Comment posted Scotttish Government statement following death of Ali Al-Megrahi by newsroom.
Absolutely. And JIm Swire’s opinion has been umatchably influential because of the depth of his own integrity following the scale of the loss he suffered.
Recent comments by newsroom
- Argyll and Bute Council: Councillor McCuish leads again
We appreciate that it is inconvenient for a light to be shone on doings your party would prefer to keep hidden in shady places from those it asks to vote for it.
That is a dishonourable contract.
As the former Alliance of Independent Councillors [which had nothing at all do with Michael Russell ] knows very well, when it was damaging Argyll and Bute by its conduct during the 2010-11 schools closure wars, we were even more vigilant in keeping them under scrutiny and publishing on their manoeuvres.
We had to be even more vigilant because they were skilled at keeping things under wraps – where the SNP has conducted its acts of political genocide en plein air. All anyone has had to do is draw up a chair.
It should be obvious from our stance in recent weeks that we have no ‘vendetta’ against Councillor Dick Walsh, whom we dealt with arguably more harshly than we have done with Mr Russell.
A central function of our role is to contribute to the holding to account of those elected to serve the people. We do our best to fulfil this fairly – and hard. But we have no vendetta against anyone.
In Mr Russell’s case we simply feel he is a hot air balloon who has imploded over Argyll and done a great deal of harm – profoundly so to his own party, which we used to support. The evidence for our view is in the public domain. - Radically new council group changes all the dynamics: party politics dead in Argyll
The fact is that the SNP councillors in the Argyll and Bute for Change group are not ‘SNP councilors’ in council group terms – as rules forbid membership of more than one group.
So the ‘Russell camp’ is definitely no longer in the council’s SNP group, although presumably they will personally vote in elections according to their preferences.
And IF the other 8 SNP members have actually joined [as opposed to supporting [the Argyll, Lomond and the Isles group, there is no formal SNP group at all in Argyll and Bute Council.
If this has become the situation, it means that the SNP as a party has no right of purview over the behaviour of ANY of its originally elected councillors, none of whom would now be SNP councillors.
You have to say this is fun. It's not politics but it is a laugh. - Argyll and Bute Council: Councillor McCuish leads again
As given in one of the recent updates above - the missing person is Councillor Strong - from the, as of this morning, Argyll and Bute for Change Group. This would leave that group with 18 members but only 17 present to vote - which would not be enough to carry them to administration IF all other 18 councillors voted together.
This has to be likely but in the current situation the finessing is so arcane that one cannot be certain of anything until it's done. - Argyll and Bute Council: Councillor McCuish leads again
The fact is that they were quite prepared to work with the Liberal Democrat and Conservative groups - but were ordered by the the SNP to face expulsion from the party or to leave the administration that was planning just such a coalition.
We do not yet know what the SNP party position is today - although in our 14.15 update above, we have laid out the range of possibilities - but we do know that the 8 SNP Councillors have not resigned from the party. - Argyll and Bute Council: Councillor McCuish leads again
Sincere apologies for the temporary error - now corrected - and thank you for the prompt.
We are doing our level best - live - to get changing situations out to people as fast and as best as we can.
When we inevitably have the odd muddle [like cloning Mary Jean Devon], it is corrected very quickly.
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There’s a risk that all the political noise hides the clear opinion from Dr Jim Swire down the years that Megrahi did not murder his daughter and all the others.
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Absolutely. And JIm Swire’s opinion has been umatchably influential because of the depth of his own integrity following the scale of the loss he suffered.
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I shake my head in wonder that any of your readers can summon up a “dislike” thumbs down at such a life affirming and accurate remark.
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Ken – this website might be read in a far wider area of the world than I, for one, would have thought – and If I started on about the USS Vincennes, the death of everyone in the Iranian airliner it shot down while in Iranian territorial waters, and another such incident involving a different American ship and an Omani civilian aircraft that would have ended the same way but for a long chance, I might get the thumbs down.
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You are right, of course; and you did.
Personally I could not care a hoot when my remarks get the “zero Neroes” but I wonder at the mentalilty of those who dislke simple and sincere statements of fact.
I was reading about the Vincennes incident only earlier today and contrasting the reaction of our American cousins to that particular disaster.Although the commanding officer of the Vincennes had mistaken a civilian aircraft for a military craft and was responsible for many civilian deaths he was feted as a hero and promoted when he got home.
There is a heavy body of informed opinion that the Lockerbie bomb was retaliation for that disaster and that the source had nothing to do with Libya but was probably from Iran.
David Cameron seems determined to block any enquiry. We may wonder whose back he is protecting?
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The Skipper of the Vincennes (Captain Will Rogers III) reminded me of a character out of Apocalypse Now. After he’d decided that an Iran Air airbus climbing out of Bandar Abbas, on a regular scheduled flight to Dubai, was actually an F14 Tomcat fighter diving into attack his ship – and put two guided missiles into the airliner killing all 290 people on board – he wasn’t universally applauded. Either Time or Newsweek did a very effective expose of just how appalling the use of a highly sophisticated warship to annihilate a civilian airliner really was. Having said all that, the Lockerbie disaster might still have had a Libyan connection – like the French UTA DC10 airliner destroyed over the Sahara, and found to be the work of Libyans in the same way that Lockerbie was.
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We must hope that an appeal is made, following the death and the CCRC report.
While it may not establish the whole truth it may just deal with some of the questions that still remain.
So far, the only person who comes out of this whole case with reputation intact and enhanced is Dr Swire.
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I’m glad Megrahi is at peace now and I’m pleased to be part of the nation that treated him with compassion. Vengeance only creates new monsters and should be no part of the law.
It’s interesting to note that this man, whose suffering so many relished, was reported to have spent his time in Greenock prison teaching younger Scottish prisoners the basics of reading. That, more than any of the raging debate, caused me to read up on the court proceedings. I came to share Dr Swire’s convictions and hope he succeeds in his campaign to find the real truth.
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The “evidence” presented at Camp Zeist would not have passed muster at Dunoon Sheriff Court and when did a Scottish Court ever convene without a jury.
I know no intelligent person who has read up on this case who beleives Abdulbaset Ali al-Megrahi had anything to do with this bombing. I recommend the late Paul Foot’s examination of this affair and the latest publication by John Ashton, both of which can be sourced online to anybody who harbours doubt about this case.
As Anne Baird points out it is impossible to be well informed on the court case and conviction and believe he was anything other than an innocent scapegoat.
What concerns me deeply is the behaviour of much of our media.
There was time when we could look to our press to defend us from Government lies. No more
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The evidence was a joke, I too can’t believe any jury would have convicted on it. The central plank of the prosecution case was the Maltese shopkeeper who identified Mr Megrahi as the purchaser of a shirt after ten years had passed. I have been to Malta, including Sliema where the shop is located. The shops there are crowded with tourists buying postcards and sunglasses and T shirts and suchlike. I’d challenge any of the shopkeepers to identify a particular customer from the previous day, never mind one from ten years previously. And then it turns out that this particular shopkeeper was paid one million dollars by the FBI to testify! Give us a break.
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Just passing this on….
http://wingsland.podgamer.com/johann-lamont-does-not-speak-for-us-here-are-42-people-who-do/
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Impressive list of signatures to that letter.
Seeing Teddy Taylor on it made me smile (and is he still alive!!). Anytime my mother would complain about something my dad would say “write to Teddy Taylor about it”. To those not familiar with Scottish politics, Teddy Taylor was (arguably) the last successful Tory in Scotland (in Glasgow certainly).
I didn’t always agree with TT in the past but he is spot on the money here: we need an open enquiry into this and i8t will only be credible if it is the Scottish Government that instigates it.
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The list of signatories to the Megrahi letter is certainly wideranging……
Wait a minute though! If Teddy Taylor really has signed this letter I can just see our anonymous blogger from Islay demanding that he be stripped of his enoblement, deprived of his knighthood -if he has one- and drummed out of the ranks of the Conservative and Unionist Club in distant Southend never more to darken its portals.
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I’m wondering if the anonymous blogger is from Islay, or just taking its name in vain.
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Thanks for the article Morag, fascinating stuff.
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The reaction from Joanne Lamont to the news of Megrahi’s death was predictably following the official Labour Party line but must have caused grave offence to many decent Labour supporters.We may wonder on what authority she feels able to speak on behalf of Scotland on this or any other issue. Could it be that the vision of A L Blair embracing the mad Colonel and the “dirty deal in the desert” influenced her judgement? When will the details of this particular deal come to light?
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Everybody should read the article by Kenneth Roy in the Scottish review.
He says it all for me.
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Unfortunately the american public do not understand that an SNP administration in Edinburgh would not coerce with the british Labour party to achieve any outcome let alone jobs in part for the Lockerbie atrocity. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were far closer to the Libyan regime of Gaddafi than to the Scottish Government. Joanne Lamont should stop these cheap moves to try and gain political advantage. If any person should be ashamed it should be her in view of her party’s close association with a really brutal dictator. Come clean Labour and tell us what you know about this whole scenario
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