Much Ado about the Lockerbie "Bomber"

William Blum writes:

But how many of our wonderful leaders are upset that Abdel Baset al-Megrahi spent eight years in prison despite the fact that there was, and is, no evidence that he had anything to do with the bombing of flight 103?

The Scottish court that convicted him knew he was innocent. To understand that just read their 2001 "Opinion of the Court," or read my analysis of it. [See Consortiumnews.com’s “Pam Am 103 Verdict: Justice or Politics?” and the followup, "Ignoring the Truth about Lockerbie."]

As to the British government being so upset about Libya celebrating Megrahi's release — keeping in mind that it strongly appears that UK oil deals with Libya played more of a role in his release than his medical condition did — we should remember that in July 1988 an American Navy ship in the Persian Gulf, the Vincennes, shot down an Iranian passenger plane, taking the lives of 290 people; i.e., more than died from flight 103.

And while the Iranian people mourned their lost loved ones, the United States celebrated by handing out medals and ribbons to the captain and crew of the Vincennes.

The Vincennes shoot-down had another likely consequence: It appears to have inspired Iran to take revenge in December of that year, financing the operation to blow up PanAm 103 (likely carried out by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine –- General Command).

Though the Libyans were the favored villains of the day, there is no real evidence that they – and Megrahi – had anything to do with the attack.