Libyan Justice Minister: Gaddafi Ordered Lockerbie Bombing

As Muammar Gaddafi's power crumbles around him, secrets are starting to come out:

LONDON (BNO NEWS) — Libyan Justice Minister Mustafa Mohamed Abud Al Jeleil on Wednesday told a Swedish newspaper that Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi ordered the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, which killed 270 people.

Al-Jleil told Stockholm-based newspaper Expressen that Gaddafi was the person who gave the order to bomb Pan Am Flight 103, a daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London Heathrow Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

"I have evidence that Gaddafi ordered the Lockerbie bombing," Al-Jleil was cited as saying by Expressen. "To hide this, he did everything in his power to get Megrahi back from Scotland."

Is anyone really surprised by this? I'm certainly not. I expect we'll learn much more about Gaddafi's role in international terror in the 80's and 90's in  the very near future.

 

FILED UNDER: Middle East, Terrorism, World Politics, , , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. largebill says:

    Concur. In fact it would be more surprising if stuff like this did not come out as his grip on power weakens.  People working for these dictators know where the skeletons are and will open those closets to save their own skin.  When NAZI Germany was clearly on verge of losing WWII, defections ramped up and the smart senior folks had notes and evidence of what their bosses ordered.  In Lybia's case, we had some evidence of direct involvement in European bombings in the 80's.  I believe there was a bar in Germany that was bombed where U.S. service members were known to hang out and in Italy the USO in Naples was also bombed.  I have little doubt that other acts in the last few decades were sponsored by his government.

  2. It’s not surprising, BUT in light of recent revelations about the reliability of defected in the runup to the Iraqi war, we should take this report with an extra grain of salt.

  3. Michael Antoniewicz II says:

    The Chief’s of Sixth Fleet should be making a walking inspection right now since this came out. Gaddafi’s people just painted a target on his head….