'United States Scapegoated Libya': Tam Dalyell

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

''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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

"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

Rafsanjani Escapes Assassination Attempt

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