Part 170 –DECEMBER 19 1988
"A couple of my black ops buddies in the pentagon believe that the Pan Am bombers were gunning for McKee hostage-rescue team. But they were told to shift the focuss of their investigation because it revealed an embarrassing breakdown in security." - Gene Weathon—Retired US military Intelligence Officer
Khalid Jaafar was scheduled to return to the US on the direct flight Dusseldorf to Detroit on Dec. 19. However, a "friend" of Jaafar in Dortmund changed his ticket and rebooked him on Flight Pan Am 103 Dec. 21. Meanwhile, today Dec. 19 1988, Jaafar goes to Stockholm.
A female relative said that Jaafar was driven to Kiel in Northern Germany where he caught the ferry to Gothenburg.
According to a Danish Chemical engineer who travelled with him, Jaafar took the 1710 train from Gothenburg to Stockholm. NB. The female relative and the Danish engineer do not know each other and could not have been aware of each other testimony.
The relative a Khalid Jaafar claimed that he was given clothes as gift. NB. Soon after Talb was arrested in Sweden, SAPO intercepted a phone call during which his wife told some of Talb associates to get rid of the clothes he had recently bought in Malta. The Maltese clothes were key evidence against Megrahi at the Lockerbie trial.
Also today, the booking of McKee made on Dec.16 at Lucas Travel in Beirut was confirmed on flight Pan Am 103 Dec. 22.
Daniel OConnor was a security officer at the US embassy in Nicosia. He was scheduled to return on Dec. 23. But on Dec. 19, his flight was brought forward by two days. He is now scheduled to retun to the US on Flight Pan 103 Dec. 21
At Hearthrow airport, security personnel are on high alert for a radio bomb similar to the one discovered by the BKA. Pictures and a dummy of the IED are being circulated. Advice has been issued on how to check radios for a hidden bomb.
Intelligence
According to an Intelligence officer posted in Western Europe at the time of the Pan Am 103 bombing, "Everyone in the intelligence community knew that McKee and Gannon were returning to the US."
It would however appear that Oliver Revell, the executive assistant director at the FBI, did not know about their return to the US.
On Dec. 25 1988, Revell stated on CBS-TV "Face the Nation" that the CIA Beirut station Chief, namely Matt Gannon, had not been aboard Pan Am 103.
Soon after the shotdown of a CIA plane supplying the Contras in Nicaragua on Oct 5 1986, Oliver North warned Revell regarding the possible implications of an investigation.
"An FBI investigation of Southern Air Transport could blow the lid off secret US arms shipments to Iran," North wrote to Revell on Oct. 8 1986.
In the aftermath of the Helsinki warning, the son of Oliver Revell was rebooked off Pan Am 103.
In 1988, Flora Swire was engaged to Hart Lidov. Both were medical students. Flora was studying in the UK while Hart was attending a university in the US.
The two very much wanted to spend Christmas together but they were told that no seat was available either way.
Then, out of the blue, Flora was told that seats were available on pan Am 103 Dec. 21. On its ultimate journey, Pan Am 103, fully booked 48 hours earlier, counted no less than 165 empty seats.
"Who made the decision that the life of my daughter had less value than the one of others," asks Dr Swire. Twenty years later, the spokesperson is still awaiting answer to his question.
Post Scriptum
According to the manifest of the connecting flight from Cyprus to London, O Connor checked a single piece of luggage, a brown American Tourister suitcase. After the crash of Pan Am 103, his suitcase was recovered in a baggage room at Heathrow airport.
