Scottish police to launch new inquiry into Lockerbie (Pan Am Flight 103)

[IndianaGreen]

Source: The Independent (UK)

Scottish police to launch new inquiry into Lockerbie

Review of forensic evidence provides 'several lines' of investigation into 1988 bombing of airliner

By Sadie Gray

Sunday, 25 October 2009

Scottish police have launched a new investigation into the Lockerbie bombing, saying they are reviewing forensic evidence and have "several potential lines of inquiry".

Heading the investigation is Detective Chief Inspector Michael Dalgleish, a member of the original team which brought the case against Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the only man to be convicted of the bombing.

Dumfries and Galloway Police are understood to have a further four detectives working full-time on the re-examination of all the evidence, which was ordered after Megrahi dropped his second appeal against conviction.

A total of 270 people were killed when Pan Am Flight 103 from Heathrow to New York exploded over the town of Lockerbie, four days before Christmas in 1988.

Relatives of the victims were informed of the new inquiry by an email from the Crown Office in Scotland, The Sunday Telegraph said.

Lindsey Miller, a senior Procurator Fiscal involved in preparing evidence for Megrahi's trial, wrote: "Throughout the investigation, we have, at various times, taken stock of the evidence as a whole with a view to identifying further lines of inquiry that can be pursued. Now that the appeal proceedings are at an end a further review of the case is under way. Please be assured that this is not simply paying lip service to the idea of an 'open case'."

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/scottish-police-to-launch-new-inquiry-into-lockerbie-1809209.html

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Related story:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=4112834

[Maccagirl]

1. One of my favorite books is "70 of the Greatest Conspiracies

Cover-Ups and Cabals" and one of the best chapters is about Pam Am 103. Apparently there were CIA agents aboard (either 3 or 5 I can't recall) working on rescuing the hostages in Beirut. Papers were found with maps of Beirut, red X's where the hostages were believed to be held and the date 3/11/89. Was a mission going to be carried out that day? The CIA agents boarded the plane in Frankfurt after completing their mission in the Mideast. I wish I had the book at my disposal but the theory had to do with that there were two missions regarding the hostages going on-one from the CIA at Langley, the other a more secret mission from the White House under Poppy Bush. The Bush team was dealing with Syrian arms/drug dealers and their base of operations was Frankfort. The "regular" CIA got wind of it and the Bush team had them killed. The NY Times reportedly ran the story about the papers found at Lockerbie before the "cover story" about Libyians was put out. I'm sure reading the book or a wiki search would help flesh this out.

[AntiFascist]

5. Don't be so sure that the information is easy to find...

Charles McKee was a DIA agent who may have been assigned to work with the CIA. Time Magazine has a surprisingly informative article here:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,975399,00.html

[Maccagirl]

6. Yes, this article is extremely important

linking al-Kassar (the Syrian drug-dealer) to the motive to bomb the plane. Will justice ever be served?

[AntiFascist]

7. The problem is...

it could open up the entire drug-dealing part of the Iran-Contra scandal. Notice also that the Time article mentions the account number for a specific BCCI account! This was back in the days when journalists could conduct their own investigations. These days we have Anderson Cooper spreading propaganda like 'opium production dropped after the US invasion of Afghanistan'.

[JohnyCanuck]

2. John Pilger:Megrahi Was Framed

See this earlier DU thread.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6469345

Forgive me for being skeptical at just how thorough this new investigation is going to be. I smell another rat already.

From the Independent article in the OP:
Heading the investigation is Detective Chief Inspector Michael Dalgleish, a member of the original team which brought the case against Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the only man to be convicted of the bombing.

[IndianaGreen]

4. The evidence pointed to Iran, not Libya

For political reasons, we shifted the blame to Libya.

[jaksavage]

3. "CIA's Greatest Hits"

By Zepezauer mentions this too.
Good CIA found out about bad CIA drug dealing and were flying to Washington to expose the truth. Except they died in route. Horrible if true.