The most significant aspect of the anticipation of the release of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the Libyan man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, was the gulf which was apparent between those who believed that he should have been released and those who thought he should die in prison. Those who sought justice and those who sought vengeance. Those who believed he was innocent and those who believed he was guilty. Those who wanted a full and open inquiry and those who did not. Those who were Scottish and those who were American.*
Anybody who has paid the slightest attention to the Lockerbie incident cannot have failed to smell the bullshit. Outside the show trial in Camp Zeist in 2000 the case has been examined ad nauseam with the consistent conclusion that al-Megrahi is innocent. His conviction was heavily based on his identification by a Maltese shopkeeper, Tony Gauci, who allegedly sold al-Megrahi the clothes in which the bomb was wrapped. Apart from failing to point the finger at al-Megrahi during his many contradictory interviews with the police did, however, identify him after having seen the suspect's photo. He was rewarded for his information to the sum of $2m and now lives in Australia.
The circumstances in which the circuit board evidence was discovered are, to say the least, suspicious. The forensic evidence was flawed by exposure that the scientist was unqualified and had been involved in the wrongful conviction of IRA suspects. The circuit board manufacturer was unable to account for the destination of their products.
Investigations by many journalists, including the late Paul Foot and David Yallop uncovered a scandal of fake evidence, controlled delivery of drugs under the supervision of the CIA and DEA and the manufacture for a pretext for aggression against Libya. Several 'VIP' passengers were apparently warned not to take that flight and during one of the busiest travel periods, the days leading to Christmas, an aircraft takes off half empty. Evidence strongly suggests that the attacks were in all likelihood a contracted act of revenge against the US whose ship, the USS Vincennes, shot down an Iranian A300 Airbus in July of 1988 killing some 290 passengers, mistaking it for an Iranian F14 fighter. It has also been suggested that the US was embarrassed by this blunder and went so far as to permit the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in order to clear the ledger.
Only those with something to hide would stand in the way of a transparent public inquiry. Only those who are blinded by vengeance would fail to see that the conviction of al-Megrahi was based on fabrication and mendacity. Only those who are ignorant would reach conclusions without consideration of the facts.
In their 2002 book, Ziauddin Sardar and Merryl Wyn Davies asked, 'Why Do People Hate America?' Perhaps one answer is that it is very difficult to like people who are so blinded by prejudice that they can't recognise the truth when it is dangling in front of their eyes.
The documentary, The Maltese Double Cross which outlines many of the controversies surrounding this clear miscarriage of justice has been almost buried. There are only two versions in circulation (links below). The version on Google Video is poor quality and barely watchable. A version which is available via BitTorrent is somewhat better but is less accessible. I have cleaned this version up slightly and uploaded it to the Internet Archive (archive.org):
Information page:archive.org/details/The-Maltese-Double-CrossDirect Download:archive.org/download/The-Maltese-Double-Cross/The-Maltese-Double-Cross.aviIf it becomes unavailable at archive.org, it will still be available here:
Google Video:video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=7160854996287567609BitTorrent (The Pirate Bay):http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/3544542*With notable exceptions
