A dangerous world order
Since the Lockerbie air disaster in 1988, United States investigators have variously accused Iranian- and Syrian-based terrorists of responsibility for the crash of the Pan Am jumbo with the loss of 270 lives. Now, US and British investigators claim it was a group linked to the Libyan government, and have called for the arrest of two Libyans. Ominously, the announcement has been accompanied by US threats of sanctions and even military action against Libya.
Could this remarkable discovery, three years after the event, and supposedly based on examination of tiny fragments of an alleged bomb recovered in a search of 1200 square km of Scotland, have anything to do with the respective attitudes of the Syrian and Libyan governments in the Gulf War and the Middle East peace talks? Syrian dictator Hafiz Assad was an enthusiastic participant in the war against neighbouring Iraq, while Libyan leader Muammer Qadhafi advocated a peaceful settlement. It would certainly be less than grateful of the US authorities to continue blaming a Syrian group, and by implication the Syrian government.
For its part, the Libyan government has denied "any and all knowledge and association of the tragic Lockerbie incident", and challenged the US and Britain to "present any credible and concrete proof in a court of law".
The accusers of Libya theorise that the alleged bombing was in retaliation for the 1986 US air raids against Tripoli, which were conducted from British bases, and in which bombs dropped by 18 F-lll fighter-bombers destroyed suburban houses, killing 38 civilians and wounding several hundred more. Among the dead was an 18-month-old adopted daughter of the Libyan leader.
Another theory popular among "terrorism experts" is that the Lockerbie crash was in retaliation for the US Navy's downing of an Iranian passenger plane over the Gulf in 1987, with the loss of 290 lives.
Among the various theories, the experts seem united on one point: the Pan Am jumbo must have been bombed by Arabs. Being of dark complexion and mostly non-Christian, Arabs are a convenient target for military-government ideologists following the end of the Cold War.
Moreover, the US government has a long-standing grudge against Qadhafi. To start with, back in 1969 he ousted a US ally, King Idris, and then proceeded to kick out foreign military bases and force the international oil companies to pay fairer prices for Libyan oil. Since then, he has done much more to anger the US, including mass literacy and housing programs. The 1986 raids were supposed to kill him or at least bring about a change of government, yet he's still around five years later. All in all, the US government doesn't like Colonel Qadhafi one little bit, and it's itching to use its power to get rid of him.
As the inhabitants of East Timor also found in the past week, the New World Order is proving to be a dangerous one for the inhabitants of small, developing nations.