May 20 2010
Gerson and Adler’s book mentions a meeting, in late 1989 or 1990, where the President’s Commision on Aviation Security and Terrorism (PCAST) met with family members of Flight 103 victims to hear their questions. Of the 26 items they tallied from the session, five were grouped under the heading “Trafficant/Mossad allegations,” referring to Mossad poseur Juval Aviv, godfather of the drug swap theory, and Representative James Trafficant (D-OH). [1 p 65/66]
Trafficant, a boisterous Conservative populist, has been the loudest congressional critic of the official story on Lockrbie and, as far as I can tell, the only such critic. He was previously known as a conspiracy theorist (JFK, etc.), Israel critic, pro-life but pro-labor, advocate against the income tax, etc. Representaive Trafficant remained loved by many in Ohio for his bold stands and trademark one-minute speeches, usually punctuated with the sci-fi reference “beam me up.” [2]
An interesting 1992 article in New York magazine highlighted the role of LaRouche affiliates in helping Juval Aviv and Pan Am’s insurers to leak their CIA-implicating “secret” report to Rep. Trafficant According to author Christopher Byron, a man named Marchetti handed the file over, and on November 3, less than a month after it was finished, Mr. Trafficant was holding a press conference, “and began waving around several pages of the report while railing that the CIA was behind the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.” [3]
Aviv’s report is clearly a work of dubious or negative value, and Trafficant’s failure to catch that is not to his credit. His questioning of the official story remained based in large part on acceptance of the long-running hoax of the “drug swap theory,” as in another one-minute speech from October 2000, mentioning “an original Mossad report” about “a drug run from Frankfurt to New York” that “embarrasses the CIA.” [4] But he did make these spot-on observations:
”Mr. Speaker, the star witness in the Pan Am 103 trial turns out to be a paid CIA informant who lied through his teeth. […] The families of the victims deserve the truth. […] if these two Libyans were responsible for blowing up Pan Am 103, they [would] have already choked on a chicken bone in a jail cell of Qadhafi's.” [4]
Compared to the legislators mentioned in part one and their safe mainstream approach, this pompadour-toupeed self-described “jackass” is something of the opposite – full of rebellion and short on congressional survival skills. His ways left him awkwardly ostracized by both parties by the end of the 1990s. When Trafficant was jailed in 2002 for tax problems, bribery and racketeering, and making aides do chores for him, he was also expelled from Congress almost unanimously. Only Gary Condit, himself saddled with even graver accusations later dismissed, voted to keep Trafficant. [2] His transponder overridden, he would not be beamed up this time.
Unlike most congressional offenders, Rep Trafficant served seven actual years and wasn’t released until September 2 2009 - thus serving a sentence almost concurrent with “Lockerbie bomber” Megrahi’s. He’s since been speaking on the radio and at Tea Parties, against Washington’s Isreal slant, and considering seeking his old seat to pursue his agenda, like targeting the 16th amendment. [2] As a dissident voice I may not agree with, I welcome Mr. Trafficat’s return to the stage. But on Lockerbie, he’s no Tam Dalyell, and a champion of dubious PR value.
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Next, part three: Refusing Fuisz
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Sources:
[1] Gerson, Allan and Jerry Adler. The Price of Terror: Lessons of Lockerbie for a World on the Brink. New York, Harper Collins, 2001. First edition. 302 pages. pp 65-66
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Traficant
[3] Christopher Byron "The LaRouche Connection." NY Mag October 5 1992 p 24/25 (Via Google Books)
[4] http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=21107
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