New suspect in 1988 Lockerbie Pan Am terror bombing to be charged

New York Post ^ | December 16, 2020 | Jorge Fitz-Gibbon

[piasa]

Well, the flight was headed to Detroit when it left London- it was not going to land in Scotland. Since it was buttoned up tight in flight- jurisdiction would be the territory of whatever country in which the aircraft was registered. It being a Pan-American airlines flight, that would be the US. There was also a deal made by the Scots with Libya to get two suspects extradited from Libya [which denied involvement], Scotland agreed to a trial in a third country, the Netherlands, on an old US base, so the Scottish court set up there at least for those suspects.

But, overall jurisdiction would be the registered country of the aircraft, if I recall correctly.

[piasa]

Guess who was the US investigator at the time? Robert Mueller of Russiagate.

[piasa]

Interesting that Barr is leaving on or near the 32nd anniversary of the Lockerbie bombing, since he was also the AG back then.

“...The announcement of a prosecution against an additional individual would carry personal significance for Attorney General William Barr, who is leaving the position next week but held the same job when the Justice Department nearly 30 years ago revealed criminal charges in the U.S. against the two Libyans. Monday is the 32nd anniversary of the bombing.”

Barr, in a quote from back then:

“This investigation is by no means over. It continues unabated. We will not rest until all those responsible are brought to justice,” Barr said at a 1991 news conference announcing the charges. “We have no higher priority.”

The head of the Justice Department’s criminal division at the time was Robert Mueller, who went on to serve as FBI director and as special counsel in charge of the investigation into ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign.

[rdl6989]

More than 30 years is a bit much.

[norwaypinesavage]

"I kinda miss good 'ol terrorism. It sure beats COVID19"

That works only if you can avoid the terrorism. I happened to be scheduled to fly from Frankfurt to Detroit that day. I had spent over two weeks in Germany on a business trip, and could have had an all expenses paid two day "vacation" there if I stayed until Sunday. At the last minute I changed my flight to Friday, in order to get some rest.

I may have been on that flight. At the time , there were only three airlines with Frankfurt to Detroit flights, Lufthansa, British Air, and Pan Am. The tickets were interchangeable, and I always chose one of the three at the last minute, depending on when I got to the airport.

[Fedora]

When a former FBI agent filed a complaint with Barr in 1992 about FBI obstruction in the Franklin child abuse case and Johnny Gosch disappearance, which implicated S&L-scandal-linked Republican Lawrence E. King, Jr. and Republican lobbyist Craig Spence, Barr put Mueller in charge of handling it; Mueller found there was no evidence of FBI obstruction of justice. Meanwhile, Kissinger Associates client Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL) was being investigated for covert loans to Iraq (Iraqgate) run out of BNL's Atlanta office--the National Bank of Georgia also being central to BCCI: Iraqgate has now become an extremely complicated-and almost hopelessly screwed up-criminal case with very large political overtones. It is, at bottom, a fraud investigation that involves the Atlanta branch office of a big Italian bank, the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, or BNL. In recent weeks, the BNL scandal has led to more or less open warfare between the U.S. Department of Justice and the CIA, and it has touched off internecine combat within the CIA itself. It has begun to cast new doubt on the competence of former U.S. attorney general Richard Thornburgh, current Attorney General William P. Barr and CIA Director Robert Gates. It has turned the U.S. Attorney's Office in Atlanta inside out, and it appears to involve improper conduct at the White House. . .: Iraqgate: What Went Wrong (11/01/1992)

[silverleaf]

Ever wonder why Iran never took open revenge for the Vincennes downing its Iran Air airliner full of holiday passengers...5 months before PanAm 103?

[silverleaf]

Qadaffi owed Iran a big favor

[KTM rider]

Wow glad you missed it

[KTM rider]

OH my so sorry to offend you my apologies

[nickcarraway]

Thanks

[piasa]

You’d think people in denial of stuff Iran does would ask themselves that, wouldn’t you?

[piasa]

Lockerbie ping

[dfwgator]

I was in Syracuse on business when it happened, a bunch of SU students were on the plane.

[2CAVTrooper]

“I was hoping they’d tag the Iranian govt...’

They attempted to carry out an attack earlier that year but got caught. They then contracted it out to PFLP-GC (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command. Who in turn used their contacts with the Libyans.

Overall the iranians were the money man behind the attack.

[silverleaf]

Money
And motive

[Gene Eric]

Hillary?

[2CAVTrooper]

“I thought I saw something years ago that the IRA may be implicated as well.”

For what?

In doing so, the IRA would have alienated their support here in the U.S. they would have attacked a British Airways flight as opposed to a U.S. flagged carrier.

[freedomlver]

only 32 years to get this investigation done huh? Someone in Gov spent an entire career on this.

[2CAVTrooper]

“How is it the US has jurisdiction in the Lockerbie case?? - just curious!”

The Scottish had overall jurisdiction, but our interests were represented because it involved a U.S. flagged carrier, and most of the passengers were Americans.