I don't know, but you're convincing me that the entire Erac thing needs to be looked at more carefully. It's back to the timeline, which I was chewing over in a different thread.
It really does appear to be the Erac printout that is the crucial item of evidence which sent the focus of the case veering towards Libya. I realised this while reading Coleman, who of course has a different perspective because he's writing so early in the case, before everybody started obsessing about the timer fragment.
- Up to March 1989, everybody is very excited about the PFLP-GC connection, with arrests being expected and so on.
- Mid-March 1989, the alleged conversation between Thatcher and Bush, agreeing to play down that connection. However, at first there as no alternative theory put forward in its place.
- August 1989, the Frankfurt police finally hand over the Erac printout to the investigating authorities, complete with annotations and supporting documentation to suggest an unidentified bag has come through the system on to PA103A from KM180.
- September 1989, Scottish police visit Malta for the second time, to try to trace the purchaser of the "Made in Malta" items that were identified as probably having been in the bomb suitcase. (Their first visit, in March, was apparently fruitless, as similar items had been supplied to retailers all over Europe, however after the KM180 connection was proposed they went back to concentrate on retailers on Malta itself.)
- Almost immediately, with the help of the Maltese police, they were put in touch with Gauci, who told them about the mystery shopper, and volunteered that he believed the man to have been Libyan.
- Late September 1989 (I think), the first press reports in a French newspaper allege Libyan involvement.
- December 1989, the Sunday Times and other English papers have shifted their line from Syria to Libya.
- January 1990 (I think), the conference where Henderson doesn't reveal the mystery green fragment for general consideration, but mentions it to Marquise, who is quite miffed at the determination of the Scottish cops to "go it alone" on the identification.
- April 1990, the fragment's trip to Germany and the Siemens factory.
- June 1990, Thurman finally gets a gander at it and identifies it in no time flat.
So by this reckoning, the Erac printout is far more important that I had realised at first. It led to KM180, which led to Malta, which led to Gauci, who said "filthy Libyan pigs" or something like that. Nevertheless, the investigators still had nothing concrete to link it to Libya at this stage. That was where Giaka came in, and of course the MST-13 fragment.
Leaving aside the evidence of the red-circle photo (suggesting that the timer fragment was in the system in May 1989), this all looks quite neat.
All the initial evidence points to the PFLP-GC. Who are backed by Syria. Who were being paid by Iran to take revenge for the shooting down of the Airbus. The police are hot on the trail. But hey, we don't want to lock horns with Iran for some fairly major geo-political reasons. What's done's done, and it might be better just to let them get away with it.
And another thing, the plane that went down was being used by the DEA for a "controlled" drugs delivery as part of a sting operation to catch drug dealers in Detroit. We're kinda worried that the bomb was smuggled on board using that operation to circumvent security at Frankfurt, and it would be embarrassing to have to admit it was an "official blind eye" that allowed the plane to be sabotaged. We've already taken steps to bury all the baggage records from Frankfurt because of that' and we'd take it very kindly if you'd refrain from asking questions about it.
Oh, and it's more complicated that that. The controlled drugs deliveries were actually linked to negotiations for the release of the Beirut hostages. So we seriously don't want these questions asked.
This is March, OK?
Is it at all possible that the Frankfurt and Maltese police were in some way co-opted to provide that chain of evidence that would lead to Gauci and "filthy Libyan pigs"? I would just mention that Frankfurt is in the part of Germany that was under US control post WW2.
They've got five months to do it. According to Coleman (who isn't necessarily correct, but it's a start), all that was handed over by the Germans was the Erac printout, the handwritten worksheet from station 206, and a typewritten document. All neatly ready-annotated with the inference trail leading to KM180. Caustic Logic, do you think it's possible for the entire damn lot to have been fabricated, or at least the printout?
My reasoning is that the Malta connection exists already, in the labels on the clothing. If the imperative is to turn attention away from Frankfurt (it's already been turned away from Heathrow, from about week 1), then Malta might be a good place to focus on. (Especially if you don't know about Air Malta's tight security, and make the common assumption that a small carrier at a small provincial airport will probably have quite lax security provisions.)
Using that connection, we can then make a case for the clothes to have been manufactured on Malta (which we already know), bought on Malta, packed on Malta, and loaded on the plane in Malta. So nobody has to hang for a security breach at Frankfurt.
I know this ignores quite a bit - like, did Gauci really sell the clothes, and if not what's all this about regarding Abu Talb being there on 23rd November, and Gauci's photofit looking a bit like Abu Talb (Bollier says Giaka, but I'm taking that with the obligatory pinch of salt).
Well, I'm on a bit of a roll here. Abu Talb had a load of clothes of Maltese manufacture in his flat in Sweden. He said he was investigating a business plan to sell these clothes in Sweden. But you don't buy such clothes samples from a retailer like Gauci. Do we know where he got those clothes? Did anybody try to find out?
Suppose Jibril and his henchmen simply took some of Abu Talb's Maltese clothes samples for bomb packing. That's the real Maltese connection. And the whole, "well it was raining a bit, and the Christmas lights weren't up yet and my brother was watching the football" stuff was so much flim-flam.
I know I said I couldn't believe Gauci was capable of making this stuff up. And why would he? I also said I didn't see how the Erac printout could have been fabricated, with Mrs. Erac being wheeled on to give it authentic provenance.
I'm not exactly changing my mind, but I think there are legitimate questions to ask.
Rolfe.
