So the leader of the Benghazi interim government says that Qadauphy personally ordered the bombing of Pan Am 103. It might be true, maybe it is rebel propaganda. What’s the proof?
Just to be clear, I’m not suggesting that Quaddaffi didn’t order it or that it was right, but recapping the sequence of events is helpful in understanding what the stakes are before we jump into another war, and keep bleeding ourselves to death economically – remember that is Osama Bin Laden’s long term strategy.
- January, 1981 – Ronald Reagan takes office
- November 1981 – Exxon pulls its staff and operations out of Libya for no disclosed reason
- June 1982 – Israel crosses the border into Lebanon to intervene in the Lebanon Civil War
- August 1982 – US brokers a deal to give the PLO safe passage out of Lebanon, Israel will withdraw, and US, French, Italian and British “peacekeepers” will stop the civil war
- April 18, 1983 – Van explodes at the US embassy in Beirut, killing 63
- August, 1983 – Ronald Reagan announces the refurbished WW2 Battleship New Jersey will be sent to Lebanon to protect US Marine peacekeepers
- September 19, 1983 – US begins to shell Druz militia positions from boats offshore [Peacekeeping?]
- September 25, 1983 – US New Jersey arrives at Lebanon and joins the shelling
- October 23, 1983 – the US Marine barracks in Lebanon are blown up – 241 US Servicemen killed
- February 7, 1984 – Ronald Reagan orders the Marines to leave Lebanon
- March 1986 – Ronald Reagan announces it does not recognize Libya’s claims on the Gulf of Sidra and will send in the US Navy to defend the right to use international waters
- March 23, 1986 – the 6th fleet crosses the “Line of Death” – Libya launches 2 MIGs, sends patrol boats out to challenge the incursion and the US Navy responded
- April 5, 1986 – a bomb goes off in a disco in Berlin, frequented by US servicemen – killing 2 of them and wounding several hundred
- April 15, 1986 – Ronald Reagan authorizes attack to kill Qadaffi over objections by France – Italy had warned Libya the day before about the attack and Qadaffy just barely avoided being killed, but his adopted daughter is killed [Details here]
- November, 1988 – Vice President George HW Bush elected President – George Bush headed the CIA under Gerard Ford in the middle 1970s
- December 5, 1988 – FAA publishes a warning that a source in Finland said a Pan Am flight would be blown out of the sky in the next 2 weeks using a bomb carried by a passenger without their knowledge
- December 21, 1988 – Pan Am 103 is blown out of the air. Among the passengers were 4 US Intelligence officers from Beirut
- January 4, 1989 – US fighters shoot down 2 MIG-23 airplanes showing hostile intent over the Gulf of Sidra
- January 20, 1989 – Ronald Reagan leaves office
- November 9, 1989 – the Berlin wall comes down
- December 26, 1991 – Soviet Union is dissolved
- May 3, 2000 – Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi convicted of being the builder of the Pan Am 103 bomb
- September 11, 2001 – …
- November 13, 2001 – 4 people convicted of the 1986 Berlin disco bombing, the ring leader being identified as Yassir Chraidi, a Palestinian working at the Libyan Embassy. The judge threw out the claim that Qadaffi ordered the bombing as no evidence was presented. (The connection was purported to be an intercepted diplomatic cable to the Libyan Embassy in Berlin congratulating them on their success – but intelligence agencies refused to provide evidence). A German TV documentary claims the bombing was a CIA/Israeli plot to provide a pretext for bombing Libya [uh-huh]
- June 28, 2007 – Scottish Court grants a second appeal
- January 2009 – Retrial is scheduled, at least in part because the Malta shopkeeper who identified Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was paid $2 million to testify, and documents in the possession of the prosecution were withheld from the Defense
- August 20, 2009 – Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is released because he was reported to have terminal prostate cancer (after agreeing to drop the appeal of his case)
- February 22, 2011 – Mustafa Mohamed Abud Al Jeleil (leader of the Benghazi insurrection) declares he knows that Qadaffi personally ordered the bombing of Pan Am 103. He offers no proof other than his statement.
