Kurt Sansone
Lockerbie-Malta link blasted away
A piece of circuit board thought to have formed part of the bomb that blew up the Pan-Am aircraft over Lockerbie and which supported the thesis that linked Malta to the tragedy is unlikely to have survived the explosion, according to fresh tests by a British bomb expert.
The expert, a UN European consultant on explosives, John Wyatt, recreated the explosion 20 times, using a similar circuit board and timer and the parts were pulverised every time.
Talking to The Times yesterday, he said every test left absolutely no fragments like the one found at Lockerbie and which was used to implicate Libya and Malta in the whole affair.
The 1988 attack on Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie killed 270 people.
"It was highly improbable to the point of making it unlikely" that such a fragment could have survived the blast, Dr Wyatt said.
The revelation undermines a key element in the prosecution's case against Libyan Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, who was found guilty of the Lockerbie bombing. Last summer, Mr al-Megrahi was released from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
"We conducted 20 tests, 19 of which were indoors to make sure we could collect all the evidence. We even painted the circuit board bright yellow to make it easier to identify any fragments among the debris. In no circumstance did we find any fragment," Dr Wyatt explained.
The explosive tests were conducted in stages and in a controlled environment, which would have made it very easy to collect all the evidence.
"We tried exploding the device on its own; in a radio similar to the one it was supposed to have been planted in; in a suitcase with and without clothes; surrounded by other suitcases and, eventually, in a container. In all tests, the timer and the circuit board were completely destroyed," Dr Wyatt said.
The fragment found in Lockerbie had not been in ideal forensic conditions, he added, because the explosion happened at a height of 10,000 feet and the debris fell over a large area in the Scottish wilderness. "This increases the improbability of finding a fragment that was part of the bomb itself," he said.
Dr Wyatt, who has more than 25 years experience in the British army, mostly as a bomb disposal officer, conducted the tests for BBC's current affairs programme, Newsnight, which will be broadcast tomorrow.
When asked by The Times, the expert would not say whether his analysis would lead him to suggest the fragment could have been put there after the explosion. "That is not for me to say but it was very, very improbable for such a fragment to be found," he said.
The fragment was found three weeks after the attack. For months it remained unnoticed and unremarked but, eventually, it was to shape the entire investigation. The fragment was embedded in a charred piece of clothing, which was marked with a label saying it was made in Malta.
The Malta lead raised the question as to who would have bought the clothes.
The investigation zoomed in on the Sliema outlet Mary's House and shopkeeper Tony Gauci, who was the other key element in the prosecution's case, identified Mr al-Megrahi.
However, serious doubts were cast on Mr Gauci's testimony because the identification of Mr al-Megrahi only came years later after the witness had seen him pictured in a magazine as a Lockerbie suspect.
In fact, over the past years, the credibility of the main thesis that saw Mr al-Megrahi being convicted was seriously called into question and it was believed the appeal launched by the former Libyan secret service officer could prove this. However, to obtain his release, he had to relinquish the appeal.
This led several people, including Scottish relatives of people who died in the atrocity, to call for a fresh inquiry.
The call was never taken up, not even by the Maltese government, which, many believe, should lead the fight to clear Malta's name from the bombing implication.
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N.Lawrence
Jan 7th 2010, 16:56
Back to the crash site. It's interesting to find out that some of the FIRST people on site were members of the CIA (as if they were expecting the event) and that the same members searched for and removed a briefcase from the wreckage, against the orders of the Scottish Police not to touch anything.
Source "The 60 greatest Conspiracies of all Time" - ISBN 0-7607-0882-7
Makes you wonder who really was behind the atrocity.
Jesmond Micallef
Jan 7th 2010, 16:10
Indeed fruitfull, no doubt.
May I suggest that such findings are relayed back to Aviation Organisations and Companies around Europe that put together Computer Based Training for the aviation industry related to the History of Terrorism in Aviation. Such companies organise Computer Based Training for large European Airlines and their partner companies. These findings should also be relayed back to the Aviation Authorities around Europe. Such CLEVER SCIENTIFIC evidence should be present in any European Authority Approved course of training regarding Aviation Security.
Some Continental European Airlines Maintenance Engineering Personnel need to work within Airport Security areas and it may be required that Computer Based Training (CBT) should be succesfully performed by the INDIVIDUAL employee. It may also happen that if such CBT is not carried out by the employee, he or she is simply not granted access to the airport side. Thereby, in effect, cannot perform the required duties as per contract, and off course losing his or her job.
Indeed, those who take pride in SCIENCE, INTELLECT and INTELIGENCE should take notice.
Putting this aside, Malta does not need to clear its name. Malta is not a problematic nation, never was, and never will be.
Raymond Sammut
Jan 7th 2010, 14:01
@ Dr. John Damai
You raise three technical issues.
(1) "Air pressure due to altitude." --The effect of the explosion was exacerbated by the fact that aircraft cabin pressure was four times as much as outside air pressure at altitude of 31,000ft.
(2) "Amount of oxygen present at the time." --Semtex is composed mostly of PETN which has an "Oxygen Balance" close to zero. This property makes semtex among the most powerful explosives. There is nothing to suggest that this property was affected by the amount of oxygen present in the aircraft cabin.
(3) "The material surrounding the item." --The explosion took place in the hold compartment of the aircraft which contained passengers' luggage.
You, Dr Damai, make it clear in your comment that you "doubt" whether Mr Wyatt, who has 25 years experience in the British Army (mostly as a bomb disposal officer), has taken these factors into consideration during his controlled experiments. But you do not doubt the authenticity of the "timer fragment" which, according to FBI officials, had never been tested for explosives residue due to "budgetary reasons". Can you please explain why you doubt one but not the other?
Paul Smith
Jan 7th 2010, 12:57
John Wyatt did say on Newsnight last night that he only did the tests 20 times as the resources were not available for a 100 or a 1,000 tests. But in his expert opinion taking all factors into consideration the outcome would have been the same. Newsnight came to the conclusion that bomb was probably loaded at Heathrow and newsnight did not believe the Malta connection.
Did they not find the the circuit many many months after the terrorist attack in thick dense woods, after all sorts of differing weather conditions? Must have been harder than finding a needle in a hay stack.
Sad thing is, the truth will never come out.
lgalea
Jan 7th 2010, 12:28
Mario Tabone-Vassallo
Perfect.
Dr. John Damai
Still not satisfied are you? Why did the CIA pay the witness $2 MILLION and his brother another $1 MILLION? I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that the Lockerbie "evidence" was only planted to implicate Malta and Libya.
I have always had no doubt whatsoever that the piece of cloth and the part of a timer which allegedly was found among the wreckage would never have survived in the explosion considering it was so near or perhaps even touching the explosive where temperatures reach thousands of degrees which would have burned them to a cinder or evaporated them apart from the blast itself.
Have a look at the following sites.
http://lockerbiecase.blogspot.com/2009/09/angiolini-backs-away-from-semtex.html
http://lockerbiecase.blogspot.com/2009/09/crown-challenged-to-prove-semtex-link.html
http://www.firmmagazine.com/news/1718/Exclusive:_Crown_challenged_to_prove_semtex_link_to_Pan_Am103_.html
http://www.firmmagazine.com/news/1722/Angiolini_backs_away_from_semtex_challenge_.html
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/8920
For interesting cover-ups and deceptions have a look at
http://www.spiderednews.com/CoverupsandDeceptions.htm
and on the WTC
http://www.net4truthusa.com/wtcdemolition.htm.
Dr. John Damai
Jan 7th 2010, 11:45
Many factors need to be taken into consideration; such as air pressure due to altitude, amount of oxygen present at the time, and even the material surrounding the item in question. I doubt John Wyatt took such conditions into consideration especially knowing the time and financial budget provided for these tests. It would take a lot more than 20 trails to obtain precise results especially with so many ambient modifying factors. And still the skepticism would be high. I am surprised John Wyatt made such a bold conclusion.
Frans Sammut
Jan 7th 2010, 10:46
@Mario Tabone-Vassallo
Hear! Hear!
Mario Tabone-Vassallo
Jan 7th 2010, 10:05
For international consumption: It has been claimed by many for many years that said 'found' circuit board was actually 'planted' and not 'found' a long time after the actual accident. Perfida Albion et al