A former Libyan foreign minister has admitted the country was involved in the Lockerbie bombing but said for the first time it was part of a wider conspiracy.
The former minister, Abdul Rahman al-Shalgham Photo: REUTERS
By Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent
6:45PM BST 18 Jul 2011
47 Comments
The former minister, Abdul Rahman al-Shalgham, who was ambassador to the United Nations when he defected in February, revealed a new theory about who was responsible for the explosion on board Pan-Am Flight 103 in an interview with an Arabic newspaper.
"The Lockerbie bombing was a complex and tangled operation" he said, when asked to describe the background to the disaster.
"There was talk at the time of the roles played by states and organisations. Libyan security played a part but I believe it was not a strictly Libyan operation."
He went on to say that the compensation payment to the families he helped negotiate on behalf of the regime – while disclaiming responsibility – angered the Libyan leader, Col Muammar Gaddafi. "He used to say, 'We had no role in Lockerbie, so why should we have to pay compensation'," Mr Shalgham said.
Two Libyan state employees were put on trial in The Hague under Scottish law for the bombing of Flight 103, in which 270 people died in 1988. One, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, though he was released on medical grounds in 2009.
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Libya always denied involvement, and alternative theories state that it was the work of Iranian intelligence, or a Palestinian terrorist group.
Mr Shalgham's revelations are the first serious suggestion that there could be elements of truth to both stories.
Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the former minister of justice who defected at the beginning of the uprising against the Gaddafi regime in February and is now chairman of the opposition Transitional National Council, claimed in an earlier interview that Col Gaddafi personally ordered the bombing.
But Mr Abdul Jalil was only involved in politics from 2007, having been a provincial judge most of his career. Mr Shalgham, by contrast, was Libyan ambassador to Rome at the time of the bombing and later at the heart of government.
In the interview with Al-Hayat, a Saudi-backed newspaper, he admitted that the Libyan security services had carried out the terrorist attack on a Berlin nightclub used by American troops in 1986, which sparked the American bombing of Tripoli the same year.
He also said that the regime had ordered the explosion which brought down a French airliner over Niger in 1989 which killed 171, wrongly thinking that a Libyan dissident, Mohammed al-Megrief, was on board. As in the case of the Lockerbie bombing a year earlier, the disaster was caused by explosives packed into a suitcase in the hold.
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Showing 25 of 47 comments
Jackthesmilingblack
Today 12:29 AMRemember those Iraqi dissidents that defected to the US? They told the CIA what they wanted to hear. "Saddam has WMDs. We can show you where they’re housed. All we want is to be part of the new Iraqi government after the invasion." And the CIA took this at face value.
Same applies here: To ensure a warm reception, Libyan dissidents are gilding the lily.
Report Recommend
telegraphreader72
Today 12:01 AMRecommended by
1 person You're all wrong - It was that dastardly villain Blofeld, backed by the evil S.P.E.C.T.R.A.
Or maybe it was The Joker, or Lex Luthor.
No, no - it must have been the Evil Care Bears!
Seriously guys, just listen to yourselves - you are spouting such total and utter sh1te, that its hilarious!
Richard Hitchings
Yesterday 11:24 PMShould we trust the word of a Lybian..should we believe Dr Kelly did his own death?...if Gordo Brown didnt invent lies was it uncle Tony?
Mnorgaileta
Yesterday 10:57 PMRecommended by
5 peopleWhy is he speaking out now? What is he hoping to achieve apart from saving his own neck? He's only confirming what we have known all along but what else does he know? The timing of this is most curious.
terrythemachenliberal
Yesterday 10:44 PMRecommended by
4 peopleGo to any Tory MPs site on the Internet - Go to the Conference section and whom is doing the site work for the Conference in every aspect, every one a named Asian with values that are not our UK own. People be careful when you come to Manchester, as Mancunians are a minority, and be careful of left suitcases - and do be careful not to walk in just two's at night, as around Piccadilly and the Town Hall is a dangerous area. Do you ever remember when the party employed British people to make their conference function
Simple Simon says
Yesterday 10:42 PMRecommended by
1 person He is lying, there was no bomb, 2 weeks before PanAm sold that plane to the US military, US air force welders welded patches on the main spar that the baggage door latch was connected to.
The baggage door fell off 70 miles before it crashed, 10 minutes before it crashed, that showed that the main spar had snapped, so US air force welders are responsible, this info was on the BBC news in the first week but was removed and never repeated.
_______ tombstone
Yesterday 11:23 PMRecommended by
5 peopleHave you checked your tinfoil hat recently?
_________________ Jackthesmilingblack
Today 12:20 AMAttack the writer not the argument. Same old, same old.
_______ prejudiced
Yesterday 10:51 PMRecommended by
3 peopleWhy were the US military operating a scheduled commercial flight with hundreds of civilian passengers?
_______ lyndon666
Yesterday 10:45 PMRecommended by
8 peopleYou have a very apt nickname Simon.
OldAtlantic
Yesterday 09:08 PMRecommended by
6 peopleNews to Brown and Blair. Anyhow, what is the fuss? Muslims will take over in a few years anyhow. Keep voting establishment parties.
_______ martyj
Yesterday 09:12 PMRecommended by
8 peopleOther than trying to advertise the BNP - what are you talking about?
Please read even the headline of a story rather than posting something on every thread.
martyj
Yesterday 09:01 PMRecommended by
2 peopleI've laid out my position below, but I really don't see how there's the slightest chance that it was the CIA, Mossad, or anybody other than Iran.
martyj
Yesterday 09:00 PMRecommended by
11 peopleThe SUPERB Private Eye investigation (available to subscribers on their website) covered it. The evidence that it was Iran, operating through Palestinian terrorists is very much the most likely.
That view is supported now by the Judge who convicted Megrahi, and many of the main prosecution witnesses.
The article above says that a DEFECTED senior Libyan implied it could have been PARTLY Libya (partly?) but also says that Gadhaffi even said to his foreign minister that it wasn't them - he's a man who would have been boasting.
As a result, this evidence doesn't change anything.
paulw
Yesterday 08:32 PMRecommended by
11 peopleMany people think the CIA and Oliver North and drug running had a lot to do with Lockerbie and that Libya had no hand in it but was set up to take the blame.
So, not at all surprising that a defector to the West from Libya now pops up to say it was Libya what did (some) of it - now that more and more people are waking up to the fact that all is not what it seems.
The truth is that Libya was attacked because Gaddafi was about to introduce a new African currency based on a new gold Dinar and to require purchases of raw materials and oil in gold to stop the West thieving African resources with increasingly worthless printed paper.
To that end, Gaddafi must be smeared with any and all evil acts.
Surprised they haven't fingered him yet for 9-11 or 7-7.
_______ Pedro Rabaçal
Yesterday 11:59 PMMany times nations wanted to introduce new currencies that failed without Any WAR to be used.
Do you really think a coin would be so strong that only a war could avoid it?
Oh, yes. A good slave of Khadafi must show him as an "hero" attacked for being a "hero"...
_______ idonotbelieveit
Yesterday 10:23 PMRecommended by
6 peopleI'm with you on this paulw.
Not only because of the proposed new gold backed currency, France were also pissed off with him because he stumped up $300 million to get Africa their own communications satellite (and thus reduce the cost of mobile calls and internet across the continent), rather than having to fork out $500 million every year to Europe (mainly France) to rent one.
I find it wearying that some people only know what they're spoonfed, and seem either incapable or too lazy to exhibit at least a modicum of curiosity and dig a little deeper.
__________________ prejudiced
Yesterday 10:28 PMRecommended by
3 peopleThere's a difference between "a modicum of curiosity" and firmly believing ("the truth is......") a version that lacks serious credibility.
__________________ idonotbelieveit
Yesterday 10:36 PMI suggest you read what I wrote a little more slowly.
By the way, doesn't prejudiced mean something like "an opinion formed beforehand, or without due examination"?
QED
___________________ prejudiced
Yesterday 10:44 PMRecommended by
1 person Yes it does which is why I chose it. Now go back to your on-line dictionary and look up 'irony'. Too subtle?
I read what you wrote again (even slower) but don't understand what I've missed. "The truth is..." in brackets referred to paulw's original post.
____________________ idonotbelieveit
Yesterday 11:01 PMOh dear, seems I've hit a nerve. Oh well, never mind!!
It's nice that you feel able to comment on others' informed opinions based on the one you hold without due examination - that's what I call democracy!!
____________________ prejudiced
Yesterday 11:05 PMRecommended by
1 person You didn't hit a nerve at all. And you seem to have misunderstood my explanation. I chose 'prejudiced' as a comment on how people post on the site. That's why mentioned irony.
________ lyndon666
Yesterday 08:58 PMRecommended by
10 peopleI was anticipating another tedious rant about the CIA there, but then you pulled out the Stupidest Conspiracy Theory of All Time right at the end. Congratulations! You should win some sort of prize, a gold plated tinfoil hat maybe?
Seriously, an African supercurrency to topple the dollar. Just sit back for a minute and try and consider the approximately one million things wrong with this idea. Report Recommend
_____________________ tomnz
Yesterday 10:16 PMRecommended by
5 peopleActually the information is true. He did plan to introduce an African currency based on the gold standard - check your facts. Doesn't imply the Yanks attacked just for that reason of course but is it just coincidence that Sadaam wanted to sell his oil in Euros? The americans just cannot take the risk.
_____________________ paulw
Yesterday 09:58 PMRecommended by
5 peopleIt's been on RT News - sounds far more plausible to me than wasting billions protecting 'civilians'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
_____________
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conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
19072011
___________
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Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
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