Perhaps, after all the furore over the compassionate release of the only (Libyan) man convicted in connection with the Lockerbie Bombing, we can get back to considering who played the more major roles in the conspiracy?
Even assuming that the Libyan was guilty, there is only evidence of his supplying a suitcase full of clothes and other personal items, to whoever it was who made the bomb.
Frankfurt Police found that a Palestinian terrorist cell was in the process of building several very similar bombs at the time, and, given Iranian sponsorship of extremist Palestinian groups through the "Quds Militia" offshoot of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, that would make a sensible connection to the only state that actually WANTED to destroy an American Civil Airliner in 1988.
Again, even if the Libyan was guilty, no-one takes seriously the idea that he acted on his own, or indeed as anything other than an accessory to a larger plot. Medawar's view is that he was more involved than either he or the Libyan government wants to pretend, but might well have been conned or coerced into what he did. After all, there was no forensic evidence at all, save for that which traced directly to him, through a Tailor's shop in Malta.
(Interestingly, this Tailor's shop was situated next to "CEL Travel". Which has no connection other than its name, to the scientific instrument maker "Lucas CEL Instruments Ltd" whose North American sales agent was on Pan Am Flight 103, along with several boxes of CEL Instruments sales literature and instruction manuals. So, as the police and FBI searched a debris field that stretched almost across Scotland, they probably found a bit of paper with "CEL" on every hundred yards or so. Medawar wonders if this accidentally brainwashed dozens of investigators to seize on links connected with "CEL". This doesn't mean that the Malta link isn't real or valid, it just means that it got picked out of the soup when perhaps other things didn't, simply because there were so many objects and people to trace. The one thing that really MUST happen now, is a re-investigation, with up-to-date cross-referencing database technology as well as modern forensics, because it is clear that several very guilty men are so far free and clear. Only by finding and trying those who actually made the bomb, planted it, and commissioned the whole operation, can we either understand Libya's role (or otherwise) and put it into context of what other states and organizations may have done.)
Even assuming that the Libyan was guilty, there is only evidence of his supplying a suitcase full of clothes and other personal items, to whoever it was who made the bomb.
Frankfurt Police found that a Palestinian terrorist cell was in the process of building several very similar bombs at the time, and, given Iranian sponsorship of extremist Palestinian groups through the "Quds Militia" offshoot of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, that would make a sensible connection to the only state that actually WANTED to destroy an American Civil Airliner in 1988.
Again, even if the Libyan was guilty, no-one takes seriously the idea that he acted on his own, or indeed as anything other than an accessory to a larger plot. Medawar's view is that he was more involved than either he or the Libyan government wants to pretend, but might well have been conned or coerced into what he did. After all, there was no forensic evidence at all, save for that which traced directly to him, through a Tailor's shop in Malta.
(Interestingly, this Tailor's shop was situated next to "CEL Travel". Which has no connection other than its name, to the scientific instrument maker "Lucas CEL Instruments Ltd" whose North American sales agent was on Pan Am Flight 103, along with several boxes of CEL Instruments sales literature and instruction manuals. So, as the police and FBI searched a debris field that stretched almost across Scotland, they probably found a bit of paper with "CEL" on every hundred yards or so. Medawar wonders if this accidentally brainwashed dozens of investigators to seize on links connected with "CEL". This doesn't mean that the Malta link isn't real or valid, it just means that it got picked out of the soup when perhaps other things didn't, simply because there were so many objects and people to trace. The one thing that really MUST happen now, is a re-investigation, with up-to-date cross-referencing database technology as well as modern forensics, because it is clear that several very guilty men are so far free and clear. Only by finding and trying those who actually made the bomb, planted it, and commissioned the whole operation, can we either understand Libya's role (or otherwise) and put it into context of what other states and organizations may have done.)
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