basic decency.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 11:23 AM

Just saw this pic - he looks exactly like Bob Dylan, no?

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 12:57 PM

Whoever he looks like, he's on his way back to Libya as a free man, to die with his family.

Lockerbie bomber is freed

It's a decision that would not have been taken if there had been no devolution within the UK to a new Scottish legislature, because the UK government is much more vulnerable to US leverage than the Scottish government. (Or maybe the White House huffing and puffing is just window-dressing anyway, because there will be great relief in Washington that the case is not now likely to be re-opened.)

In the unlikely event that Megrahi is guilty as charged, justice has been tempered with mercy, and I'd rather see a civilised state doing that than simply indulging the lust for revenge. If,as seems more likely, he is innocent, then there has been no justice at all for anyone, and it is regrettable than he was coerced into withdrawing his appeal.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Penny S.
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 01:50 PM

I have only heard one American woman on the radio (BBC), on several occasions, very emotionally claiming that compassion was only to be given to those who were themselves compassionate, that she felt pity for her husband, another of her family, and herself, and that, as a Jew, she could not be expected to forgive Hitler. She gave the impression that justice was always a nasty and vicious thing and should never be tempered with mercy. She was only one voice, and I have heard no other Americans except quotes from Clinton and a few other officials. Not balanced.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 02:22 PM

Penny, in what sense unbalanced? If you (or Sinsull, or anyone else) is aware of interested American parties (government officials, relatives of victims etc) who support the decision or are at least OK with it, please provide links. I am aware of several relatives in Britain who are in that category but none on the other side of the water. I'm not saying they don't exist. Sinsull thinks the BBC may be sheltering us from such voices, which could be true - though such imbalance by the BBC would surprise me.

If the woman you heard, Penny, was called Bernstein, I also heard her today and she is the fourth American relatve I have heard quoted who is completely hostile to Megrahi's release.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Jamming With Ollie Beak (inactive)
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 02:26 PM

and that's all it is with the USA...a lust for revenge, tempered with "oh won't this look good on my political résumé"

Sorry but that's the way I see it, rightly or wrongly.

Olivia Beak (Ms)

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: ard mhacha
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 02:43 PM

"Mr al-Megrahi did not show his victims any comfort or compassion. They were not allowed to return to the bosom of their families to see out their lives, let alone their dying days. No compassion was shown by him to them," he said.
"But that alone is not a reason for us to deny compassion to him and his family in his final days."
Mr MacAskill continued: "Our justice system demands that judgement be imposed, but compassion be available".
The above quote from Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill is an excellent reply to both the USA and the Islami fanatics.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 02:55 PM

It would be wonderful if the United States could find a charge to bring against him which would circumvent double jeopardy, and eventually extradite him for trial in America. But, alas, I doubt the government has the cajones to to so.

I wonder how many terrorist things he can perpetrate in his 'last' years...and I really wonder how many last years he really has. Or if the severity of his disease is a ruse.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Rumncoke
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 03:40 PM

Medical opinion - as reported here, is that pancreatic cancer will kill the man in about three months. It is not an exact science - but it hardly matters.

I fail to see how putting a man on trial for a crime for which he has already been found guilty would achieve anything, though as Libya is hardly likely to hand over Mr al Megrahi to the questionable custody of the USA it is never going to happen anyway.

The man is ill and plainly it was put to him that if he withdrew his apppeal then he could be repatriated almost at once - it is fairly clear that the Libians have been expecting his return for several days. He must know that he has little time left - perhaps after ten years he can see no profit in continuing to appeal against the conviction, though he still protests against it.

I feel that releasing Mr al Megrahi was the right thing to do, in a Christian country, and that the Scottish justice secretary did try to explain this so that people who appear to have no comprehension of Judeo-Christian teachings could understand his decision.

Anne Croucher

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Jamming With Ollie Beak (inactive)
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 03:49 PM

"It would be wonderful if the United States could find a charge to bring against him which would circumvent double jeopardy, and eventually extradite him for trial in America"
- John on the Sunset Coast

it isn't going to happen, not in this, or any other, life time, so cease and desist with your thirst for revenge, because that's all it is, it has little or nothing to do with the lives of those who were killed, much the same as 911, using the memory of those who died to further your own need for blood, I sometimes wonder who's worse, the terrorists or.....

Olivia Beak (Ms)

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 05:11 PM

Always been doubtful that he had anything to do with it.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 05:54 PM

Sorry, Ollie, you could not be more wrong! It is not a matter of revenge...it is a matter of justice. Of course you might think that all punishment is a form of revenge, so then we have nothing to discuss. He is the convicted killer of 200+ people, including some Scots on the ground. Mr. Bomber was lucky to be sentenced as he was; it was too lenient then, it is a farce now. By contrast, Bernard Madoff got 200X that sentence that for a non-violent crime (not that he doesn't deserve much if not all that sentence).

I know that he will never stand trial in this country, he will never serve another day in prison for that heinous, cowardly action, but one can dream.

I note that many posters here think he is not the guilty party--just check the title of the thread. It seems to me that anything that does not conform to your world view you reflexively believe is not true. Just an observation on my part.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 06:05 PM

Letting Megrahi go home to die was the price that the Brutish gvernment was willing to pay to stop an appeal going ahead which would have revealed things that they didn't want to have revealed.

And in spite of all the public huff and puff, it seems pretty safe to assume that the American government felt the same way and gave the go-ahead behind the scenes.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 06:46 PM

John on the Sunset Coast, regarding the question of whether Megrahi is guilty, I would suggest you look into the case a little and you would then be better placed to reach an informed opinion. I will start you off with a short resume, but don't rely on it - more authoritative stuff is readily available.

1) A US warship shoots down an Iranian civilian airliner, killing 290 people (or murdering them, as the Iranian government put it at the time). I suppose it seemed like a good idea at the time, but it made Iran very cross for some reason, especially when footage went around the world showoing American crew members cheering their achievement.

2) Iran swore to knock out 10 American airliners in retaliation.

3) A few months later, the Lockerbie atrocity, which the US admin promptly blamed on Iran.

4) The US admin continued to blame Iran until the looming gulf war required the US to moderate its relations with Iran. At that time Libya was seeking to rehabilitate itself a little with the west.

5) Two suspects were identified, partly as a result of CIA intelligence, both of them in Libya and both readily offered up (or sacrificed) by Gaddafi.

6) The case against one suspect didn't stand up to scrutiny and was thrown out. The case against the other, Megrahi, was far more compelling. In essence it was that he had been identified by a Maltese shopkeeper as the guy who had bought items that finished up in the same suitcase as the bomb. That identification evidence has been in question since the start. Oneof the trial judges described the Maltese shopkeeper as "not the full shilling," and anyone who has any experience of misscarriages of justice knows it is unsafe to rely on identification evidence on its own.

The senior Scottish law prof who devised the formula of a Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands has serious doubts about Megrahi's guilt. So has the UN's observer at the trial. So has the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which does not lightly accept the possibility of misscarriages. And not least, several British relatives of victims believe Megrahi is innocent or at least that he could not have acted alone. And none of them, as far as I have heard, believe that Megrahi's conviction solved the case.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: Folkiedave
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 06:55 PM

Spend ten minutes on reading up the case, and it is clear he didn't do it.

Try this version of the truth ..

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 08:33 PM

I said he was the 'convicted killer'. Everything you point out is merely supposition, based on a scenario woven together in a way you choose to believe. It confirms my view of how you look at evidence.

He may not have acted alone...but that doesn't mean that he was not a party to the bombing. Just because he is the only one who was caught, doesn't mitigate what his sentence should be.

The U.S. my have blamed Iran...that could have been a rush to judgement in the initial horror of the bombing based on previous Iranian threats. But not all threats are followed through.

Sometimes witness i.d.s are good, sometime not so good. You choose to believe it isn't good in this case. Doesn't make it so though.

Subject: RE: BS: Lockerbie bombing fall-guy to go free?
From: ard mhacha
Date: 21 Aug 09 - 03:59 AM

Captain Rogers the Captain of The Vincennes the person responsible for shooting down the Irani plane was decorated on his return to the US.
The planes passengers were mainly women and children on a short flight shopping excursion, included in the 290 dead were 66 children.
Trigger-happy US ships Captains can be honoured as heroes after murdering 290 innocent people while the US tells the rest of the world how they should behave.