Real truth well hidden

The release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi seems to be coming down to who said what, when and where and claims that Gordon Brown, Mandelson and the rest are lying through their teeth.

Of course they are! They are politicians, lying is what they do. They know the flak will die down eventually when the public lose interest - remember MP's expenses - meanwhile Britain and the US, as well as the Scottish judiciary, have avoided what could have been a very embarrassing appeal which is a much more important story than politicians telling porkies.

The authorities have done everything they can to ensure documents and information about the case were kept secret - on the all-purpose excuse of security grounds - with Megrahi's lawyers having to chisel every word from a rockface of obstruction.

Once Megrahi had terminal cancer it looked as if the determined appeal stonewalling would outlast the appellant but after the courts ordered papers should be furnished to the defence then there was a chance that he might just survive long enough for the appeal to go ahead.

How convenient then that Megrahi should withdraw his appeal and surely it was mere coincidence he was released two days later.

The result is that we will now probably never be any nearer to knowing what happened to Pan Am flight 103 - which is what the authorities wanted all along.

The US have jumped up and down with hard line posturing about the release of a man who, until proved otherwise, killed 270 people. They forget that had the USS Vincennes not shot down Iran Air flight 655 in the Strait of Hormuz six months earlier, killing 290, then Lockerbie might well never have happened.

No one was ever prosecuted and 20 years on the USA has still to appologise.

Whether Megrahi was guilty or not the bombing was not a one man rogue operation. Someone or some country organised it, ordered it, planned it and carried it out The evidence against Megrahi never really stacked up but it looks as if that will now become the official version.

The release of Megrahi has virtually ensured that we will probably never get any nearer to the truth of what really happened and the relatives of the 270 who died deserved at least that.