(Diary of a Vengeance Foretold Part
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Velayati asked the United Nations Security Council to condemn the United States saying the downing "could not have been a mistake, was a criminal act, an atrocity and a massacre."
Velayati acquired his M.D. from University of Tehran and pediatrics degrees from the Johns Hopkins University in 1971 and 1974, respectively. He was the foreign minister of Iran for about 16 years (From December 15 1981 to August 20 1997), making him the longest-serving foreign minister in Iranian history. Velayati is the only high-ranking Iranian official who kept his post after the death of Khomeini.
Vice President Bush replied that the U.S.S. Vincennes had fired in self-defense. Bush has repeatedly stated that he would never apologize for the disaster no matter what the facts are.
Intelligence
Links between the PFLP-GC led by Ahmed Jibril and Iran became closer in December 1987. Ahmed Jibril and Ali Akbar Velayati met in Tripoli, Libya. During their meeting, Jibril conveyed to Velayati his support "for the Islamic Revolution". Soon after their meeting, the rhetoric of the PFLP-GC began to acquire an Islamic flavor the group had never used before.
In 1996, a high ranking Iranian defector named Mesbahi told German investigators that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini personally ordered the bombing of Pan Am 103 as an act of revenge for the downing of the Iranian airbus. Mesbahi also said that Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati had carried out the planning with Libya and guerrilla leader Abu Nidal.
Meanwhile, today July 13 1988, Khalid Jaafar keeps on orbiting the planet. Today, Khalid flies from Detroit to Chicago on UA159 and then from Chicago to Amman on RJA 313.
Back to the Present
On July 13 2008, Ben Borland, writing in the Sunday Express, revealed that Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, is set to be freed on a technicality because the Crown refuses to give to the defense a secret document believed to establish the innocence of the Libyan.
Earlier this year, arguing that it would be very harmful to UK national interest, Foreign Secretary David Miliband signed a Public Interest Immunity certificate to prevent its content being revealed.
If the judges were to rule that the document should remain classified, as many insiders now allege, the Lord Advocate Eilish Angiolini will have little choice but to free Megrahi because he cannot have a fair appeal.
“If the court says this document can’t be released in the normal way to the defense, then it is distinctly possible the Lord Advocate will say, if it cannot be seen that this appeal process is fair and open, it is better to say we will no longer oppose this appeal. Not because we believe Mr Megrahi is innocent, but because the appeal cannot be seen to be fair,” argues Pr. Black, best known as the architect of the Lockerbie trial
According to Borland, the document is reportedly "a German intelligence debriefing of an Iranian defector, who claimed Tehran paid a Palestinian terror cell to carry out the bombing, after the US accidentally shot down an Iranian passenger jet, in 1988." [1]
NOTES AND REFERENCES
1. OMNI identified that document earlier this year.
See - OhmyNews Identifies Secret Lockerbie Document
U.S. and Iran in Angry Exchange, But Agree to Help Airbus Inquiry - July 14, 1988
Bush to Speak At U.N. Debate On Iran's Plane - July 14, 1988
Why Cruiser's Captain Made Wrong Choice - July 14, 1988
