The GaiaPost

'United States Scapegoated Libya': Tam Dalyell

2008-10-23T13:42:00.000-07:00

Tam Dalyell was a Labour member of the House of Commons from 1962 to 2005. During his rather astonishingly long career in the House, Dalyell has led no less than 17 Adjournment debates on the Lockerbie bombing, in which he repeatedly demanded answers by the government to the reports of Hans Kochler, the United Nations observer at the Lockerbie Trial. His latest comments are extraordinary. "If I thought there was any scintilla of possibility that he was guilty of mass murder, I might agree with Ruth Cohen, the intransigent American relative, who says she has no pity. But the American relatives, intent on vengeance, should understand that the United States scapegoated Libya, a country which had nothing whatever to do with the Lockerbie crime, at a time when they wanted to blame someone, small and unpopular, in order not to have trouble with Iran and Syria, who harboured the real perpetrators, before the planned invasion of Iraq," Dalyell wrote."The dreadful question has to be asked -- if Mr Megrahi's illness is as terminal as is indicated in medical bulletins, what happens now? Do we just sweep it under the carpet; do we allow it to evaporate or go away? Certainly not, say some of us. The issue is not only Mr Megrahi, but the integrity and good name of the Scottish legal system." Read full story

The Goben Memorandum

2008-10-22T14:18:00.000-07:00

Peter Thiel is living in a small village just outside Frankfurt. He used to work at Frankfurt airport. When the BKA raided his home on Oct. 26, they found three messages from Martin Kadorah asking to contact him as soon as possible. Kadorah, who was arrested in Yougoslavia, never provided the police with a satisfactory explanation for these suspicious phone calls. Nevertheless, both men were released in a matter of hours and never investigated again.When the BKA raided the house of Martin Kadorah, they found ammunition, gun cleaning equipment and, quite amazingly, an Israeli Ministry of Interior stamp! The BKA also found a notebook belonging to Kadorah. Read full story

The Maltese Connection

2008-10-22T14:16:00.000-07:00

Abu Talb, still in Cyprus, contacted one of the directors of the bakery and will meet with them in Malta in a couple of days. [1]On the same day, Dalkamoni and Yassim Kam-Nakche return to Neuss. From his flat at 16 Isarstrasse, Dalkamoni calls Habib Dajani who owns a restaurant, the King s take Away, in Nicosia Cyprus. Dajani says that he has obtained a Visa for Germany. Dajani informs Dalkamoni that he will arrive in Berlin on Monday Oct. 24. Dajani will later admit that he used to pass messages to and for Dalkamoni. Among the usual callers, Dajani recalls Abu Nidal and Abu Talb. The Lockerbie investigation never found evidence of a link between Dalkamoni and Talb. Read full story

The PFLP-GC Bomb Maker Goes Shopping for Radios

2008-10-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

Khreesat is looking for tuners and monitors with no particular brand or model in mind. As a rule, Khreesat prefers older models because the newer models are digital and much more compact. It is harder to alter a newer model, since there is less room inside. It is of course critical to keep the radios functional to defeat security screening at the airport.Later in the day, Dalkamoni calls and visits Martin Khadorah, who lives at 68 Bernadottstrasse, Frankfurt. Born Mahmoud Kadorah, the Palistinian is suspected of belonging to the PFLP-GC. In August 1986, his name and phone number was found in the notebooks of two members of the organization when they were arrested in London. Soon after the visit of Dalkamoni, Kadorah departs for Yougoslavia where he meets Bilal Dalkamoni. Bilal, the younger brother of Haffez, lives in Maribor, Yougoslavia. The PFLP-GC maintains several arms cache in Yougoslavia. Read full story

The PFLP-GC Bomb Maker: Marwan Abdel Khreesat

2008-10-22T14:13:00.000-07:00

Marwan Khreesat was born in 1945 in Amman, Jordan. At the age of four, he attended an Islamic College. He studied there until the age of 14. He never did military service nor learned a trade. He helped his father business as an electrician. But in truth, Khreesat was no ordinary electrical appliance repairman. He was the senior bomb maker of Jibril PFLP-GC. According to MOSSAD, Khreesat was implicated in the 1970 bombing of a Swissair airliner in which 47 people died. There is also strong evidence that Khreesat had been instrumental in the 1972 bombing of an El Al plane. The bomb consisted of 250 grams of explosive hidden in a radio and triggered by a barometric switch.Khreesat retired from terrorism activities soon after the bombing of the El Al airliner. And then, in 1986, he rejoined the PFLP-GC for reasons that have never been explained. Read full story

The PFLP-GC Bomb Maker Arrives in Germany

2008-10-22T14:11:00.000-07:00

The telephone is answered, and he asks for Imad Chaaban's brother. He waits some time, and then Jihad Chaaban and Mohamed Sami Orfali arrived. All three drive to the shop belonging to Hashem Abassi, at 4040 Neuss, Neumarkt 14, Germany. Mohamed Moghrabi is introduced to Hashem Abassi.Between 13th and 14th October 1988, Mohamed Mougrabi resides at 16 Isarstrasse, Neuss, Germany. Shortly after his arrival at that appartment, Hafez Dalkamoni, aka Hafez Hussein, arrives carrying a package. [1] Dalkamoni is introduced to Mohamed Mougrabi by Hashem Abassi. Read full story

Mohamed Moghrabi Drives to Germany

2008-10-22T14:10:00.000-07:00

According to Mohamed Moghrabi, the purpose of the trip was to assist the brother and cousin of Imad Chaaban, Jihad Chaaban, and Mohamed Samir Orfali, to gain illegal entry to Sweden. [3]On Sept. 5, 1988, Jehab Chabaan, Ziad Chabaan and Samir Ourfali entered Germany on a flight from Damascus. Ziad is another brother of Imad Chabaan. [See Part 65 -- Sept. 5, 1988]Imad Chabaan, who changed his name to Martin Imandi a few years earlier, resides in Uppsala, Sweden. Imad Chabaan is a close associate of PSF member Abu Talb. Imad Chabaan had met the three men at Munich airport and attempted to drive them illegally to Sweden. But Danish police arrested them at the border city of Rodbyhavn on charge of carrying false documentation. Read full story

US Congress and Intelligence Operations

2008-10-22T14:08:00.000-07:00

''The emotional involvement on both sides of the Central American debate exaggerates the problem, but the significance of what was said is that the Speaker said it. It would have been just as dangerous conceptually and institutionally if he had talked about a covert action in Scotland,'' said Representative Henry J. Hyde of Illinois, the senior Republican on the House intelligence committee.The last comment leaves me wondering if Hyde was actually aware that the CIA was using the TEREX Company in Motherwell - Scotland - to provide mobile Scud launchers to the Iraqis, in violation of the UN embargo.In the aftermath of the Congressional investigations of the Iran-contra affair, a legislative recommendation was proposed that would require the President to notify Congress within 48 hours about covert operations undertaken by the executive branch. The text was approved by the Senate earlier this year but House leaders have decided not to take it up. Read full story

Towards an October Surprise?

2008-10-22T13:55:00.000-07:00

Upon hearing the release of a hostage last week, the White House was initially gripped with happiness. But the news also carries political risks for Vice President Bush as it could remind the voters of the disaster of the Iran Contra operation during which weapons were sold by the US to Tehran and the profits were used to fund rebels and political opponents in Nicaragua. ''Obviously, if you could get the hostages out in some clean, decent way, with no hint of an under-the-table deal, that would be good news for the President and for the Bush camp,'' said William Quandt, a former State Department official and Middle East expert. ''The problem is that any hint that you've done another Iran-contra kind of deal could be devastating. I suspect the White House is terribly sensitive about any charge that they're trying to plan their own October surprise to help Bush by getting the hostages out,'' Quandt said. Read full story

Alan Feraday and the Evidence of the Lockerbie Trial

2008-10-22T13:53:00.000-07:00

In October 2005, Dr Hans Kochler, one of the international observers at the Lockerbie trial, issued a report regarding Feraday's grave misgivings."The credibility of a key forensic expert in the trial, Mr. Alan Feraday, has been shattered. It was revealed that in three separate cases, men against whom Mr. Feraday gave evidence have now had their convictions overturned." According to forensic scientist, Dr Michael Scott, who was interviewed in the documentary "The Maltese Double Cross -- Lockerbie", Feraday has no formal qualifications as a scientist. Under cross examination by Richard Keen QC, Feraday admitted that much. Read full story

The Metamorphose of the Pan Am 103 Radio Bomb

2008-10-22T13:51:00.000-07:00

have compared some fragments of electronic circuit board recovered at Lockerbie (Longtown) and marked as item AG/145 with various radio/cassette tape recorders. I am completely satisfied that these fragments originate from a Toshiba brand radio stereo cassette recorder types RT-8016 or RT-8026. These fragments are shattered in a manner consistent with their intimate involvement in a violent explosion, and I therefore conclude that the bomb was concealed in the aforementioned Toshiba type portable radio/cassette player.The Toshiba RT-8016 and RT-8026 are visually similar and differ only in that the 8026 has a 3 band graphics equaliser on its front panel. Both sets measure 16 and a half inches by 5 and a half inches by 4 inches. The set used in the bomb possessed a white plastics case.So the question is this. How did the evidence pointing to a white RT-8016 or RT-8026 turn into evidence of a black RT-SF16, a model virtually only sold to Libya? This question should be best answered by Forensic Expert Alan Feraday. Read full story

No Hope For American Hostages Prompt Release

2008-10-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

According to State Department officials, there is no indication that any American hostages might be released soon. Nine of the 21 foreigners being held hostage in Beirut are US citizens.''You want to be encouraged and say everybody is coming out, but we really don't know,'' a State Department official said today.Today, Secretary of State George P. Shultz accused unnamed private American citizens to misrepresent themselves as official spokesmen for the United States Government in trying to arrange hostage deals with Iran.''There are always individuals who nominate themselves to get involved. To the extent that anyone represents himself or herself as speaking for the U.S. Government, they are misrepresenting themselves. There is only one channel that is authoritative, and that channel starts with the President and comes to me,'' Shultz said. Read full story

US Official Denies Arms for Hostages Deal With Tehran

2008-10-22T13:48:00.000-07:00

Today, L. Paul Bremer, the State Department's top counterterrorism official, described as "preposterous" reports that the US had offered weapons to Tehran in order to secure the release of Americans hostages held in Lebanon by pro Iran kidnappers.Bremer rejected allegations made yesterday by former Iran President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr. The former president, who lives in Paris, told reporters that an agent of Vice President Bush, named Richard lawless, negotiated the release of Mithileshwar Singh who is a permanent resident of the United States and was held hostage in Beirut, along with thre other Americans. Read full story

Former Iranian President Reveals Secret US Talk With Iran

2008-10-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

Oct. 5, 1988, a French television network, La Cinq, reported that three meetings between Richard Lawless, a US citizen, and high level Iranian negotiators had taken place at Glyon, near Montreux, in late August and early September. A fourth meeting occurred in early October.The Iranians negotiators were named as Mohammad Javad Laridjani, Mahmoud Jamali, Nasrollah Kazemi Kamyab and Abolghasem Mesbahi. All of them are quite well known senior officials and worked for the Foreign Affair Ministry, except Abolghasem Mesbahi who was representing Rafsanjani. Read full story

Pro-Iran Palestinian Group Announces Hostage Release

2008-10-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, Britain and Iran agreed to restore full relations. On Saturday, a group known as the Islamic Holy War for the Liberation of Palestine promised in a statement to free one of their four captives.

The pro-Iranian kidnappers stated that the release was in line with positive political developments in the Middle East.The four hostages held by the group are Alann Steen, 48, Jesse Turner, 39, and Robert Polhill, 54, all Americans, and Mithileshwar Singh, 60, an Indian. All are lecturers at Beirut University College and were seized together on Jan. 24 of last year. Read full story

Abu Talb Visits Malta

2008-10-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

Richard Marquise, the former FBI agent who led the investigation of the bombing of Pan Am 103, told me that he doubted that Dalkamoni and Talb had met in Cyprus in early October."There is no evidence that Talb met Dalkamoni. In fact I would say not true because Dalkamoni had been under surveillance by the Germans most of October and I do not believe there was any evidence developed that he visited Malta during that time frame," Marquise told me.In fact, there is no doubt that Dalkamoni was in Cyprus on the following dates: 9 to 11 of May, 12 to 14 September and 1 to 5 October. And it is also established that Talb was on the Island from the 3rd to the 18th of October. What is more, the German surveillance operation did not start before the 10th of October and none of their sixteen targets was residing in Cyprus. Read full story

Operation Autumn Leaves

2008-10-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

Manfred Klink joined the Bundeskriminalamt [BKA] in 1973. The dedicated detective rose rapidly through the ranks of the organization. By 1988, he was the senior officer in the anti-terrorist department. In February 1988, the Bundesnachrichtendienst [BND] received information from Israel regarding the presence of PFLP-GC cells in Western Europe, including in West Germany. The BND forwarded the information to the head-quarters of the Bundesamt fur Verfassungsschutz [BfV] in Pullach, near Munich.In turn, the BfV forwarded the documents to the Chancellor Security advisers in Bonn and to the Anti-terrorism Department of the BKA in Mecheheim. Read full story

Is Washington Afraid of Persia?

2008-10-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

Writing about his term at the helm of the CIA in the mid-1980s, Robert Gates tells in his memoir that "the downside of an attack on Iran, to everyone's regret, outweighed how much Iran deserved punishment... Thus Iran proved 'too hard'--a limited attack would, as a participant in one meeting delicately put it, 'just piss them off' and make things worse."Quite bluntly, Gates wrote of how "the Reagan Administration's fear of confronting Iran did not prevent it from choosing an alternative, relatively defenseless target on which to display American strength." "The process of elimination brought CIA to Libya. Ironically, Libya had been reluctant to attack the United States directly out of fear of retaliation. But because it was in the poorest position to sustain itself against U.S. actions--military or economic--it became the target for U.S. retaliation against all state-supported terrorism." [1] Read full story

September Intelligence Summary

2008-10-03T08:42:00.000-07:00

"The crimes of your Ministry of Intelligence and those committed in your prisons are far worse than those of the Shah and Savak, and I speak of detailed knowledge." -- Ayatollah Montazeri, Letter to Ayatollah Khomeini - Summer 1988US Strikes Seal With TehranIn early September 1988, Mohammad Javad Larijani, the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister, was visiting Paris. From there, he was called unexpectedly to Geneva for talks with American negotiators.Besides Mohammad Javad Larijani, the other Iranian negotiators are believed to be Mahmoud Jamali, Nasrollah Kazemi Kamyab and Abolghasem Mesbahi. All of them are quite well known senior officials and worked for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, except Mesbahi who was representing Hashemi Rafsanjani. Read full story

ALI AKBAR VELAYATI

2008-10-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

Dr. Ali Akbar Velayati (علی‌اکبر ولایتی; born June 25, 1945 in Shemiran) is an Iranian politician and a former pediatrician, currently an Advisor in International Affairs to the Supreme Leader. He was the Foreign Minister of Iran for about 16 years (December 15, 1981 – August 20, 1997), making him the longest-serving Foreign Minister in Iranian history.
Velayati served for two terms under Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi from 1981 to 1988 and then two more terms under President Hashemi Rafsanjani from 1988 to 1997.
After winning the presidential election on October 13, 1981, President Ali Khamenei proposed Velayati as his prime minister to the Majlis of Iran, but Majlis voted against him (74/80/38) on October 22. Khamenei later proposed Mir-Hossein Mousavi who gained Majlis's approval.
Velayati acquired his M.D. from University of Tehran and pediatrics degrees from the Johns Hopkins University, respectively in 1971 and 1974.
Velayati was under consideration by the conservative alliance of Iran as a possible candidate for Iranian presidential election of 2005, but he announced that he does not accept candidacy of the conservative alliance and will run as an Independent. He finally decided not to run. It's been said widely because he did not want to run against Hashem Rafsanjani.

Ali Akbar Mohtashami-Pur

2008-10-03T08:35:00.000-07:00

Mohtashemi studied in the holy city of Najaf Iraq, where he spent considerable time with his mentor the Ayatollah Khomeini. After the revolution he served as Iran's ambassador to Syria and later became Iran's Minister of the Interior. While ambassador to Syria, he is thought to have played a "pivotal role" in the creation of the Lebanese radical Shia organization Hezbollah, working "within the framework of the Department for Islamic Liberation Movements run by the Iranian Pasdaran.
Mohtashemi actively supervised Hezbollah's creation, merging into it existing radical Shi'ite movements: the Lebanese al-Dawa; the Association of Muslim Students; Al-Amal al-Islamiyya. In 1986, when the Office of Islamic Liberation was reassigned to Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and his "close supervision of Hezbollah was cut short. He is also described as making "liberal" use of the diplomatic pouch as Ambassador, bringing in "crates" of material from Iran.
In 1984, tragedy struck, when after the Beirut bombings, Mohtashemi received a parcel containing a book on Shia holy places. As he opened the package it detonated, blowing off his hand and severely wounding him. Mohtashami was medevaced to Europe and survived the blast to continue his work. The identity of the perpetrators of the attack is unknown.
In 1989 the new Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani ousted Mohtashemi from the Lebanon desk of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, replacing him with Rafsanjani's brother Mahmud Hashemi. This was seen as an indication of Iran's downgrading of its support for Hezbollah and for a revolutionary foreign policy in general. Read full story

AKBAR HASHEMI RAFSANJANI

2008-10-03T08:33:00.000-07:00

Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (Persian:اکبر هاشمی رفسنجانی Akbar Hāshemī Rafsanjānī), Hashemi Bahramani (هاشمی بهرمانی) born on February 15, 1934, is an influential Iranian politician, and in September 2007 was elected to the post of Chairman of the Assembly of Experts and of the Expediency Council of Iran.

He served as President of Iran from 1989 to 1997. He later ran again for a third term in office, losing on the second ballot to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the 2005 election. Rafsanjani is currently the Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council, that resolves legislative issues between the Majlis and the Council of Guardians.

Rafsanjani is heavily associated with the Iranian business class and like his constituency he is hostile to Ahmandinejad and the more ideological tendency in the Islamic Republic. Rafsanjani is best described as a pragmatic conservative, who supports a centrist position domestically and a moderate position internationally, seeking to avoid conflict with the United States. Read full story

Rafsanjani Escapes Assassination Attempt

2008-10-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

You do not fight in the name of Allah, but you fight to further your own interests. You do not fool me when you say that you have the interest of Islam at heart. You fight for power, and I know it. You always want more power. None among you is content with his own carpet, and each one among you seeks to stretch his legs on his neighbor's carpet." -- Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of IranRafsanjani may have found powerful allies in his struggle for political power in the persons of Ahmed Khomeini, the son of the Supreme leader, and Velayati, the Foreign Minister, but the powerful Parliament Speaker has also made a few very dangerous enemies.Today, a commando led by Mir Lohi attempted to assassinate Rafsanjani as he was leaving the parliament. Rafsanjani escaped but four of his Afghan bodyguards were killed and several others wounded. Read full story

Western Countries Endorse Rafsanjani Policies

2008-10-03T08:26:00.000-07:00

In the last couple of weeks, Rafsanjani has promoted countless military to the rank of General in an effort to trim the wings of the hard-line Revolutionary Guards in favor of the Iranian Army. All weapons research and development projects under the Revolutionary Guards were shifted to the army research and weapons development divisions.Rafsanjani has also defeated Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi views over foreign investment policy. Rafsanjani, who has asserted that the country needs foreign expertise and investment, has received direct and public backing from Ayatollah Khomeini who recently accused Mousavi of having acted irresponsibly for opposing foreign involvement in the Iranian economy.''Iranian pragmatists are picking up where they left off at Irangate,'' asserts a government official. And the pragmatists just scored a major victory, as the United States Senate moved to impose economic sanctions on Iraq for using chemical weapons. Read full story

Iran Begins Mines Clearing Op in the Gulf

2008-10-03T08:24:00.000-07:00

"The Court decides that the United States of America, by failing to make known the existence and location of the mines laid by it [...] has acted in breach of its obligations under Customary International Law in this respect." -- International Court of Justice, June 27, 1986 [1]Today, Iran's official press agency reported that the Iranian Navy has begun mine-clearing operations in the Persian Gulf today, Upon hearing the announcement, an American official said that the news was ''tantamount to admitting that they laid the mines.'' The US accusation is not without irony. Read full story

US Lawmaker Accused of Leaking Secret Data

2008-10-03T08:23:00.000-07:00

"We found that there is substantial credible evidence that the contras were engaged with some frequency in acts of terroristic violence directed at Nicaraguan civilians. These are individuals who have no connection with the war effort - persons with no economic, political or military significance. These individuals are deliberately targeted by the contras for acts of terror. -- Professor Michael Glennon, Report to the International Human Rights Law GroupToday, Jim Wright, the Speaker of the House, is accused by House Republicans of having revealed classified intelligence information. On Sept. 21, Wright told reporters that '' he had received clear testimony from C.I.A. people that they have deliberately done things to provoke an overreaction on the part of the Government in Nicaragua.'' Read full story

The Maltese Shopkeeper

2008-10-03T08:21:00.000-07:00

Gauci was not quite the full shilling. I think even his family would say (that he) was an apple short of a picnic. He was quite a tricky guy, I don't think he was deliberately lying but if you asked him the same question three times he would just get irritated and refuse to answer." -- Former Lord Advocate Peter Fraser, Oct. 23, 2005

Edward Gauci owns a small store Mary's House, at 63 Tower Road, Sliema in Malta. His sons, Paul and Tony, run the business. On Sept. 22 1988, Paul ordered a few Babygros. The investigator of the bombing of Pan Am 103 discovered that the IED had been surrounded by clothes bought from the Gauci store. According to the US State Department, the clothes were bought on, or about, Dec. 7, 1988. Read full story

CIA Funding Nicaragua Opposition and Rebels

2008-10-03T08:18:00.000-07:00

''We had received clear testimony from C.I.A. people that they have deliberately done things to provoke an overreaction on the part of the Government in Nicaragua,'' Senator Jim Wright, a Texas Democrat, said today in response to a question at his daily news briefing.

It is the first time that a Government official has publicly acknowledged the CIA activity in Nicaragua. But Wright gave no details regarding the timing of this operation.The Sandinistas have repeatedly charged that the C.I.A. has tried to destabilize their Government since the beginning of the Reagan administration.According to Congressional committees investigating the Iran-contra affair, Oliver L. North, a former National Security Council aide, used money raised from the Iran arms sales to fund, at least partially, the C.I.A.'s program supporting anti-Sandinista politicians and supplying weapons to the Contras. Read full story

Book Sheds Light on Reagan

2008-10-03T08:16:00.000-07:00

In his book Perilous Statecraft, Michael Ledeen, a former consultant to the National Security Council, writes that US President Ronald Reagan was so eager to gain the release of the American hostages that he once told senior aides he was willing to go to prison if necessary. Half jokingly, Reagan added that visiting hours were on Thursdays.Ledeen described a particularly interesting incident regarding the American operation to catch the hijackers of the cruise ship Achille Lauro.American jet fighters forced the Egyptian plane carrying the hijackers to land in Italy. The incident prompted a series of exchanges between Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi and Reagan.When Reagan was asked if the United States knew who the terrorists were, he responded, "I'm not sure we know exactly who they are."The answer was incorrect. "We know exactly who they are," Ledeen translated. The US President would later thank him for his "helpful translation." Read full story

US Congress Wonders About Secret Ops

2008-10-03T08:15:00.000-07:00

American arms were sold to Iran and the profits were used to supply the Contras. The work of a special prosecutor and a Congressional investigating committee has left no doubt about this.But members of Congress wonder if there were more secret operations. Presidential hopeful Michael S. Dukakis repeatedly accuses the Reagan administration of having traded arms for hostages.Following Senator Tower's report regarding the Iran-Contra scandal, Reagan eventually admitted the deal. But in the running up of the coming election, he reversed himself and now again denies such a swap ever took place. Read full story

Did US Illegal Weapons Sale Cause Pan Am 103 Bombing?

2008-09-24T08:11:00.000-07:00

In a matter of days, the head of the CIA personally wrote to the judge to seek his help in ending the legal process. Nevertheless, in a second meeting, Fuisz admitted that he had high-level contacts in Damascus.Moreover, vital information was placed under double seal. Neither the content of George Tenet's letter nor the information under double seal was ever revealed but it had become abundantly clear that Fuisz was a high-level CIA HUMINT asset.Over the years, people have wondered what link could possibly exist between the illegal US sale of weapons to Iraq and the downing of Pan Am 103 over the city of Lockerbie.At the time of the explosion, Pan Am 103 was heading straight toward -- and was only a few minutes from flying over -- Motherwell, Scotland.Had the weather conditions not slowed the airliner, Pan Am 103 would have exploded over the very city that had produced the Scud launchers that had terrorized the Iranian population through the eight-year long war. Read ful story

Iraq Rejects UN Investigation of Chemical Weapons Use

2008-09-24T08:10:00.000-07:00

Iraq on this day formally rebuffed an attempt by the United Nations to send an inspection team to determine whether Iraqi forces used poison gas in recent offensives against Kurdish separatists.United States officials have said they are convinced Iraq has been using poison gas, as many Kurds have claimed, after listening to intercepted radio communications between Iraqi military commanders engaged in operations against the Kurds. UN investigators reached the same conclusion earlier."It's a negative response," said Iraq's acting representative at the United Nations, Ali Mahmoud Sumaida, after giving his government's formal reply to Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar. Read full story

Turkey Opposes Inquiry Into Iraqi Chemical Weapons

2008-09-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, Sept. 8, 1988, US State Department officials said that US intelligence agencies have confirmed Iraq's use of chemicals in its recent drive against Kurdish civilians in Northern Iraq.The United Nations has announced that teams were ready to go to Iraq and Turkey to investigate poison gas charges. Neither country has agreed to allow the investigators on their territory.Today, The Turkish government said that the investigation would be unnecessary and unwelcome."Turkish medical workers had found no trace or evidence of chemical weapons. A United Nations investigation is unwarranted," said Inal Batu, the Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman."If a team of experts is sent to Turkey this would involve Turkey directly in the matter. Such an attempt would also create a wrong impression that Turkish medical experts are inadequate to make related research," Batu added. Read full story

Bonn Hails Release of Rudolf Cordes

2008-09-24T08:05:00.000-07:00

"The release of Rudolf Cordes, the last German hostage held in Lebanon, had been negotiated over several months with Iranian officials, and was finally obtained at a meeting Aug. 24 with Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, Mohammed Javad Larijani," Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher announced today."No conditions of any sort were accepted or fulfilled and none were set. I would like to make that quite clear," Genscher added.Cordes' kidnappers told Western news agencies that they were setting him free after "sincere appeals from Syria and Iran." Read full story

Yasser Arafat Addresses the European Parliament

2008-09-24T08:03:00.000-07:00

On this day, Yasser Arafat, the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, addressed members of the European Parliament. Contrary to speculations, Arafat did not announce the formation of a Palestinian provisional government.Arafat did say, however, that only the Palestine National Council could take such action. The council, a sort of parliament in exile, is composed of about 500 Palestinian representatives.In a historical moment, Arafat said he accepted UN Resolutions 242 and 338. The resolutions call for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied territories and the recognition by Arab states of Israel's right to exist. Read full story

West German Hostage Released in West Beirut

2008-09-24T08:02:00.000-07:00

According to Lebanese and West German Embassy officials, a West German hostage who had been held captive for 20 months was released in Moslem-controlled West Beirut on Monday. The man was handed over to Syrian officials, who sent him to Damascus.On Jan. 14 1987, Mohammed Ali Hammadi, was arrested in Frankfurt on charges of air piracy in the 1985 hijacking of a TWA flight from Athens to Rome. Four days later, Rudolf Cordes was abducted in West Beirut.Cordes was freed in a deserted area of Beirut. The 53-year-old West German businessman walked to a nearby home and called the police. Cordes was driven to Damascus where a private jet was waiting to fly him home.Cordes's kidnappers failed to secure the release of Hammadi but they managed to prevent his extradition to the United States. The West German government proceeded with the hijacking trial. Read full story

Haffez Kassem Dalkamoni and the Cyprus Connection

2008-09-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

On this day, Haffez Kassem Dalkamoni goes to Cyprus where the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) maintains a bank account. Dalkamoni has full control over the account. Bank records show that its state has fluctuated from US$1 million to several millions. Dalkamoni has been in Cyprus earlier in the year in February and in May.Dalkamoni is (besides Ahmed Jibril himself) one of two other members of the PFLP-GC known to have participated with Iranian officials in the discussions regarding the revenge for the USS Vincennes "incident." The other is Major Tunayb, who was the head of the organization's intelligence branch.Dalkamoni was born on Sept. 28, 1945, in Damascus according to his BKA (German Federal Criminal Police) files. But others have reported that he was born in Palestine. Dalkamoni developed since his childhood a deep hatred for the State of Israel. Read full story

Imad Chaaban aka Marten Imandi

2008-09-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

Mahmoud and Mustafa Mograbi, with the help of their brother-in-law Abu Talb and a friend named Imad Chaaban, aka Marten Imandi, were using Uppsala as a base for their terrorism operations. In 1985 and 1986, they bombed the offices of Northwest Airlines in Copenhagen and Stockholm, an Amsterdam office of Israel's airline, El Al, and a synagogue in Copenhagen.On Dec. 24, 1989, an Uppsala court found Talb, Chaaban, and Mahmoud and Mustafa Mograbi guilty of staging the Northwest and El Al bombings. Talb was sentenced to life in prison.Imad Chaaban was born in Damascus in 1954. Imad, along with his eight brothers and sisters, grew up in extreme poverty. At the young age of 15, Imad joined the Palestine Liberation Organization. During the next three years, he underwent several months of military training. Read full story

Mohamed Abu Talb

2008-09-24T07:57:00.000-07:00

In November 1983, Talb and his wife, born Jamilla Mograbi, entered Sweden. Talb used a false Moroccan passport. They asked for political asylum and received it. By 1988, Talb was running an Arabic video business. The owner of the Cafe where he was selling the videos was a Palestinian man named Hamid Al Wani. According to Swedish Security Police (SAPO), Al Wani was the leader of the PFLP-GC for the central part of Sweden. His brother, Sadi Al Wani, cofounded the organization with Ahmed Jibril. In the months following the USS Vincennes incident, Talb became a different person. He distanced himself from his friends and his relationship with his beautiful wife deteriorated. They would divorce in early 1989. Read full story

The Moghrabis: Terror as a Palestinian Family Business

2008-09-24T07:55:00.000-07:00

Dalal Al-Moghrabi belongs to a large family of nine brothers and sisters. The family is famous for its commitment to the Palestinian cause. The creation of Israel had displaced their parents in 1947. The following year, as a result of the Arab-Israeli war, they were living in one of the dozens of refugee camps. Growing up amid the misery of the camp would affect the Moghrabi brothers and sisters.In 1978, Dalal Al-Moghrabi was shot dead by Israeli security forces during a Palestinian attack on a bus near Tel Aviv. More than two dozen Israeli civilians were killed. Dalal, the leader of the commando, became a martyr. The president of Algeria rewarded her entire family with Algerian passports.Two Fatah representatives in the Palestinian Legislative Council, Jihad Abu Zneid and Najat Abu Bakr, were interviewed by Palestinian TV on the return of the remains of Dalal Al-Moghrabi this past July."To the mother of Dalal, I say that this is the day of Dalal's presence in the soul of every free man. Rest assured, oh mistress of Palestine and of the mother of martyrs, that on this day you have become the mother of all Palestinian mothers. To Dalal, confined in her coffin, I say that no matter how much time it takes, you are the one who has won," Najat Abu Bakr said in the interview aired on July 16, 2008. Read full story

US: Iraq Used Chemical Weapons Against Kurds

2008-09-24T07:53:00.000-07:00

On this day, State Department officials said that US intelligence agencies have confirmed Iraq's use of chemicals in its recent drive against Kurdish civilians in Northern Iraq.Until now, the US government has always stated that it had no conclusive proof that Iraq was using chemical weapons against Iranians and Iraqi Kurds.In a meeting with Saadoun Hammadi, Iraq's minister of state for foreign affairs, Secretary of State George Shultz accused Iraq of "unjustifiable and abhorrent" use of poison gas against the Kurds. After the meeting, Hammadi characterized the charge as "absolutely baseless."Shultz had presided over a strong pro-Iraq tilt in US policy and, in spite of the fresh accusations, continues to oppose sanctions against Iraq."The Secretary stressed to Dr. Hammadi that we attach great importance to the further development of our relationship with Iraq, but that we do not intend to pursue this course if illegal Iraqi use of chemical weapons and other human rights abuses continue," Redman said. Read full story

Danish Police Release Terror Suspects

2008-09-24T07:50:00.000-07:00

On this day, Jehab Chabaan, Ziad Chabaan, Samir Ourfali and Martin Imandi are released from Danish custody. (See Part 65 - Sept. 5, 1988.)Imandi is allowed to continue to Sweden but the other three are returned to Munich. Ziad Chabaan decides to fly back to Syria. Jehab Chabaan and Ourfali remain in Germany.Someone advised them by phone to go to Neuss. Once there, they call Hashem Abassi, the brother in law of Dalkamoni.They did so and were allowed to live at the apartment occupied by Dalkamoni at 16 Isarstrasse.According to Mrs. Abassi, Jehab Chabaan and Ourfali stayed in the largest of her two children's room. Both men were still residing in the apartment when Marwan Khreesat, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) senior bomb maker, arrived on Oct. 13. Read full story

US, Iran Hold Secrets Talks in Geneva

2008-09-24T07:48:00.000-07:00

Over the last week of July 1988, Washington and Tehran have exchanged a few messages through a third party, not known but most likely to be Swiss officials. The message from the US administration is said to congratulate Iran for accepting the ceasefire and to seek the help of Iranians officials to secure the safe release of the US citizens held hostage in Lebanon.Iranian leaders have publicly said that they would use their influence over Hezbollah if the US returns Iranian assets frozen following the Islamic revolution.Fearful that such agreement would resurrect the memories of the Iran-Contra affair, the Reagan administration immediately rejected such a demand. At least, that is what the American public was told. (According to former Iranian President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, the assets were almost entirely returned.)On Oct. 6, 1988, L. Paul Bremer, described as "preposterous" a spate of reports that the US had offered money or weapons to Tehran in order to secure the release of American hostages held in Lebanon. The US president himself denied any such ongoing deals with Tehran. Read full story

Libyan Nuke Program Was CIA-MI6 Sting Op

2008-09-24T07:46:00.001-07:00

Among other things, I suggested that members of the Tinner family, who supervised the production of uranium centrifuge parts in Malaysia, were in fact CIA assets.On Aug. 24, 2008, The New York Times revealed that that the suspicion was indeed well founded (2). Swiss authorities have admitted that all files regarding this affair have been destroyed at the demand of the US government."The United States had urged that the files be destroyed, according to interviews with five current and former Bush administration officials. The purpose, the officials said, was less to thwart terrorists than to hide evidence of a clandestine relationship between the Tinners and the C.I.A.," The New York Times revealed."Over four years, several of these officials said, operatives of the C.I.A. paid the Tinners as much as $10 million, some of it delivered in a suitcase stuffed with cash."Today, the Web site of the Libyan news agency Mathaba.net has published an amazing story regarding their alleged "nuclear weapons" program... Read full story

An Unusual Crown Witness

2008-09-24T07:44:00.000-07:00

On Sept. 5, 1988, Jehab Chabaan, Ziad Chabaan and Samir Ourfali entered Germany on a flight from Damascus. Jehab and Ziad are brothers of Imad Chabaan while Samir is a cousin.Imad Chabaan, who changed his name to Martin Imandi a few years earlier, resides in Uppsala, Sweden. Martin Imandi is a close associate of Abu Talb.Imandi met the three men at Munich airport and attempted to drive them illegally to Sweden. Danish police arrested them at the border city of Rodbyhavn on a charge of carrying false documentation. Read full story

Lockerbie Convicted Bomber Vanishes

2008-09-24T07:42:00.000-07:00

A reward was paid out in the Lockerbie Pan Am 103 case." -- US State Department OfficialThe name of the man convicted of the bombing of Pan Am 103 has been mysteriously removed from the "Rewards for Justice" US Web site. [1] Fortunately, a copy of the page as previously displayed had been saved. [2]In early October 2007, OMNI reported that huge amounts of money were offered by US officials to at least three key witnesses. The defense was never told that the CIA had offered millions of dollars to their star witnesses. Both the FBI and CIA denied ever having offered money to any of the witnesses. Read full story

The European Section of the PFLP-GC

2008-09-24T07:41:00.000-07:00

Beside Ahmed Jibril himself, two other members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) are known to have participated with Iranian officials in the discussions regarding the revenge for the USS Vincennes "incident": Major Khalil Tunayb and Haffez Kassem Dalkamoni.Dalkamoni was born on Sept. 28, 1945, in Damascus, Syria, according to his BKA (Germany's federal investigation service) files. But others have reported that in was born in Palestine. Dalkamoni developed since his childhood a deep hatred for the State of Israel.Dalkamoni was arrested by Israeli security force before he reached his 10th anniversary with the PFLP-GC. He has been a member of the organization since its creation in October 1968.In 1969, he lost his lower right leg during a raid in northern Israel. Ten years later, Dalkamoni was released from jail in a prisoners exchange arranged by Jibril. Read full story

Ahmed Jibril and the PFLP-GC

2008-09-24T07:39:00.000-07:00

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) is usually described as a pan-Arab, secular, Marxist-Leninist group. Yet, in the early '90s, the group adopted a religion-inspired rhetoric that is quite unique for such organization. On March 5, 1989, Ahmed Jibril pledged to carry out "the Islamic verdict, to protect Islam and its prophet."Jibril, who had served in the Syrian army with the rank of captain, formed the PFLP-GC in October 1968. Jibril broke away from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine for political reasons. Among Palestinian organizations, the PFLP-GC stands out for its adamant rejection of any political settlement with Israel.Since its creation, the PFLP-GC has received financial assistance from Syria, Libya and Iran. The sponsorship from such sates has enabled the group to operate in the international arena to achieve its aims, namely to consistently and systematically oppose negotiations with Israel (1). Read full story

Baghdad to Crush Kurdish Insurgency

2008-09-24T07:34:00.000-07:00

A United Nations report, to be made public Thursday, accuses Iran of using mental pressure on Iraqi prisoners. The three-member team has visited prisoners in both nations. The purpose of the pressure is allegedly to turn Iraqi captives into pro-Khomeini militants.The report stops short of confirming Iraq's assertion that Iraqi prisoners in Iran have been "brainwashed" to support Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini but diplomatically suggests that Iran exercises on the Iraqi prisoners a form of "spiritual guidance that is indistinguishable from mental pressure."Iraq has begun a major offensive against Kurdish rebels. Kurdish leaders are characterizing it as "an effort by the authorities in Baghdad to crush the 40-year-long insurgency once and for all." Read full story

August Intelligence Summary

2008-09-24T07:32:00.000-07:00

The US National Security Agency intercepted a phone call between Jibril and Iranian Interior Minister Ali Akbar Mohtashemi-Pur. Mohtashemi-Pur was on a nonsecure line, in which Jibril listed US targets in Europe his group could hit for the right price.After a few weeks of haggling, Mohtashemi-Pur granted Jibril the contract and an initial payment of US$1.3 million. The rest of the money, namely US$10 million, was to be paid after successful completion of the mission. Mohtashemi-Pur decided that liaison between Jibril and his office would be carried through the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Lebanon. The operation was codenamed INTEKAM, which means just revenge (2).Patrick Lang, chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency's Middle East section at the time, told me that he stands by his conviction that "the bombing of the Pan Am flight was conceived, authorized and financed by Ali-Akbar Mohtashemi-Pur, the former Iranian minister of interior." Read full story

US, Iran in Secret Talks Over Hostages

2008-09-24T07:15:00.000-07:00

In late August, a meeting between US citizen Richard Lawless and Iranian negotiators took place at Glyon, near Montreux, Switzerland. At least, two other meetings will occur in September and a fourth meeting will take place in early October.The Iranian negotiators were Mohammad Javad Larijani, Mahmoud Jamali, Nasrollah Kazemi Kamyab and Abolghasem Mesbahi. All of them are quite well known senior officials and worked for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, except Mesbahi who was representing Hashemi Rafsanjani. Read full story

Iraqis Gas Thousands at the Turkish Border

2008-09-24T07:13:00.000-07:00

The UN-sponsored peace talks between Iraq and Iran appear to have reached a roadblock. Iraq insists on full sovereignty over the Shatt al Arab while Iran adamantly rejects such a demand.The Shatt al Arab is created from the confluence of the Tigris and the Euphrates. The 120-mile waterway provides Iraq with an outlet to the Persian Gulf."The 1975 Algiers Treaty under which Iraq agreed to share the ownership of the Shatt al Arab with Iran no longer exists," said Hamadi, the Iraqi foreign minister, on this day."Treaties cannot be abrogated by unilateral action. All border treaties are permanent, unchangeable and decisive," replied Ali Akbar Velayati, the Iranian foreign minister, immediately. Read full story

Navy Videotape Reveals Dramatic Scene Aboard US Ship

2008-09-24T07:12:00.000-07:00

On Friday, NBC release the 34-minutes videotape which offers close-up glimpse of the dramatic scene aboard the cruiser.The video tape shows two missiles being launched toward the Iranian airliner and the reaction of the crew. ''We had to have hit it - that was a dead-on,'' one crewman is yelling with excitement. The mood changed about 10 minutes later when the crewmen learned they had downed a civilian plane. The tape only shows the bridge crew and contained no footage of the combat information center where, according to the Pentagon report, the critical errors were made.Last week, Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci announced that no one would be disciplined for the downing of the jetliner. Read full story

Tehran Executes Thousands of Political Opponents

2008-09-24T07:09:00.000-07:00

In late July 1988, the National Liberation Army of Iran, the military wing of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, launched an armed incursion -- Operation Eternal Light -- into Iran from its bases in Iraq.The Islamic-Marxist political organization had initially supported Ayatollah Khomeini but soon clashed with him because of ideological disagreements. As a result, they fought on the side of Iraq during the war.Iranian military forces launched a counter-attack known as Operation Mersad. The Iranians easily and quickly repelled the ill-conceived and poorly executed attack.In the immediate aftermath of the incursion, Iranian prisons entered an unusual state of emergency. All contacts with the outside world were ceased. Then, the killings of prisoners affiliated with the Mojahedin began.The executions in Tehran likely began on July 27, 1988, in Evin and on July 30 in Gohar-Dasht prison. Read full story

Iraq, Iran Open Direct Talks in Geneva

2008-09-24T07:07:00.000-07:00

On this day, foreign ministers Tariq Aziz of Iraq and Ali Akbar Velayati of Iran opened direct face-to-face negotiations in Geneva.UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar said both countries were "really interested in finding solutions" to end their eight-year-old conflict.Perez de Cuellar told the two foreign ministers that their task was "to proceed with full implementation of the 10-point plan approved by the Security Council last year in Resolution 598."The Iran-Iraq war has caused more than one million dead, 1.7 million wounded, 1.5 million refugees and about 50,000 prisoners.Meanwhile, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution condemning "the use of chemical weapons in the conflict between Iran and Iraq." The resolution does not mention the report of the UN investigators who have established seven cases of use of chemical weapons by the Iraqis. Read full story

Baghdad Uses Mustard Gas on Kurdish Rebels

2008-09-24T07:04:00.000-07:00

On Aug. 20, 1988, Iraq accepted and signed a UN organized ceasefire with Iran, thus ending officially an eight-year-long war. But the conflict did not end for everyone. In the hours following the ceasefire, Iraq's Republican Guards turned on the Kurdish rebels.On Aug. 25, the Iraqi minority was the target of the most ferocious chemical attack. By Aug. 29, thousands of Iraqi Kurds had reached the Turkish border but Ankara never let them in.By the end of September, 478 Kurdish villages near the Turkish border had been destroyed. An estimated 40,000 were deported to concentration camps. More than 3,000 were executed.A report of the Senate mission, dated September 1988, unambiguously states: "Right now the Kurds are paying the price for past global indifference to Iraqi chemical weapons use. The failure to act now could ultimately leave every nation in peril." Read full story

UN Reports Iraqi Use of Gas Against Civilians

2008-09-24T07:01:00.000-07:00

And so we resorted, not to poison gas, but to the atomic bomb. Are we therefore permitted to adopt a moral stance against the use of another kind of weapon -- mustard gas? War is war is war. Poison gas, flame throwers, napalm, nuclear weapons -- they are all obscene. How hypocritical to pick and choose."--Stanley Frankel, New York, Aug. 8, 1988 Read full story

Blaming the Victims of US Foreign Policy

2008-09-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

The greatest crime since World War II has been US foreign policy." -- Ramsey Clark, former US. Attorney General under President Lyndon Johnson Today, Admiral Crowe has blamed the Iranians for the downing of one of their airliner by the USS Vincennes. '' Iran must bear the principal responsibility for the tragedy,'' Crowe added.As the New York Times points out, his attempt to blame Iran as the principal perpetrator of the accident is simply grotesque. This is particularly true since Crowe knew that the USS Vincennes was in Iranian territorial waters, a fact that the Admiral omitted to reveal. When asked about this several years later, Crowe will answer that no one ever asked him the question before... Read full story

Iran-Iraq Ceasefire Operational

2008-09-24T06:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, an English court overrode the secrecy claim made by the foreign secretary and ordered disclosure of documents regarding the detention and interrogation of Binyam Mohamed, the last U.K. resident imprisoned at Guantanamo.The foreign secretary had issued a PII certificate to prevent this information from being supplied to the defense team because "disclosure, even on a limited basis … would seriously prejudice the viability of the United Kingdom's liaison relationships with highly valued partners … and the importance of keeping secret information received on a confidential basis from informants and liaison intelligence agencies so as to protect the operational effectiveness of the United Kingdom security and intelligence agencies." Read full story

Iran-Iraq Cease-Fire Ends 8-Year War

2008-09-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

A team of 350 United Nations observers is on the ground monitoring the entire common border. ''The cease-fire is holding,'' Col. William Phillips, the Irish operations chief of the Iran-Iraq Military Observer Group said."We will abide by the cease-fire completely, and there will be no shooting," the Iranian President, Hojatolislam Ali Khamenei, told Iranian soldiers. "There should be no violations on the front, and God forbid not one unauthorized bullet should be fired," Hojatolislam Hashemi Rafsanjani, Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, said.Iraq resumed oil exports through the Persian Gulf and reopened the international airport at its southern port of Basra. Read full story

US Navy to Discipline No One

2008-09-24T06:54:00.000-07:00

Today in 1988, Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci said that no one from the United States Navy would be disciplined for the downing of an Iranian civilian jetliner by the USS Vincennes in the Persian Gulf on July 3.The report by Admiral Fogarty differs in many details from the initial statement made by Admiral Crowe in the aftermath of the tragedy.The investigation found that the airplane was transmitting civilian identification signals, not military signals as Admiral Crowe initially reported. Moreover, the airliner was inside a commercial air corridor, not outside of the channel, as Admiral Crowe had said. Read full story

Iranian Airliner Was Not Emitting Military Signal

2008-09-24T06:52:00.000-07:00

Today, ABC News reported that the Pentagon investigation into the American downing of an Iranian Flight 665 has found that the airliner was emitting only a civilian signal.US officials familiar with the Pentagon report said the cruiser Vincennes mistook a signal from a C-130 military plane at the Bandar Abbas airfield in Iran for the signal from the airliner. Two hundred and ninety people were killed in the tragedy.The New York Times had already reported on Aug. 3 that an electronic signal from a C-130 had been mistaken for the one emitted by the civilian airliner.But the ABC News finding that the Iran Air flight was emitting only civilian signals is the last nail in the coffin of the early theory reported by US officials. In the aftermath of the tragedy, the Pentagon had claimed that the airliner had put out a military signal. Read full story

UN to Finance Gulf Peacekeeping Force

2008-09-24T06:50:00.000-07:00

Zia is credited for having developed Pakistan's nuclear capability against the strong complaints of the Reagan administration. Most observers have concluded that Reagan needed the support of Pakistan for the war in Afghanistan and thus turned a blind eye on the nuclear program. The truth is a bit more complex and its origin is to be found in the former administration (1).On July 3, 1979, the US decided to fund and to train the mujahideen, a group of Islamic warriors, with the help of the Pakistani intelligence services. As correctly predicted by then-national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, the Soviets responded by invading Afghanistan in December 1979.On Dec. 26, 1979, just two days after the invasion, Brzezinski wrote a memo to President Carter."This will require a review of our policy toward Pakistan, more guarantees to it, and, alas, a decision that our security policy toward Pakistan cannot be dictated by our non-proliferation policy," the memo reads. Read full story

Pakistan President Dies in Mysterious Air Crash

2008-08-18T11:31:00.000-07:00

Today in 1988, Vice President George H. W. Bush announced that he has chosen Dan Quayle as his running mate. Before answering questions at a news conference at Bush headquarters in New Orleans, the vice president commented on the tragic death of Pakistan President Zia. Both Zia and US Ambassador Arnie Raphel died this morning in the crash of a transport plane of the Pakistan Air Force. "The first thing I want to do is just say how horrible I feel about that tragedy in Pakistan this morning. As most of you know, the government of Pakistan announced the death of President Zia. He was a friend of mine and Barbara's and been extraordinarily hospitable to us on more than one occasion," Bush said. Read full story

Master Under God ... No More?

2008-08-16T15:10:00.000-07:00

For time immemorial, ship captains have exercised absolute authority at sea. Consequently, early insurance writs -- agreements with ship owners and passengers and the Board of Trade -- dubbed them "Master Under God."This long tradition, it seems, has been broken. Capt. Will C. Rogers 3rd, the commanding officer of the USS Vincennes, will go unpunished for his responsibility in the murder of 290 innocents, including more than 60 children. Of course, some observers, such as MIT retired professor Noam Chomsky, disagree. Read full story

Bush Refuses to Apologize

2008-08-16T07:02:00.000-07:00

In the aftermath of the downing of an Iranian airliner by the USS Vincennes in the Persian Gulf on July 3, US Vice President George h. W. Bush, who was campaigning in the Midwest, made the unforgettable statement rated by some observers as one of the most stupid comments ever made by a vice president.George H. W. Bush is certainly not stupid and the reason for him making the comment has much to do with the upcoming presidential election. Members of his campaign team have revealed that Bush was shocked by the ovation he received from the crowd for stating that, no matter the facts, he would never apologize. Having grasped the political value of the issue, he will go on to repeat again and again his stance on the tragedy."The plane was on a routine flight in a commercial corridor in Iranian airspace. The targeting of it by the U.S. Navy was blatantly illegal. That it was grossly immoral is also obvious, except to a patriot," a political observer argued. Read full story

Crime Without Punishment

2008-08-15T09:28:00.000-07:00

The Pentagon report on the July 3 downing of an Iranian airliner by the USS Vincennes recommends very limited punishment against the ship's operations officer.The officer, who was not identified, will be given a letter of reprimand. The letter will not be made a part of his personnel file.After having reviewed the report, Adm. William J. Crowe, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will submit it with his comments to Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci.Admiral Crowe and Carlucci could seek more severe disciplinary actions but this is highly unlikely considering that, in the aftermath of the tragedy, Admiral Crowe said that Capt. Will C. Rogers 3rd had acted with "good judgment." Read full story

Will Ceasefire Stabilize Oil Prices?

2008-08-14T13:48:00.000-07:00

"If the Gulf War can be resolved, that will greatly relieve tensions within OPEC," argues Mehdi Varzi, senior oil analyst for Kleinwort Grieveson Securities Ltd. in London.Today in 1988, the price of Brent crude traded in London at $15.15. Many analysts, such as Varzi, fear that oil prices could well advance to $18 a barrel by year-end.The oil market indicates very clearly the degree to which the eight-year war has isolated Iran. Before the conflict started, exports represented about 20 percent of Iran's gross national product. In 1987, they came to represent less than 4 percent. Read full story

Mandela Treated for Tuberculosis

2008-08-12T14:18:00.000-07:00

Today in 1988, Nelson Mandela is beginning treatment for tuberculosis. In February 1985, President P. W. Botha offered Mandela conditional release. But Mandela spurned the offer and declared that he would be the last political prisoner to leave the jail. From then on, it was very clear who was holding the key of his cell.On Feb. 2, 1990, President F. W. de Klerk reversed the ban on the African National Congress. Mandela was released from Victor Verster Prison on Feb. 11, 1990.In response to criticism from the United States of his Oct. 22, 1997, state visit to Libya, Mandela defended Libya's call for an international tribunal on the Lockerbie crash suspects, which both the US and the United Kingdom were categorically rejecting at the time. Mandela added that he supported the calls by the Organization of African Unity for a neutral trial for the alleged bombers. Read full story

The Man Who Knew too Little

2008-08-12T13:52:00.000-07:00

On Aug. 11, 1988, Majid Giaka returns to the US Embassy. Giaka will become the superstar witness of the Crown in their case against the two Libyans accused of the bombing of Pan Am 103. Curiously enough, the CIA knew all along that Giaka knew absolutely nothing about the tragedy.On Aug. 22, 2000, at the Zeist trial, Bill Taylor QC for Megrahi stunned the audience of the Court when he revealed that the Crown had access to CIA cables regarding Giaka that the defense team had not seen.The Lord Advocate Colin Boyd replied that there was nothing in these cables that would reflect on the credibility of Giaka."The learned Advocate Depute reached the conclusion that there was nothing within the cables which bore on the defense case," Boyd stated. Read full story

Libyan Intel Operative Contacts US Embassy in Malta

2008-08-12T13:50:00.000-07:00

On Aug. 10, 1988, Abdul Majid Giaka contacted the US embassy in Malta. Giaka was interviewed by a CIA agent to whom he told that he was a member of the Libyan Intelligence Service. A decade later, Giaka will appear at the Zeist trial and testify that two of his former colleagues had planted the bomb that destroyed Pan Am 103.Giaka initially described himself as a high-ranking member of the JSO (the Libyan Intelligence Service), having a good relationship with the head of the organization. In truth, Giaka was working in the civilian branch as a mechanic and car painter.Giaka told his CIA handler that he wanted to defect to America because he was disgusted by the terrorist activities of the JSO. The truth is slightly less noble. Read full story

Iran-Iraq Ceasefire Set for Aug. 20

2008-08-12T13:48:00.000-07:00

On this day in 1988, UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar announced that Iran and Iraq will begin a ceasefire on Aug. 20. Direct talks on a permanent peace accord will begin in Geneva five days later.Ismat Taha Kittani, Iraq's United Nations representative, said it was a "happy day that would start the arduous but happy road to peace."The Security Council president, Li Luye of China, appealed to Iran and Iraq to refrain from further military activity along the 700-mile front until the ceasefire takes effect."Teheran will accept the demand by the Secretary General and the entire world community and refrain from military action on land, sea and air as of today," Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati said. Read full story

Iran Accepts Plan by Iraq

2008-08-09T13:16:00.000-07:00

"Now that Iraq's precondition has been eliminated from the process of the current efforts, the secretary general may immediately begin implementation of his plan for implementing Security Council Resolution 598 and, with the announcement of a cease-fire, proceed to implementation of the other clauses of the resolution," the message said.Hussein accepted the plan of a ceasefire at the condition that peace talks immediately follow. This compromise was the only possible solution to the two-week long deadlock between Iran and Iraq."In principle, I shall announce a cease-fire tomorrow. I informed the Council that the two sides agree to a cease-fire and direct talks under my auspices," Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar said. Read full story

Saddam Ready to Accept Ceasefire

2008-08-09T13:15:00.000-07:00

On this day in 1988, President Saddam Hussein of Iraq announced that he would accept the United Nations proposed ceasefire if Iran agrees to begin direct peace talks immediately after the truce."Iraq is ready to effect a cease-fire on condition Iran announces clearly, equivocally and officially its approval of initiating direct negotiations with Iraq immediately after a cease-fire and implementation of all aspects of Resolution 598," Hussein said."If Iran refuses this compromise offer, it is once more responsible for shedding further blood and rejecting the path of peace," Hussein concluded. Read full story

Can We Know the Truth?

2008-08-09T13:12:00.000-07:00

News leaked about the US Navy's internal investigation of the destruction of an Iranian passenger jet by the Aegis cruiser Vincennes last month have already created some embarrassment for the administration.At first glance, it appears that some truth is finally coming out. Yet, it seems quite clear that the report is not telling the whole truth. The report places major responsibility on "crew error arising from the psychological stress of being in combat for the first time."But the report explicitly states the ship radar and electronic system performed entirely correctly. This will be perceived as suspicious to anyone aware of the history of failed tests of these systems. Read full story

Congress Opposes Reagan Plan to Compensate Iranians

2008-08-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

US President Ronald Reagan has announced that the United States would compensate the families of the 290 victims who died in the downing of Iran Flight 665 by the USS Vincennes on July 3. Members of the House have to face the voters this fall and they are well aware that the American public strongly opposes paying compensation. Not surprisingly, not a single lawmaker has backed up Reagan's plan to offer compensation."The President was premature and on the wrong side of this issue," said Republican Representative Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania. Read full story

US Administration Cautious on Airbus Inquiry

2008-08-05T13:45:00.000-07:00

The Reagan administration reacted cautiously today to a news report that a military investigation would show that mistakes by the crew aboard an American warship in the Persian Gulf were responsible for the downing of an Iranian airbus a month ago.President Ronald Reagan said he had not yet seen the results of the investigation and declined further comment. Vice President George H. W. Bush, touring a military electronics plant near Annapolis, Md., said he had not been briefed on the investigation. Nevertheless, Bush repeated his argument before the United Nations last month: "The Iranians shouldn't be sending an airliner over a combat zone."

Compensation

Today, Sofaer, the legal adviser of the Department of State, issued a statement prepared for the Defense Policy Panel of the House Armed Services Committee. Read full story

Inexperienced Crew Blamed for USS Vincennes Tragedy

2008-08-04T09:38:00.000-07:00

US Defense Department officials said that the investigation into the downing of an Iranian airliner by the USS Vincennes on July 3 blames the error on the high-level psychological stress of the crew and its inexperience in a combat situation.The investigators have found no malfunction of the radar and electronic equipment of the battleship. Instead, the crew appears to have believed that the ship was under attack and misinterpreted the signals provided by the radar.

The report strongly contradicts the early findings of Adm. William J. Crowe Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff."Our judgment that based on the information currently available, the local commanders have sufficient reasons to believe their units were in jeopardy and they fired in self-defense," Crowe had said. Read full story

UN Secretary General to Announce Ceasefire

2008-08-02T12:53:00.000-07:00

United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar said that he would declare a ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq war. He added that he will decide on the date based on the recommendations of a military mission sent by the UN to the Persian Gulf region.Tehran officials have apparently already decided that they would respect the ceasefire, thus leaving Baghdad with the responsibility to end the war.Two experts, appointed by the UN, have produced a report that accuses Iraq of using chemical weapons on "an intense and frequent scale." The report states that there is no doubt that Iranians were poisoned by mustard gas last June. Read full story

US, Iran in Talks on American Hostages

2008-08-02T12:49:00.000-07:00

Over the last week, Washington and Tehran have exchanged a few messages through a third party. The message from the US administration is said to congratulate Iran for accepting the ceasefire and to seek the help of Iranians officials to secure the safe release of the US citizens held hostage in Lebanon.Iranian leaders have publicly said that they would use their influence over Hezbollah if the US returns Iranian assets frozen following the Islamic revolution.Fearful that such agreement would resurrect the memories of the Iran-Contras, the Reagan administration immediately rejected such a demand. But Secretary of State George P. Shultz that he was ready to meet with Iran foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati.Velayati is currently in New York to discuss the ceasefire with the UN secretary general. Read full story

July Intelligence Summary

2008-08-02T12:46:00.000-07:00

Just days after the downing, the Iranian charge d'affaires in Beirut, Hussain Niknam, invited Jibril at the Iranian Embassy. A few days later, several meetings occurred in Tehran. Among the participants, one finds Mohtashemi-Pur, Jibril and several representatives of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah.According to the minutes of one of these meetings obtained by a German magazine, Iran ordered the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 to avenge the shooting down of an Iranian civilian jet by the US Navy in the Persian Gulf. Tehran paid Ahmed Jibril about $1 million in advance to carry out the attack (1)."We had advanced notice. The smoking gun came in July," Former CIA case officer Bob Baer told me earlier this month. Read full story

Saudis Urge Baghdad to Accept Ceasefire With Iran

2008-08-02T12:44:00.000-07:00

Tehran claims that Iranian soldiers have pushed back the rebel troops fighting with the Iraqis after they had penetrated 100 miles deep inside Iran. Speaking from Washington, D.C., a spokesperson of the rebel group, known as the PMOI, denied the claim and stated that the PMOI had voluntarily withdrawn from Iranian territory.Saudi Arabia is said to be putting pressure on Baghdad to accept the ceasefire. All through the eight-year war, the Saudis have backed Iraq financially. Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador in Washington, has met with Tariq Aziz.Ali Akbar Velayati, the Iranian foreign minister, reiterated the position of Tehran regarding direct talks with Iraqi officials. Velayati said he would not meet Aziz face-to-face until both sides agree on a firm date for a ceasefire, the withdrawal from occupied land and the exchange of all prisoners. Read full story

Pentagon Investigators Return to the US

2008-08-02T12:42:00.000-07:00

The six-member team investigating the downing of Iran Air flight 655 left the Persian Gulf for its home base in Tampa, Fla.According to a Pentagon spokesperson, the team is expected to complete its report on the downing of an Iranian airliner by the USS Vincennes next week.Rear Adm. William M. Fogarty, the head of the investigation team, is to report to the commander of United States forces in the Persian Gulf, Gen. George B. Crist.It is not known when the results will be announced, nor how much of the report will be made available to the public. Read full story

Baghdad Demands Direct Talks With Iranian Officials

2008-08-02T12:40:00.000-07:00

Iraq's Foreign Minister had a first round of talks with UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar this morning.Tariq Aziz immediately took a hard line and demanded direct negotiations with Iran as proof that it is sincere in wanting peace. Iraqi officials fear that Tehran is merely seeking a truce to regroup their forces."We believe the first step for constructive work is face-to-face negotiations between the two parties under the auspices of the UN Secretary General," Tariq Aziz, told reporters."If the Iranians do not accept this, it means they are not sincere about peace," Aziz added. Read full story

UN Secretary General Holds Talks With Iranian Foreign Minister

2008-08-02T12:39:00.000-07:00

UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar held two rounds of talks with the Iranian Foreign Minister, Ali Akbar Velayati, on a ceasefire in the eight-year-old Persian Gulf War (aka Iran-Iraq War).Following the meetings, Velayati told reporters that the talks had been "very constructive and fruitful.""We had a frank and sincere exchange of views," Velayati added. According to Velayati, the UN Security Council is deeply concerned about charges that Iraq is using chemical weapons.Iraq Foreign Minister, Tariq Aziz, has arrived in New York and will meet Javier Perez de Cuellar tomorrow. Iran is refusing direct talks with Iran officials. Read full story

Rumors of High Level US-Iran Direct Talks

2008-08-02T12:37:00.000-07:00

On this day in 1988, UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar met twice with Ali Akbar Velayati, Iran's foreign minister, in the first formal talks about a ceasefire for the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq.US President Ronald Reagan said that his administration is willing to talk with top Tehran officials on several issues, including the situation of the American hostages held in Lebanon. According to a White House spokesperson, Tehran did not reply to the message.But the spiritual leader of a major fundamentalist group, Sheik Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah of the Party of God, believed to be funded and controlled by Tehran, has just issued a puzzling message. "Time has come for a happy ending to the hostages' plight," Fadlallah said. Read full story

Tehran Denounces Iraqi Chemical Weapons Use

2008-08-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

Backed by tanks and airplanes, Iraqi troops pushed about 60 kilometers inside Iranian territory. Several thousand Iranian soldiers were captured. Then almost immediately, the Iraqis surprisingly withdrew from Iranian territory.Tehran media reported that the Iraqi army had used chemical weapons in the attack. In a statement read on Tehran radio on Saturday, Ayatollah Khomeini denounced the chemical bombings of Halabja.Earlier, in March, Iraq allegedly killed several thousand people when it used mustard gas in an attack at Halabja, a Kurdish city located in an Iranian-held section of Iraq. Nerve agents (Sarin, Tabun and VX) were also used in the attack. A blood agent may also have been used. (Human Rights Watch has since qualified the attack as an act of genocide.) Read full story

Israel Fears Iran-Iraq Ceasefire

2008-08-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

The prospect of a ceasefire between Iran and Iraq has caught Israeli officials by surprise. The Israeli parliament's foreign and defense affairs committee spent much of the day grilling army and intelligence officers. Israeli intelligence services had completely failed to predict the imminence of a ceasefire." The defense establishment is looking into the significance of the possible end of the Iran-Iraq war," Israel's Defense Ministry said. Israeli officials seem particularly concerned by the fact that the Iraqi repeated use of chemical weapons may have legitimized that method of warfare. Read full story

Khomeini Reluctantly Renounces War

2008-08-02T12:31:00.000-07:00

I would like to elaborate a bit more regarding the error currently posted on the Libya page of the Web site of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, where the following can be read:"The Lockerbie trial began on 3 May 2000. On 31 January 2001 Al-Megrahi was found guilty and Fhimah not proven."As I said yesterday, Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah was found not guilty. This is not merely a typo, for the correct information reveals abundantly clearly how absurd the judgment is. Read full story

Iran and Iraq Reps to Meet With UN Secretary General

2008-08-02T12:29:00.000-07:00

On this day in 1988, around the world, let alone in Iran, people wonder why Khomeini has accepted a cease-fire with Iraq, although he had always made it very clear that he would never condone such an accord, which he had described as a crime against Islam. But despite eight years of great suffering, it would appear that Iranians are denied an answer to such a simple, yet highly important, question.

"We should not ask why and how, not create more problems for the society," Rafsanjani argued on Thursday. Read full story

Mild Resolution Adopted Over USS Vincennes

2008-07-22T12:27:00.000-07:00

On this day in 1988, the UN Security Council adopted a mild resolution regarding the downing of an Iranian airliner by the USS Vincennes, which caused the instant death of 290 people, including 66 children. The resolution merely expresses deep distress and profound regret for the loss of innocent lives. The text does not criticize of the United States for its action in the Persian Gulf.Tehran's representative at the UN had demanded an apology from the United States, legal reparations to the families of the victims and the immediate departure of US forces from the Gulf region. Read full story

Tariq Aziz: The War Must Go On

2008-07-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

On this day in 1988, Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini accepted a truce with Iraq. (In late 2006, Iranians were stunned to learn that the head of the Revolutionary Guards had made the decision to end the war and not Khomeini.)

"This decision is based on many reasons, but since Imam Khomeini is aware of many political and military secrets, he cannot give more explanations at the moment," Rafsanjani said.

Back to the Present - On Friday, a reader who describes himself as an ordinary Scot sent me an e-mail to let me know that he is planning to organize a TV debate regarding the Lockerbie affair. His interest for the affair was triggered by a personal event."I happened to be staying in the same Dutch hotel as many of the trial witnesses and lawyers. I am sure, from listening to the drunken court reports each night in the hotel bar, that the trial was a sham and that an innocent is imprisoned," he told to me. Read full story

Iran Accepts UN Resolution 598

2008-07-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

Security Council Resolution 598, which on this day in 1988 Iran said it had accepted, was adopted on July 20, 1987, as part of diplomatic efforts to end the war between Iran and Iraq. (The text of the resolution appears below.)

Rafsanjani said the shooting down of the Airbus had prompted a major review of Iran's war policy.

Letter to the UN

"As you are well aware, the fire of the war which was started by the Iraqi regime on 22 September 1980 through an aggression against the territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran has now gained unprecedented dimensions, bringing other countries into the war and even engulfing innocent civilians. Read full story

Saddam Offers Peace to Tehran

2008-07-18T12:19:00.001-07:00

''Any Treaty with Iran must include the signing of a non-aggression accord between the two countries' and a pledge of non-interference in each other's internal affairs,'' Saddam Hussein added.The Iraqi government also announced that their military would withdraw from the Iranian city of Dehloran. The withdrawal is part of a larger plan to refrain from holding any Iranian territory.But Saddam Hussein also emphasized Iraq's wish for full rights to the Shatt al-Arab waterway which divides the two countries. The Shatt al-Arab is Iraq's only deep-water outlet to the Persian Gulf.

Intelligence - Khalid was born May 1, 1968 in Baalbek, part of the Beeka Valley in Lebanon. He moved to the US in 1983 where he stayed with his father in Dearborn, Michigan. He returned to Lebanon in 1987. Yet, Khalid became a US citizen on Feb. 29 1988. His US passport was issued on June 24 1988. This raises a rather obvious question. Why on earth would a US citizen, holding a valid US passport, apply for a US visa on his Lebanese passport? Read full story

The Lindauer Affidavit

2008-07-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

In 1998, Lindauer filed a formal deposition in which she recounts their discussion. The full text is attached below.

"I learned that Dr. Fuisz is covered by the Secrets Act, which severely restricts his ability to communicate information about Pan Am 103. Though he says freely that he knows firsthand that Libya was not involved in any capacity whatsoever, it's my understanding that he can provide no further details regarding his part in the investigation, or details identifying the true criminals in this case," Lindauer wrote. Read full story

Moscow Asks US to Pull Out of Gulf

2008-07-18T12:14:00.000-07:00

On this day, Valentin V. Lozinsky, the UN Soviet delegate, called for the withdrawal of American naval forces from the Persian Gulf. But Lozinsky also urged Iran to end the war with Iraq and to accept the UN Resolution."The Soviet Union supports the efforts made by the United Nations Secretary General for the implementation of Resolution 598," Lozinsky added.Most representatives agree with US Vice President George H. W. Bush that the tragedy would not have occurred if Tehran had accepted the proposed UN ceasefire.

With time, the theory that Jaafar had been the unwitting carrier of the bomb vanished. Yet, two members of the PFLP-GC would testify that this is what actually occurred.One of them is Mobdi Goben. In the fall of 1988, Goben was running a safe house for the organization in Yugoslavia. He wrote a memorandum in which he described the operation. A few pages of the memorandum have never been recovered to this day. Read full story

US Diplomat Praises USS Vincennes Captain

2008-07-18T12:11:00.000-07:00

Given the circumstances, timeframe, and information at hand, you took the only action possible to safeguard your ship and your people."--Charles H. Price II, US ambassador to Great Britain, in a letter to USS Vincennes Captain Will C. Rogers IIIThe American ambassador to Great Britain has sent the captain of the cruiser Vincennes a congratulatory message. The rather unusual message was circulated through the Navy Department in Washington, D.C.Price told Rogers that he understood "how extremely concerned you must be about the episode in the Persian Gulf.""I join other Americans in congratulating you for having done your duty," he wrote.

Back to the Present - Around the world, many people have reacted to this week's news that Abdelbaset Ali Al-Megrahi may be soon freed and sent home.Dr. Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora in the Lockerbie tragedy, is adamant that a full hearing would expose the "appalling collusion of Britain and America.""There may be an attempt to remove the awkward problem of Megrahi by allowing him to return home and to remove the possibility of a public examination of the evidence.""Such a move would be a bit of a downer to those still seeking the truth," Dr. Swire added. Read full story

Tehran Denounces the Downing as Criminal Act

2008-07-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

Iran's foreign minister, Ali-Akbar Velayati, told the United Nations Security Council that the US downing of an Iran Airbus 665 by the USS Vincennes was "a barbaric massacre."Velayati asked the Security Council to condemn the United States saying the downing "could not have been a mistake, was a criminal act, an atrocity and a massacre."

Back to the PresentOn Sunday, Ben Borland, writing in the Sunday Express, revealed that Abdelbaset Ali Al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, is set to be freed on a technicality because the Crown refuses to give to the defense a secret document believed to establish the innocence of the Libyan. Read full story

What Strings Attached to US Compensation?

2008-07-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

According to a recent poll, three out of five Americans oppose compensation. Those sentiments are hardly surprising given Tehran's strained relations with the West, and the United States in particular. Few have forgotten the destruction of the US Embassy in Iran. And many have suspected that Tehran played a role in the murder of 241 US soldiers in Beirut.In spite of significant public opposition, President Ronald Reagan has decided to pay compensation to families of those who died in the Iranian airliner mistakenly shot down by the USS Vincennes.However, his decision, perceived by many former top officials as the correct one, is raising another issue that is dividing the very same officials: Should compensation be linked to other goals?

Talb never offered a sensible answer. He simply denied that his wife had ever visited Cyprus or Warsaw. This is not the last time that he will not be able to explain the acting of his wife.

Looking Back in the Mirror - On Oct. 30, 1989, US government officials announced that Mohamed Abu Talb, a Palestinian being held on terrorism charges in Sweden, had admitted to investigators that between October and December 1988, he retrieved and passed to another person a bomb that had been hidden in a West German building used by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command. He would later retract his confession, without any apparent reason. Read full story

US to Pay Iranian Families Compensation

2008-07-18T12:02:00.000-07:00

President Ronald Reagan has decided that the United States will pay compensation to the families of the 290 passengers killed when an Iranian jetliner was shot down by an American warship."The president remains personally saddened at the tragic death of the innocent victims and decided to offer compensation in keeping with the humanitarian traditions of our nation," said Marlin Fitzwater, the White House spokesman.But Fitzwater added that the president believes that the downing of the Iranian airliner was a "justifiable defensive action."

Back to the Present - Currently, professor Hans Kochler, the former UN monitor of the Lockerbie trial, is attacking the Scottish media for its coverage, or rather lack of it, of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi's extraordinary second appeal against his conviction."As far as Lockerbie is concerned I can't understand why more isn't being done by the European country that was most concerned with it. There is a lot at stake: the rule of law, security, the role of international terrorism. Why isn't somebody trying to find out why the authorities are now trying to withhold evidence and delaying everything?" Kochler asked. Read full story