Pan Am 103

On 21DEC88, an IED aboard Pan Am 103 detonated over Lockerbie, Scotland killing all 169 lives aboard and claiming 11 lives on the ground. It was assumed that this attack was orchestrated by Muammar Gaddafi for the 15APR86 US attack on Tripoli that claimed the life of his step-daughter. The US attack was in response to Gaddafi’s 05APR86 bombing of the La Belle Disco in West Berlin that killed two American soldiers and a Turkish woman.

EVENTS LEADING UP TO PAN AM 103

Because funding for black projects was stiffed by Congress, Oliver North and a team of private individuals began smuggling drugs to finance covert ops without traditional oversight. [Harbor] Intelligence imperatives made it necessary to purchase 100 tons of small arms from Syrian arms dealer and drug lord, Monzer Al-Kassar for $1.5M. The transaction was soft funded by a Swiss company controlled by Albert Hakim and retired Air Force Gen. Richard Secord; intended for the Contras in Central America.

Israeli intelligence intercepted a communiqué describing Iranian Ali Akbar Mohtashemi paying Al-Kassar $10M to bomb an American air carrier in reprisal for the downing of an Iran Air airbus by the USS Vincennes on 03JUL88 where 290 died. Al-Kassar accepted the Iranian contract after losing Muammar Gaddafi’s support, and subcontracted PFLP-GC* leader Ahmed Jibril to plan the attack. [Harbor]

Al-Kassar had successfully negotiated the May 1988 release of French hostages in exchange for arms. The CIA asked Al-Kassar to negotiate on the US’s behalf for the release of American hostages held in Beirut. In exchange, the CIA and BKA would protect his drug-smuggling operation from Frankfurt to New York. [Harbor] Army Maj. Charles McKee headed an eight-member CIA team in Beirut to facilitate the release of the American hostages held there. When McKee discovered that another branch of the CIA was protecting Al-Kassar’s operation, he conceived an il-fated plan for revenge.

THE ATTACK PLAN

Because Al-Kassar knew about the CIA’s drug smuggling operation via Pan Am, he chose to attack Pan Am instead of American Airlines. The rivalry between Al-Kassar and Abu Nidal became a dynamic that the CIA could manipulate as necessary. Abu Nidal was behind the Achille Lauro hijacking and Jibril rationalized that Nidal would be blamed for Al-Kassar’s terrorist act against Pan Am. [Harbor]

The usual modus was: A Turkish baggage handler would remove a suitcase containing contraband from the trunk of a black Mercedes two days prior to a flight and store the bag in his employee locker. Khalid Jafar, a Lebanese-American from suburban Detroit who had helped the DEA in a Cyprus sting op, would take an identical bag through customs. The baggage handler would switch bags before the bags went into the cargo hold, and Jafar would claim the contraband bag in New York. Since Nidal would be blamed for downing Pan Am 103, Al-Kassar substituted Jafar’s usual contraband with an IED. Jafar did not know that his bag contained an IED. [Rogue]

While Pan Am 103 was being loaded, BKA surveillance noticed that the anticipated suitcase was different, and reported the discrepancy to the CIA. The CIA responded, “Don't worry about it – let it go.” McKee and his team were returning to the US aboard Pan Am 103 without CIA authorization; it was believed that McKee’s luggage contained plans of a Beirut building where two American hostages were being held and other classified information. McKee planned to expose the CIA and DEA’s drug smuggling operation without considering the danger to other field agents. [Pentagon]

IN AN ALTERNATE REALITY

Libyan intelligence officer and Libya Airlines employee, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi bought clothing at a Malta store on 23NOV88. Megrahi then checked a suitcase containing the IED from Malta to New York. The bag was transferred from Malta Air at Frankfurt to Pan Am 103 with one stop in London before continuing to New York. Megrahi did not accompanying the suitcase. [Rogue] Qaddafi wanted to avenge the death of his step-daughter who was killed when US F-111’s attacked Tripoli in 1986.

Security protocols for unaccompanied bags at Frankfurt subjected bags to special X-ray examinations; because there was a special alert for radio-IED’s, all radios were thoroughly examined. [Rogue] The BKA had raided PFLP-GC safehouses earlier that year and discovered Czech-made Semtex hidden in a radio just like the radio-IED that would destroy Pan Am 103. When BKA received a tip from Israeli intelligence about a possible attack on a US carrier, the CIA ordered tighter security on all US airlines expect Pan Am, hoping to funnel any ‘would-be’ attackers into the established surveillance area. [Harbor]

On or about December 18th, Al-Kassar warned BKA that an attack on Pan Am’s Frankfurt-London-New York flight would occur within three days. The Mossad also intercepted and forwarded, 24-hours in advance to the BKA, that Pan Am 103 had been threatened. The BKA forwarded both warnings to the CIA in Frankfurt. [Harbor]

Pan Am flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland at 19:02.

In response to a $300M suit filed by families of flight 103, Pan Am’s insurance company hired Juval Aviv** to investigate how Frankfurt’s security standards could allow an IED to be placed aboard. Pan Am’s attorneys subpoenaed the FBI, CIA, DEA, NSA, NSC and State Department officials to surrender documents containing evidence of the drug operation preceding the crash. Those documents were denied for ‘national security’ reasons. [Rogue] Pan Am filed suit against the US alleging that, “the United States Government had prior knowledge of an impending terrorist attack” against Pan Am. [Pentagon]

CONGRESSIONAL INQUIRY

Congressman James A. Traficant, Jr. D-OH, believed that the CIA ignored warnings that a bomb was aboard Pan Am 103 and allowed an 8-member CIA team to board the flight because they were going to expose the CIA and DEA’s drug-smuggling operation. Throughout the inquiry, committee chair, Congressman Robert Wise D-WV, complained that “the FBI [was] totally uncooperative.” Most of the persons and materials that Wise requested failed to appear due to national security concerns. [Rogue]

The DEA admitted “controlled drug deliveries” through Frankfurt on US airlines using Jafar as a courier with the cooperation of BKA, but denied conducting the op in question. In the interests of national security, the DEA ordered officials in Detroit not to talk to the media about Jafar. “Controlled drug deliveries” was not mentioned in the President's Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism. Senator Wise promised a full-scale investigation but the matter was closed by the end of that day. [Rogue]

THE VERDICT

On 31JAN01, The Hague in Scotland found Libyan national Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, guilty for the deaths of all 270 persons who died at Lockerbie. Co-defendant, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, was acquitted. [Rogue]

If a ‘fusion concept’ existed, the events surrounding Pan Am 103 do not prove it.

In APR89, the FBI leaked to CBS that it had tentatively identified the person who unwittingly carried the bomb aboard as Khalid Jaafar, a 21-year-old Lebanese-

American. The CIA was ‘confident’ that the Iran-Syria-PFLP-GC version was accurate.

On 20SEP89, The Times of London reported that “security officials from Britain, the United States and West Germany are ‘totally satisfied’ that it was the PFLP-GC.” In DEC89, Scottish investigators announced that they had “hard evidence” of the involvement of the PFLP-GC in the bombing. [Rogue]

In JAN90, two of three baggage handlers failed an Interfor polygraph regarding their involvement in baggage switching. They were never questioned again and the credibility of polygraph analyst, James Keefe, was impeached before a Washington grand jury. [Rogue]

On 30OCT90, NBC-TV News reported that “Pan Am flights from Frankfurt, including 103, had been used a number of times by the DEA as part of its undercover operation to fly informants and suitcases of heroin into Detroit as part of a sting operation to catch dealers in Detroit.” In OCT90, Washington announced that the Libyan government was behind the Pan Am 103 bombing. [Rogue]

In 1992, Yassar Arafat’s political advisor, Abu Sharif, stated that the PLO had compiled a secret report which concluded that the bombing of 103 was the work of a “Middle Eastern country” other than Libya. [Rogue]

FBI agents visited McKee’s mother to determine if McKee had left anything with her and informed her that some of the contents of her sons luggage would be destroyed in the interests of national security. [Harbor]

“Edmund Bollier of MEBO AG, the Swiss electronics firm who manufactured the timer alleged to have triggered the explosion, claimed in two reports that the bomb was attached directly to the aircraft's hull and was not inside anyone’s luggage.” The British AIIB team’s final report concurs with Bollier’s statements. According to the ‘Mach Stern’ effect, the bomb was placed 12 inches from the fuselage and not inside a luggage container. [Articles]

CONCLUSION

Pan Am 103 began when a collusion of egos elected to public office abused their ‘oversight’ authority by interfering in intelligence affairs. Congress needs to fund black projects openly and allow the directors of intelligence to execute their duty to the best of their ability, unfettered by persons who can not comprehend the scope of that responsibility. The reprehensible manner in which Congressional oversight was abused brought International disgrace to the US and disfigured the careers of honorable men.

Based on the available evidence, it appears that Congress destroyed Pan Am 103 by failing to render meaningful support commensurate with intelligence imperatives and through that negligence, lost 170 lives at Lockerbie. It is doubtful that Congress will ever admit their complicity in the matter.

Pre-attack prevention measures were in place but did not suit a layered agenda for that particular flight. Even though the exact truth is obscured by contradictory and inconclusive reports, it becomes more apparent that good can not be fused with evil to benefit anyone.

* The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.

** Interfor, Inc. is a New York-based anti-terrorism consulting firm headed by former Israeli intelligence agent Juval Aviv.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Articles WSWS, James, S. (June 7, 2000)

Pan Am 103: Conflicting evidence in Lockerbie trial concerning location of bomb

Retrieved May 16, 2008, from:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/jun2000/lock-j07.shtml

Harbor News, Anderson, E. (June 8, 1999) FLIGHT 103: The OTHER Story

Retrieved May 16, 2008, from:

http://www.fatdawg.com/flight.html

IHT Article, McNamara, T. (May 5, 2004)

Survival Instinct: Why Qaddafi turned his back on terror