The Truth About Libya’s Musa Kusa: How The 270 Were Betrayed
MOUSSA Koussa, aka Musa Kusa – crazy name, crazy guy – has defected from Colonel Gaddafi’s Libya. He is the former Libyan Foreign Minister now living in the UK in a secret location.
The media looks at a defector wanted by police in connection with the Lockerbie bombing and the murder of Pc Yvonne Fletcher.
A short bio:
Kusa, 61, is widely suspected of masterminding a string of terror attacks. He was a high-ranking leader in Libya’s notorious “external security bureau”, the Mathaba, which has been repeatedly linked to the 270 murders at Lockerbie.
It’s believed he was also behind the bombing of a French jet that killed 170 people in 1989, as well as a 1986 blast at a German disco that killed two American servicemen and a woman from Turkey.
And many believe he knows who killed WPC Yvonne Fletcher, gunned down in 1984 by two assassins firing from inside the Libyan Embassy in London.
Kusa was himself de facto ambassador to Britain in 1979 and 1980. But he was kicked out after openly backing the IRA – and announcing plans to murder two Libyan dissidents on British soil.
The IRA Years:
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Undated handouts of victims of the Omagh bombing. They are (top row, from the left) 12-year-old James Barker, Esther Gibson, Sean McGrath, Gareth Conway, Elizabeth Rush, Fred White, Lorraine Wilson and (bottom row, from the left) Veda Short, Alan Radford, Bryan White, Brenda Logue, Deborah Cartwright, Geraldine Breslin, and Oran Doherty.
The Nicknames:
Branded a “superstar of terrorism” and “envoy of death”, the list of atrocities linked to Libyan Musa Kusa send shivers down the spine. Described as the “black box recorder” of the regime…
The Cowardly Old Man:
Libyan spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said Mr Kusa had permission to go to Tunisia as he was sick with diabetes and high blood pressure, but the regime was surprised to learn he had flown to London.
“People are saying ‘So what? If someone wants to step down that’s his decision’,” Mr Ibrahim said. “He is tired and exhausted. He is an old man. His heart and body cannot take the pressure.”
He Fled Us To Be With Us:
A senior Whitehall source said of Kusa, 62: “He came over because he thought we were going to bomb him. It was quite simple. He was scared and acted out of self-preservation.”
The Money:
MUSA Kusa’s interrogation will last from two to three years as MI5 officers ¬painstakingly squeeze every bit of ¬information they can from him.
But it may be well worth it to him, clinching a huge financial deal and a safe haven here or possibly in the US.
One source told the Daily Mirror that it was highly likely a secret Cabinet committee meeting in a few years would agree a package for him, perhaps worth several million pounds. But whatever his demands, no promises or even a hint of an offer will be made to him for at least six months.
He’s One Of Us, says Paul Pillar:
But I think his decision reflects more than just a calculation of odds about the outcome of the current Libyan civil war. Kusa is an urbane, polished man who would not look out of place as a minister or ambassador in the service of a western government. He has a western education, in the form of a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University. He is not the image of a revolutionary or a subversive; he comes across as a polite and pragmatic diplomat. Whatever thuggish history may be in his past, it is hard to picture him as representing the current thuggish elements of the Libyan regime. In this moment of trial, anguish, and uncertainty, probably something inside told him that he belongs in the west.
The Immunity:
In his statement Mr Hague said:
His resignation shows that Qadhafi’s regime, which has already seen significant defections to the opposition, is fragmented, under pressure and crumbling from within. Qadhafi must be asking himself who will be the next to abandon him.
We reiterate our call for Qadhafi to go. Musa Kusa is not being offered any immunity from British or international justice.
Who now speaks for the 270 people murdered at Lockerbie?
Frank Duggan, president of the Victims of Pan Am 103 group, said: “He should not be treated as a witness but as part of the criminal enterprise that brought down the plane.”
“He knows who ordered it, who made the bomb, who paid for it, who transported it to Malta and how it was put on the plane. He knows the details of (bomber) Megrahi’s release from the Scottish prison, including the role of the British officials,” he said.
Jim Swire’s daughter Flora was killed in the mass murder:
Mr Swire, who met Mr Kusa during a visit to Libya in 1991, described Mr Kusa as “extremely frightening. More frightening than Gaddafi himself”. He said: “He was clearly running things. If Libya was involved in Lockerbie, he can tell us how they carried out the atrocity and why. I would be appalled if by now the Scottish police are not in England interviewing Mr Kusa. It is a great day for us.”
We’re the good guys:
But Mr Cameron hailed the defection of Kusa as a ‘serious blow’ to the ‘crumbling and rotten Gaddafi regime’.
Change the words around and you get:
But Mr Gaddafi hailed the defection of Kusa as a ‘serious blow’ to the ‘crumbling and rotten Cameron regime’.
That’s hard on Cameron. The difference between democratic Britain and Libya is that the Tony Blair-led Labour administration that fixed it for Abdel Basset al-Megrahi to escape justice and live out his days in freedom has gone. But the overriding message remains unaltered if the British Government does not get justice for the 270 and continues to lie and connive to sacrifice truth for money.
Says Cameron:
“Let me be clear, Musa Kusa is not being granted immunity, there is no deal of that kind. The point I would make about the dreadful events over Lockerbie, that investigation is still open and the police and the prosecuting authorities are entirely independent of Government and they should follow their evidence wherever it leads and the Government will assist them in any way possible.”
THEY WANT JUSTICE!
Susan Cohen, 72, of Cape May, New Jersey, who lost her 20-year-old daughter Theodora in the bombing, added: “He should go to jail, he has to be put on trial and he has to see justice. Britain has to take responsibility for this guy and do the right thing. This time Britain has to mean it.”
Tory MP Robert Halfon adds:
“I think what has happened is comparable to Rudolf Hess coming here during the Second World War. The fact is that this man is most likely a war criminal, allegedly been responsible for the deaths of British citizens, allegedly the organiser of the Lockerbie bombing. He needs to go to the international court to face trials for war crimes. There’s no way the British taxpayer should be subsidising one of Gaddafi’s henchmen to live in the UK.”
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Undated file photo of Jonathan Waxman one of three doctors whose opinion was paid for by the Libyan government to assess the health of the Lockerbie bomber and was not considered by the Scottish Justice Secretary when he made his decision to free him on compassionate grounds, the Scottish Government said.
Posted: 1st, April 2011 | In: Politicians Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
