Colonel Gaddafi And Megari Wear Lockerbie Kilts At 40th Anniversary Show, Pictures
LOCKERBIE: Did Gordon Brown sanction Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi release and return to Libya in exchange for oil? And did a kilted Colonel Gaddafi thanks Scotland at his 40th anniversary do? Anorak looks back at Gaddafi’s life and at the current mess.
IN Libya, locals are celebrating Colonel Gaddafi’s celebration of 40 years in power. A video clip showing Megrahi stepping off a plane from Scotland to a hero’s welcome is played on a giant screen in Tripoli.
The British media is shocked that such an event should feature in Gaddafi’s anniversary celebrations. So what should be included?
Other highlights of Gaddafi’s 40 years in power:
1969 – A 27-year-old Gaddafi topples King Idris I in a farting contest, having eaten only falafal for seventeen days previously.
1974 – Gaddafi muses on which is the superior: a horsehair or palm leaf fly-swatter. Libya’s first democratic vote is curtailed when the palm leaf nails a huge blue bottle.
1977 – Gaddafi invented a system called the “Jamahiriya” or “state of the masses”, in which power is held by thousands of “peoples’ committees”, each answerable to the Supreme Committee, overseen by Colonel Gaddafi. The committees begin work on designing a new people’s horse, which comes to be known as a camel.
1981 – The UN debates on the correct spelling of Gaddafi. To simplify matters, all Libyans take on an official variant as their committee name.Variant include: Qadaffi, Qadafi, Qadhdhafi,Gadaffi, Qadaffi, Qadhafi, Khadafy, Qaddhafi, Qaddafi, Gaddafi, Kaddafi, Qaddhafi, Qadhafi, Quathafi, Khadafy, Ghadafi’s and Gaddafi Duck.
1986 – US soldiers are targeted in a Berlin disco attack, and three are killed. The US bombs Tripoli and Benghazi, killing dozens. Gaddafi’s anniversary gig features the action in the form of a tickling contest.
1988 – 270 people killed in bombing of Pan Am jet over Lockerbie. At the parade, 270 mannequins in kilts and T-shirts bearing the legend The Jews Did It are pulled along in a papier mache plane piloted by Mr Megari earing an official PanAm oxygen mask. British dimplomats express “disappointment”.
1997 – At a meeting of tabloid editors it is found that every picture of Colonel Gaddafi can be captioned “who farted?”.
2003 – Tripoli take responsibility for the bombing of a Pan Am plane over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. The entire city is locked up and the key thrown away.
2003 – Months later, Col Gadaffi’s regime abandoned efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction, triggering a fuller rapprochement with the West. The gargantuan Fan is mothballed and Libyans ordered to stop harvesting their flatulance
2008 – Gaddafi picks up the Golden Globe for his part in The Wrestler. Mickey Rourke named President of Africa.
2009 – Reverts to horsehair swatter.
2010 – Stars on Celebrity Big Brother
Meanwhile the papers are awash with news of Libya:
Guardian (front page): “Revealed: PM’s Role in release of Megari”
The Indy (front page): “Brown ‘did not want Megari to die in Britain’”
Daily Telegraph (front page): “Bown’s ‘double dealing’ over Lockerbie”
So says David Cameron.
The Times (front page): “Lockerbie paper trail leads to Gordon Brown”
The Sun (front page): “Brown ‘backed release’”
As Lord Mandelson put it when it was put to him that there was a deal done: “It’s not only completely wrong to make such a suggestion it’s also quite offensive”.
Prepare to be offended.
And the Daily Mirror – the pro-Labour Party Daily Mirror…? Well it leads with Jaycee Garrido and the Rape of Jordan.
As for the truth as to whether or not Gordon Brown sanctioned Megari’s release, well, that is whatever you want it to be.
Sky News:
David Miliband said the then-foreign minister Bill Rammell was right to tell the Libyans the Government was not “actively seeking” Abdelbaset Al Megrahi’s death in jail. Mr Miliband said Mr Rammell was asked if Gordon Brown or the Foreign Secretary wanted Megrahi to pass away in captivity “and the answer is no we didn’t want him to die in a Scottish prison“.
Last night, Mr Rammell said: “I did say that, but we need to put it in context. I was making it emphatically clear that this was a decision for Scottish ministers.”
Smell that? Anorak was right.
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Farting, With Paris Hilton And Barack Obama
What The Lockerbie Bomber May Yet Tell
Gaddafi Is Africa’s King Of Kings
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrah, Alex Salmon And Tony Blair’s Stink
The Day The World Shook
Posted: 2nd, September 2009 | In: Key Posts, Politicians Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
