U.S., Scottish investigators identify two suspects over 1988 Lockerbie bombing

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Reuters

Business | Thu Oct 15, 2015 11:47am EDT
Related: World, Aerospace & Defense, Libya

U.S., Scottish investigators identify two suspects over 1988 Lockerbie bombing

LONDON

Scottish and U.S. investigators have identified two Libyan suspects believed to have been involved in the Lockerbie airline bombing almost 27 years ago which killed 270 people, Scottish prosecutors said on Thursday.

Pam Am flight 103 was blown up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on Dec. 21, 1988 en route from London to New York. In 2001, Libyan Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was jailed for life and remains the only person to have been convicted over the bombing.

A Scottish Crown Office spokesman said the two unnamed Libyans were now suspected of being involved with Megrahi in carrying out the attack.
....

Megrahi, who always protested his innocence, died in Libya in 2012, three years after he was released by Scotland's government on compassionate grounds after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. His family and some relatives of the Scottish victims believe he was wrongly convicted.
....

(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Kate Holton and Hugh Lawson)

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/15/us-scotland-lockerbie-idUSKCN0S920N20151015

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PBS has been running a three-part series on Frontline, My Brother's Bomber.

[frizzled]

1. That's interesting, I always thought Lockerbie was a coverup, and Libya had accepted blame for Iran

Iran taking revenge for the USS Vincennes shooting down their passenger jet.

[yurbud]

3. why would any country do this since it invites military retaliation?

Far beyond the scope of whatever the terrorist attack accomplishsd.

[frizzled]

4. Same reason other some countries support terrorism. Wanting revenge is human nature.

nt

[yurbud]

10. so that's why our Gulf allies like the Saudis et al support terrorists?

[yurbud]

11. leaders of countries may be evil sociopaths, but they are rarely flat out stupid

you don't get control of a whole country without being able to predict possible outcomes of your actions including chances of the retaliation being greater than whatever revenge you extract.

[frizzled]

12. You'd think so, but then you remember what the USA does in the middle east

nt

[yurbud]

13. good point. though on paper, our Middle East policy had a higher chance of a positive outcome than

a medium to small country bankrolling a terrorist attack on the world's only superpower.

[eggplant]

5. Do you have any basis to make such an assertion? n/t

[frizzled]

7. Yes, Paul Foot wrote a long expose of it a few years ago. No link, but it's searchable. nt

[eggplant]

8. Interesting.

I'd never heard that theory before, but the explanation for PA103 always felt a bit off.

[frizzled]

9. link here

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/mar/31/lockerbie.libya

[CJCRANE]

6. Yes, I heard that too.

But apparently it wasn't politically convenient to go after Iran, so Reagan used the oportunity to blame Libya.

A bit like an event that happened fourteen years ago, which was used to blame a different country...

[KT2000]

2. wonder if this came about

because of the work the brother of one of the victims has done. He was just featured in The New Yorker and POV on PBS.