Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March 2008, pages 5-6

Letters to the Editor

Dr. Sami Al-Arian’s Ordeal

As an American, as a veteran and as an attorney it is deplorable and frankly disgusting, as well as repugnant to all the ideals of this great nation, that such travesties of justice continue in this day and age.

I’m sure that were such American Idols as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson alive today, they could be imprisoned for actions they might adopt against such flagrant violations of our constitutional rights.

Having lived long enough to know what barbarism was “enforced” by Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia against their own people, which was abhorrent to us, it is dismal indeed to know that we have not seemed to have advanced too far from some of their miserable “legal” practices.

Thomas I. Green, Esq., member, State Bars of California and Florida, via e-mail

While the news in our Dec. 23 action alert entitled “Dr. Sami Al-Arian’s Civil Contempt Charge Dropped” was the first encouraging news we’ve heard in a long time, it’s still too soon to start breathing normally. (But we were thrilled to learn that the family was able to have a “contact visit” in January with their husband and father!) As of this writing the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta has yet to rule on Dr. Al-Arian’s complaint that the government is violating its plea bargain agreement with him by insisting he testify in unrelated “terrorism” trials. If the court upholds his appeal, or fails to hand down a ruling before his scheduled release date, he’ll be released in early April. If they reject the appeal, however, the government could charge him with criminal contempt, which would mean yet another trial—and for which there’s no sentencing limit!

In addition to contacting Congress, the White House and the Department of Justice to demand liberty and justice for all, readers can write Sami Al-Arian (#19638) at Northern Neck Regional Jail, P.O. Box 1060, Warsaw, VA 22572, USA. We also highly recommend the documentary “USA vs. Al-Arian,” which continues to be shown in selected U.S. cities (as well as on Israeli, but not American, TV). For additional information visit the film’s Web site, <http://www.usavsalarian.com>,

Outrage and Awe

Contemplating your Jan./Feb. 2008 cover photo of Palestinian mothers and children disappearing into a black hole beneath Israel’s Wall of Shame in an attempt to navigate between villages cut off from each other, fills the heart with both outrage and awe.

How, one must ask, are the Palestinian people able to survive the inhumanities inflicted upon them year after endless year? Where do they find the fortitude, courage and endurance to continue life against such overwhelming odds? Might it be their religion, which teaches them to submit only to the will of God and not to human machinations and dominance? Or is it their eyes that have seen through the darkness to recognize that this too shall pass? The latter is a possibility which we can all help to make a reality: we can elect as our next president one who advocates the “Audacity of Hope”—not only for the renewal of our country but for establishing justice for the oppressed of the world.

Rev. Rosemarie Carnarius, Tucson, AZ

Expanding “Other People’s Mail”

I am enclosing a letter published in the Toronto Globe and Mail of Dec. 24 that I think may be of interest to you. This paper is distributed nationally in Canada. The letter is of particular interest in that it originates from an anti-Israel Jew, with the implication that his position enjoys much support among the Jewish community.

“Other People’s Mail” is one of the first pages I read every issue, as it shows what the mainstream press will publish from its readers that in most papers stands little chance of appearing otherwise. However, only some dozen newspapers seem to be covered regularly, and only perhaps two or three of them are from the foreign press. The enclosed may help to expand your coverage slightly, with a peek at what occasionally sees the light of day in the mainstream press here in Canada.

Stewart A. Brown, Ontario, Canada

Thank you for your comments—with which we agree—and contribution. The letter from Bernard Katz concludes this issue’s “Other People’s Mail” on p. 68. We encourage other readers to send us clips from their local papers.

From a Lockerbie Parent

I read Andrew Killgore’s article “Secret Agreement Increases Odds That Convicted Pan Am 103 Bomber May Be Freed” (December 2007 Washington Report, p. 13) with great interest, particularly as the two aspects of the Lockerbie case covered were the identification of the Libyan (Megrahi) and that of the “timer fragment.”

Gauchi, the Maltese shopkeeper, had identified an Egyptian sometimes using the name Abu Talb from a British Sunday newspaper picture long before the trial, and shown to him by his brother, as the buyer of the key items of clothing Killgore mentions. By the time of the trial the police had subjected Gauchi to a number of photo identifying sessions, and he testified that the prisoner was “like” the man who bought the clothes—but the age and height were very different from the man he had seen. Remarkable for a man who made his living from selling clothes to get the height and age so wrong.

Abu Talb, who had also been in Malta in late 1988—and who had Dec. 21, 1988 (the date of Lockerbie) circled on a calendar on his wall when arrested before Lockerbie by Swedish police for a separate terrorist offense—also had some clothing similar to that found at Lockerbie in his apartment when arrested. Talb was associated with the Syrian-based terror group the PFLP-GC, and was never accused of involvement in Lockerbie.

The PFLP-GC were the makers of a specialised timer/baroceptor bomb trigger mechanism which the Zeist court heard was made in their facility in the outskirts of Damascus. The Court also heard how, if one of these devices were placed inside an aircraft, it would always explode between 30 and 45 minutes after takeoff, no matter how long it had hung around at ground level, thanks to the air-pressure-sensitive switch mechanism which registered the drop in pressure in a climbing aircraft. The court also heard that these devices could not be altered to a different time lapse by the user.

The Lockerbie flight lasted 38 minutes from take-off.

The “timer fragment” supposedly found at the crash site was not part of such a timer, but was part of a circuit board from a digital timer manufactured in Switzerland, which was fully user adjustable. The fragment was the only apparently objective evidence suggesting that a timer had been used that could have been set in Malta by Megrahi and exploded many hours later after leaving Heathrow. Its provenance as an item of evidence was uniquely compromised.

Yet the court believed that Megrahi “happened” to set his Swiss timer in Malta in such a way that it went off in the middle of the time window for the Syrian device, after surviving a change of aircraft at both Frankfurt and Heathrow airports.

Currently the prosecution is refusing to allow the defense to share the contents of a document said to concern this timer fragment, on the grounds that a “foreign power” supplied it in confidence.

Since the sharing of evidence by prosecution and defense under Scottish criminal law is a basic tenet, it will be interesting, to say the least, to see whether the political input from a “foreign power” will be allowed to override it.

The impression given at the last public hearing on Dec. 20 in the High Court in Edinburgh was that the prosecution was introducing deliberate delaying tactics. It is hoped that Megrahi’s appeal will be heard in full, sometime in 2008 in Edinburgh.

Dr. Jim Swire, father of Flora, murdered at Lockerbie, via e-mail

From the Source’s Mouth?

I have just learned of the article you wrote entitled, “Secret Agreement Increases Odds that Convicted Pan Am 103 Bomber May Be Freed” and would like to comment on it. I have some expertise in this area inasmuch as I was the FBI agent who led the investigation into the bombing. It is unfortunate that so many media outlets continue to rely on the information provided to them by people who have an agenda and not from those who may be in a position to know the facts.

Unfortunately, your main premise may be correct. I am not optimistic that Megrahi will remain in prison for a variety of reasons, but not because he is not guilty! There is one big reason that the Megrahi defense team was never told of any offer to pay money to the Maltese shopkeeper to blame Libyan agents for purchasing the clothing contained in the bomb suitcase. That reason is because it is just not true. The CIA never had contact with the shopkeeper. That man did a credible job of trying to recall what he observed in December 1988 and all you would have to do is read the transcript of the trial to see what the trial judges observed at trial. They accepted his testimony as true and honest.

I am not sure where you come up with the assertion that the trial relied on only two facts, Gauci’s testimony and the timer. The case was circumstantial but there were many other circumstances than just those two. Before you write such an article, perhaps you should speak with someone who knows about the case or read my book on the subject, Scotbom: Evidence and the Lockerbie Investigation.

Richard A. Marquise, via e-mail

Author Killgore has indeed spoken with more than one person “who knows about the case,” as you would know if you had read his many previous articles. You certainly may be correct to say that “The CIA never had contact with the shopkeeper”—but you seem to be implying that the U.S. has only one agency capable of doing so (selling your own government short, we’d say). In fact, for example, the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security has a program called “Rewards for Justice” which, according to its Web site (<www.rewardsforjustice.net>), “has paid over $77 million to over 50 people who provided actionable information that put terrorists behind bars or prevented acts of international terrorism worldwide.” One of the terrorists listed as a program “success story” is Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi.