Lou P recommended link to Links: 'For more than a year, US, Scottish and British investigators were convinced that the Syrian-based PFLP-GC was the prime suspect. In October 1990, Washington and London suddenly began pointing the finger at Libya and started unearthing "evidence" out of the blue to justify this. It coincided with the US military build-up in the Persian Gulf following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. In 1991, two Libyans - including al Megrahi - were formally indicted.
'What changed between 1988 and 1991? Syrian dictator Hafiz Assad was an enthusiastic participant and key US ally in the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq, whereas Libya's leader Muammar Qadhafi opposed the war and campaigned for a peaceful settlement.' Yes, Oceania was at war with Eurasia; Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. I remember the blame on this being shifted from Syria to Libya at this very convenient moment. This act was probably the most cynical move of blame I have ever seen in 30 years of political activity. I thought that it was a fraud then, and I do to this day. Yet Libya's purported culpability and all the ensuing manoeuvres, culminating in last week's repatriation of the alleged perpetrator, is taken seriously by so many commentators. I think that the return of al Megrahi, thus avoiding his appeal being held, was damage limitation, as an appeal would almost certainly have led to awkward details coming to light that would expose the whole sorry business, and put a lot of Western statesmen in a very bad light. Paul F ________________________________________________ YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
