Last Updated Tue, 24 Feb 2004 9:18:53
LONDON - Libya paid compensation for the bombing of a Pan Am jet over
Lockerbie, Scotland only to "buy peace" with western countries, the Libyan
prime minister said Tuesday.
http://cbc.ca/stories/2004/02/24/libya_pm040224
Shokri Ghanem
In a radio interview with the BBC, Prime Minister Shokri Ghanem said the
$3.6-billion payment did not mean Libya accepted guilt for the 1988 bombing
that killed 270 people.
He said Libya agreed to the deal only to lift United Nations sanctions against
the African country and improve relations with the West.
"After the sanctions and after the problems we have [been] facing because of
the sanctions, the loss of money.… We thought that it was easier for us to buy
peace and this is why we agreed to a compensation," Ghanem said in the
interview, recorded in Libya.
When asked if Libya still did not admit guilt, despite making the payment,
Ghanem said: "I agree with that and this is why I say we bought peace."
Last August, Libya said it accepted responsibility for "the actions of its
officials" for the Lockerbie bombing.
Since then, Libya has strengthened ties with Britain and sought to improve
relations with the United States. In December, Libya announced it would stop
developing weapons of mass destruction.
The decision prompted a landmark meeting February between British Prime
Minister Tony Blair and Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed Abderrhmane Chalgam.
Britain has said Blair plans to meet soon with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
Written by CBC News Online staff
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All you have to do is to read the transcripts of the (sham) trial that
convicted Libya of Lockerbie to realize there's more involved here than what
the trial brought out. So too with Milosevic and the Yugoslavia civil war, the
televised coverage of the trial was cancelled because of the adverse publicity
the US was getting --they were publicly being blamed for orchestrating the
whole thing by the defense insiders.
david.
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Lockerbie: CIA witness gagged by US government
28 May 2000
http://www.sundayherald.com/8759
A FORMER CIA agent who claims Libya is not responsible for the Lockerbie
bombing is being gagged by the US government under state secrecy laws and
faces 10 years in prison if he reveals any information about the terrorist
attack.
United Nations diplomats are outraged that the US government is apparently
suppressing a potential key trial witness. Diplomats are now demanding that
the CIA agent, Dr Richard Fuisz, be released from the gagging order. Fuisz, a
multi-millionaire businessman and pharmaceutical researcher, was, according to
US intelligence sources, the CIA's key operative in the Syrian capital
Damascus during the 1980s where he also had business interests.
One month before a court order was served on him by the US government gagging
him from speaking on the grounds of national security, he spoke to US
congressional aide Susan Lindauer, telling her he knew the identities of the
Lockerbie bombers and claiming they were not Libyan.
Lindauer, shocked by Fuisz's claims, immediately compiled notes on the meeting
which formed the basis of a later sworn affidavit detailing Fuisz's claims.
One month after their conversation, in October 1994, a court in Washington DC
issued an order barring him from revealing any information on the grounds of
"military and state secrets privilege".
When contacted by the Sunday Herald last night, Fuisz said when asked if he
was a CIA agent in Syria in the 1980s: "That is not an issue I can confirm or
deny. I am not allowed to speak about these issues. In fact, I can't even
explain to you why I can't speak about these issues." Fuisz did, however, say
that he would not take any action against a newspaper which named him as a CIA
agent.
Congressional aide Lindauer, who was involved in early negotiations over the
Lockerbie trial, claims Fuisz made "unequivocal statements to me that he has
first-hand knowledge about the Lockerbie case". In her affidavit, she goes on:
"Dr Fuisz has told me that he can identify who orchestrated and executed the
bombing. Dr Fuisz has said that he can confirm absolutely that no Libyan
national was involved in planning or executing the bombing of Pan Am 103,
either in any technical or advisory capacity whatsoever."
Fuisz's statements to Lindauer support the claims of the two Libyan accused
who are to incriminate a number of terrorist organisations, including the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, which had
strong links to Syria and Iran.
Lindauer said Fuisz told her he could provide information on Middle Eastern
terrorists, and referred to Lockerbie as an “example of an unsolved bombing
case that he said he has the immediate capability to resolve”.
Lindauer says Fuisz told her CIA staff had destroyed reports he sent them on
Lockerbie. Lindauer also refers in her affidavit to speculation that the USA
shifted any connection to Lockerbie away from Syria to Libya in return for its
support during the Gulf war.
She added that Fuisz told her: “If the [US] government would let me, I could
identify the men behind this attack today. I could do the right thing … I
could go into any crowded restaurant and pick out these men … I can tell you
their home addresses … You won’t find [them] anywhere in Libya. You will only
find [them] in Damascus. I was investigating on the ground and I know.”
The 1994 gagging order was issued following disclosures by Fuisz during other
legal proceedings about alleged illegal exports of military equipment to Iraq.
The order claims that the information held by Fuisz is vital to the “nation’s
security or diplomatic relations” and can not be revealed “no matter how
compelling the need for, and relevance of, the information”. The submission
also makes clear that the government is empowered to “protect its interests in
this case in the future”, thereby gagging Fuisz permanently.
Details of Fuisz’s gagging have been passed to the United Nations, including
UN secretary general Kofi Annan, Russia’s UN ambassador Sergey Lavrov and the
Libyan UN ambassador, as well as representatives of France and China. The
report on the Fuisz gagging, containing Lindauer’s affidavit, refers to “the
history of US interference … [and] … sabotage by the United States”.
One senior UN diplomat said: “In the interests of natural justice, Dr Fuisz
should be released from any order which prevents him telling what he knows of
the PanAm bombing.” With Fuisz prohibited from speaking, neither the defense
nor prosecution can call him as a witness.
A legal source close to Fuisz said: “We want the truth out. The naming of
knowledgeable witnesses who can’t be called would utterly change the face of
this trial. Dr Fuisz obviously cannot claim he has any knowledge because of
national security issues and he could face 10 years in jail. However, if he is
not allowed to talk the entire case should be dropped.
“Apart from the US government freeing him from the gag, the only way to allow
him to speak would be to subpoena him to the Scottish Court, but the court has
no power of subpoena in America.”
The Sunday Herald will make the Lindauer affidavit and Fuisz gagging order
available to both the Crown and defense if they require the documents.
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