Pan Am Flight 103

Hello! Welcome back to “You’d Have to be Crazy to Believe This!” This week we have a lesser know, but very intriguing conspiracy theory. Pan Am flight 103. Flight one 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 killing hundreds. But what seemed like an open and shut terrorist case has raised many conspiracy theories. Lets look at the case!

December 21^st, 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 took off from London and began its journey to New York. A mere 38 minutes later, the Boeing 747 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland killing all 259 people on board as well as an additional 11 people on the ground, bringing the death count to 270. In a cooperative effort between British and United States investigators, it was found that the flight was the victim of a Libyan terrorist attack. Fragments of circuit boards and a timer lead investigators to conclude that one Al Megrahi, who was later tried and found guilty of the crime, had placed a suit case bomb on the plane. But is there more to this story?

When the case was originally being investigated, the investigators suspected Iran was responsible for the terror attack. But as the investigation progressed in to 1990, Iran became an valuable ally to the united states during the golf war, so an attack like this, in which 189 Americans were killed, could result in a shift of public opinion of our new found allies. Luckily the fragments of circuit and timer found in the crash were later traced to a Libyan manufacturer. While the manufacturer, strongly denies this claim the United States holds strong to its conclusions.

The next part gets a little hard to follow so I’m going to break it down by year.

1990

A Libyan Intelligence officer, Al Megrahi, is accused of the attack by the FBI after a long too year investigation. There evidence is a witness by the name of Tony Gauci identifies Tony as the man who purchases certain clothes found in the suitcase containing the bomb. The Libyan leader at the time, Muammar Gaddafi, goes public says that Al Megrahi is innocent and that Libya had nothing to do with the attack. In response, The United states, with the support of the United Nations, impose economic sanctions on Libya. They tell Gaddafi they will not be lifted until Al Megrahi extradited.

1999

Britain and Libya make a Prisoner transfer deal in which Al Megrahi is extradited to the United Kingdom.  There, he is convicted. Merely day’s later Trade sanctions are lifted and British Petroleum or BP is let into Libya to continue drilling. Many people find the timing of these two deals very suspicious.

2009

Fast-forward 10 years. Megrahi is released from prison in the United Kingdom on “Compassionate Grounds” due to his diagnosis of terminal cancer. Many find this odd because he was denied two appeals not long before this decision. But he is taken back to Libya to live out his final days.

2010

British Petroleum or BP admits that it lobbied for the prisoner deal that lead to Al Megrahi’s extradition in 1999 but denies current claims that Al Megrahi was only released in exchange for BP to drill off the coast of Libya.

2012

Leaked files from the Megrahi trial are leaked which reveal that’s the star witness of the case, Tony Gauci (remember him?) gave conflicting testimony. Not only that but the leaked documents reveal that the FBI paid Gauci $2 million dollars, the reason is unknown. These documents were never confirmed to have been legitimate FBI documents so it is unclear whether or not we can trust them.

Later in the year Al Megrahi dies, all while maintaining his innocence on his deathbed. 

2013

New York Times journalist Robert Worth revealed in an article that an unidentified former top C.I.A. official revealed it was Iran, not Libya responsible for the attack.

So what do you think? Was the flight 103 bombing pinned on Libya to protect public opinion of Iran? Let me know in the comments! Until next time!