Malaysia Air 370 starting to sound like EgyptAir 990
All week, we have been hearing comparisons between Malaysia Air 370, which disappeared over the South China Sea last Friday night, and Pan Am 103, Air India 182 (which both had bombs on board) and Air France 447 (which exploded suddenly in mid-air, but was apparently not bombed). But it's now being reported that the plane may have flown for 'hours' well off course, something none of those planes did.
Military radar-tracking evidence suggests a Malaysia Airlines jetliner
missing for nearly a week was deliberately flown across the Malay
peninsula towards the Andaman Islands, sources familiar with the
investigation told Reuters on Friday.
Two sources said an unidentified aircraft that investigators believe was
Flight MH370 was following a route between navigational waypoints -
indicating it was being flown by someone with aviation training - when
it was last plotted on military radar off the country's northwest coast.
The last plot on the military radar's tracking suggested the plane was
flying toward India's Andaman Islands, a chain of isles between the
Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal, they said.
Waypoints are geographic locations, worked out by calculating longitude
and latitude, that help pilots navigate along established air corridors.
A third source familiar with the investigation said inquiries were
focusing increasingly on the theory that someone who knew how to fly a
plane deliberately diverted the flight, with 239 people on board,
hundreds of miles off its intended course from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
"What we can say is we are looking at sabotage, with hijack still on the
cards," said that source, a senior Malaysian police official.
...
Malaysian police have previously said they were investigating whether
any passengers or crew had personal or psychological problems that might
shed light on the mystery, along with the possibility of a hijacking,
sabotage or mechanical failure.
The comments by the three sources are the first clear indication that
foul play is the main focus of official suspicions in the Boeing 777's
disappearance.
As a result of the new evidence, the sources said, multinational search
efforts were being stepped up in the Andaman Sea and also the Indian
Ocean.
...
The fact that the aircraft - if it was MH370 - had lost contact with air
traffic control and was invisible to civilian radar suggested someone
aboard had turned its communication systems off, the first two sources
said.
They also gave new details on the direction in which the unidentified
aircraft was heading - following aviation corridors identified on maps
used by pilots as N571 and P628. These routes are taken by commercial
planes flying from Southeast Asia to the Middle East or Europe and can
be found in public documents issued by regional aviation authorities.
In a far more detailed description of the military radar plotting than
has been publicly revealed, the first two sources said the last
confirmed position of MH370 was at 35,000 feet about 90 miles (144 km)
off the east coast of Malaysia, heading towards Vietnam, near a
navigational waypoint called "Igari". The time was 1:21 a.m.
The military track suggests it then turned sharply westwards, heading
towards a waypoint called "Vampi", northeast of Indonesia's Aceh
province and a navigational point used for planes following route N571
to the Middle East.
From there, the plot indicates the plane flew towards a waypoint called
"Gival", south of the Thai island of Phuket, and was last plotted
heading northwest towards another waypoint called "Igrex", on route P628
that would take it over the Andaman Islands and which carriers use to
fly towards Europe.
The time was then 2:15 a.m. That's the same time given by the air force
chief on Wednesday, who gave no information on that plane's possible
direction.
The sources said Malaysia was requesting raw radar data from neighbors
Thailand, Indonesia and India, which has a naval base in the Andaman
Islands.
To me, this is beginning to sound like EgyptAir 990.
At 0147:55, the relief first officer stated, "Look, here's the new first officer's pen. Give it to him please. God spare you,"9
and, at 0147:58, someone responded, "yeah." At 0148:03, the command
captain stated, "Excuse me, [nickname for relief first officer], while I
take a quick trip to the toilet...before it gets crowded. While they
are eating, and I'll be back to you." While the command captain was
speaking, the relief first officer responded, "Go ahead please," and the
CVR recorded the sound of an electric seat motor as the captain
maneuvered to leave his seat and the cockpit. At 0148:18.55, the CVR
recorded a sound similar to the cockpit door operating. At 0148:30, about 11 seconds after the captain left the cockpit, the CVR recorded an unintelligible comment.10 Ten seconds later (about 0148:40), the relief first officer stated quietly, "I rely on God."11
There were no sounds or events recorded by the flight recorders that
would indicate that an airplane anomaly or other unusual circumstance
preceded the relief first officer's statement, "I rely on God." At
0149:18, the CVR recorded the sound of an electric seat motor. FDR data
indicated that, at 0149:45 (27 seconds later), the autopilot was
disconnected.12
Aside from the very slight movement of both elevators (the left
elevator moved from about a 0.7° to about a 0.5° nose-up deflection, and
the right elevator moved from about a 0.35° nose-up to about a 0.3°
nose-down deflection)13
and the airplane's corresponding slight nose-down pitch change, which
were recorded within the first second after autopilot disconnect, and a
very slow (0.5° per second) left roll rate, the airplane remained
essentially in level flight about FL 330 for about 8 seconds after the
autopilot was disconnected. At 0149:48, the relief first officer again
stated quietly, "I rely on God." At 0149:53, the throttle levers were
moved from their cruise power setting to idle, and, at 0149:54, the FDR
recorded an abrupt nose-down elevator movement and a very slight
movement of the inboard ailerons. Subsequently, the airplane began to
rapidly pitch nose down and descend. Between 0149:57 and 0150:05, the relief first officer quietly repeated, "I rely on God," seven additional times.14 During this time, as a result of the nose-down elevator movement, the airplane's load factor15 decreased from about 1 to about 0.2 G.16
Between 0150:04 and 0150:05 (about 10 to 11 seconds after the initial
nose-down movement of the elevators), the FDR recorded additional,
slightly larger inboard aileron movements, and the elevators started
moving further in the nose-down direction. Immediately after the FDR
recorded the increased nose-down elevator movement, the CVR recorded the
sounds of the captain asking loudly (beginning at 0150:06), "What's
happening? What's happening?," as he returned to the cockpit. The
airplane's load factor decreased further as a result of the increased
nose-down elevator deflection, reaching negative G loads (about -0.2 G)
between 0150:06 and 0150:07. During this time (and while the captain was
still speaking [at 0150:07]), the relief first officer stated for the
tenth time, "I rely on God." Additionally, the CVR transcript indicated
that beginning at 0150:07, the CVR recorded the "sound of numerous
thumps and clinks," which continued for about 15 seconds. According
to the CVR and FDR data, at 0150:08, as the airplane exceeded its
maximum operating airspeed (0.86 Mach), a master warning alarm began to
sound. (The warning continued until the FDR and CVR stopped recording at
0150:36.64 and 0150:38.47, respectively.)17
Also at 0150:08, the relief first officer stated quietly for the
eleventh and final time, "I rely on God," and the captain repeated his
question, "What's happening?" At 0150:15, the captain again asked,
"What's happening, [relief first officer's first name]? What's
happening?" At this time, as the airplane was descending through about
27,300 feet msl, the FDR recorded both elevator surfaces beginning to
move in the nose-up direction. Shortly thereafter, the airplane's rate
of descent began to decrease.18
At 0150:21, about 6 seconds after the airplane's rate of descent began
to decrease, the left and right elevator surfaces began to move in
opposite directions; the left surface continued to move in the nose-up
direction, and the right surface reversed its motion and moved in the
nose-down direction. The FDR data
indicated that the engine start lever switches for both engines moved
from the run to the cutoff position between 0150:21 and 0150:23.19
Between 0150:24 and 0150:27, the throttle levers moved from their idle
position to full throttle, the speedbrake handle moved to its fully
deployed position, and the left elevator surface moved from a 3º nose-up
to a 1º nose-up position, then back to a 3º nose-up position.20
During this time, the CVR recorded the captain asking, "What is this?
What is this? Did you shut the engine(s)?" Also, at 0150:26.55, the
captain stated, "Get away in the engines,"21 and, at 0150:28.85, the captain stated, "shut the engines." At 0150:29.66, the relief first officer stated, "It's shut." Between
0150:31 and 0150:37, the captain repeatedly stated, "Pull with me."
However, the FDR data indicated that the elevator surfaces remained in a
split condition (with the left surface commanding nose up and the right
surface commanding nose down) until the FDR and CVR stopped recording
at 0150:36.64 and 0150:38.47, respectively. (The last transponder
[secondary radar] return from the accident airplane was received at the
radar site at Nantucket, Massachusetts, at 0150:34.)22[Footnote links may not work. CiJ]
As
some of you may recall, after the NTSB investigation, the Egyptians
continued to deny that the co-pilot had committed suicide and would not
accept the NTSB report.
Could it be - that someone commandeered Malaysia Air 370 and crashed it somewhere where there is no radar? (EgyptAir 990 at least crashed where there was radar so it was found relatively quickly).
Iranian ex-spy: Khomeni ordered Pan Am 103 attack as revenge
A former Iranian spy who has defected to Germany claims that Ayatollah Khomeni ordered the 1988 bombing attack on Pan Am Flight 103, which blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland, as revenge for the (accidental) downing of an Iranian airliner by the United States.
Let's go to the videotape.
The Lockerbie bombing was ordered by Iran and carried out by a Syrian-based terrorist group, a former Iranian intelligence officer has admitted.
Abolghassem Mesbahi, a defector to Germany, said Pan Am flight 103 was downed in 1988 in retaliation for a US Navy strike on an Iranian commercial jet six months earlier, in which 290 people died.
He claims the Ayatollah Khomeini, who was Iran’s Supreme Leader, ordered the bombing “to copy exactly what happened to the Iranian Airbus”.
Previously unseen evidence gathered for the aborted appeal hearing of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the former Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the bombing, supports Mr Mesbahi’s claim and suggests that the bombers belonged to the extremist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC).
Documents obtained by Al Jazeera television for a documentary called Lockerbie: What Really Happened? name key individuals said to be involved in the bombing, including the alleged bomb-maker, the alleged mastermind and the man who may have put the bomb on the doomed Boeing 747.
'Palestinians' commissioned by Gadhafi carried out Lockerbie bombing?
Saturday will mark 25 years since a suitcase with a bomb brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 passengers and 11 people on the ground. Now, a senior Israeli security source has told the Times of Israel that the attack was carried out by Ahmed Jabril's Popular Front for the Liberation of 'Palestine' - General Command. At the behest of Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi.
The Israeli source, who spoke to The Times of
Israel on condition of anonymity, said Israel was “listening in” during
the months prior to the December 21, 1988 bombing on preparations for
what “we thought was a plan to target an Israeli plane” and that it was
“clear that Jibril prepared the operation.”
The comments came ahead of Saturday’s 25th
anniversary of the worst terrorist attack ever carried out on British
territory, and the worst terror attack on American civilians with the
exception of 9/11. The anniversary is prompting another slew of
conspiracy theories as to who was responsible.
The Israeli source did not dispute that Col.
Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya, which in 2003 accepted responsibility for the
bombing and paid compensation to victims’ families, had commissioned the
attack. And he said that while an Iranian role made sense, Israel had
found no proof of Iranian involvement. (Iran, a prime orchestrator of
international terrorism, had pledged to avenge the July 1988 accidental
downing by the USS Vincennes of Iran Air Flight 655 in the Persian Gulf,
with the loss of all 290 people on board.)
Several Israeli prime ministers and former
heads of the Mossad intelligence service have told this reporter over
the years that it is their belief that the Libyans instigated the
bombing.
The source, who was a senior figure in the Israeli military intelligence
hierarchy at the time of the Lockerbie blast, said there was a “huge
alert” in the Israeli security establishment in the months before the
bombing, because of indications that the PFLP-GC was about to strike.
“We told the British and the Americans what we knew, which was that
there was an intention to hit an Israeli plane,” he said. “We didn’t
warn about a British or an American plane because we didn’t know that,”
he said.
His brother Abdulhakim said on Sunday that Megrahi's health had deteriorated quickly and he died at home in Tripoli.
He told the AFP news agency that Megrahi died at 13:00 local time (11:00 GMT).
The BBC's Rana Jawad, who is outside Megrahi's home in Tripoli, says family members are making preparations to receive guests paying their condolences.
Last month, Megrahi's son said his father had been taken to hospital for blood transfusions.
...
There have been calls for him to be returned to jail in the UK or tried in the US.
But shortly after they toppled Colonel Gaddafi, Libyan rebel leaders said they would not extradite Megrahi or any other Libyan.
Our correspondent says that since the fall of Gaddafi, more Libyans are expressing the view that whatever happened at Lockerbie was bigger than just Megrahi, and he may have been used as a scapegoat by the regime.
In his last interview, filmed in December 2011, Megrahi said: "I am an innocent man. I am about to die and I ask now to be left in peace with my family."
He had previously claimed he would release new information about the atrocity but little new has emerged.
Megrahi had rarely been seen since his return to Tripoli, but he was spotted on Libyan television at what appeared to be a pro-government rally in July 2011.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said the public appearance confirmed that a "great mistake" was made in releasing him from jail.
Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is still alive
Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is still alive and still giving interviews. He's also still claiming his innocence - or at least that reports of his guilt are exaggerated.
Let's go to the videotape.
This guy is becoming the antidote to 'Generalisimo Franco is still dead.'And every time he appears on television like this, he makes the British and Scottish authorities who released him look like even bigger fools.
CNN finds Lockerbie bomber 'comatose and near death'
CNN reports that it has found Lockerbie bomber Abdelbasset Megrahi in Tripoli, Libya, but that the mass murderer's family claims that he is 'comatose and near death.'
The cancer-stricken former Libyan intelligence officer may be the last man alive who knows precisely who in the Libya government authorized the 1989 bombing which killed 270 people, CNN noted.
Libyan rebels are refusing to extradite Pan Am 103 bomber Abdelbasset Megrahi. Once again, it's claimed that he's dying.
With the recent overthrow of longtime Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, politicians on both sides of the Atlantic have called for al-Megrahi to be sent back to prison.
But the National Transitional Council, the rebel movement that toppled Gadhafi, announced Sunday that it won't allow the dying al-Megrahi to be extradited.
"We will not give any Libyan citizen to the West," NTC Justice Minister Mohammed al-Alagi said.
Al-Megrahi lived far longer than expected. He made a public appearance with now-fugitive Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi in July, confined to a wheelchair. He always maintained his innocence.
With the fall of Tripoli to the rebels, his care has been left up to his son and his mother.
"There is no doctor. There is nobody to ask. We don't have any phone line to call anybody," Elmegarhi said.
After the last time, why should anyone believe this?
One of the worst moments of the last years of Muammar Gadhafi's reign was the return to Libya of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbasset al-Megrahi.
Al-Megrahi was released from prison on 'compassionate' grounds by Scotland. Those compassionate grounds turned out to have more to do with British oil interests than with how much time al-Megrahi had left to live. Al-Megrahi, who allegedly had less than three months left, is still alive two years later, and appeared on television with Gadhafi at a rally last month.
Here's US Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) in December 2010, talking about the false pretenses that led to al-Megrahi's release.
A US Congressional inquiry into the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbasset al-Megrahi says there was strong political pressure on the Scottish government to free him.
It also casts doubt on the competence of the doctors who examined Megrahi.
"Commercial and economic considerations trumped... our global fight against terrorism," said Senator Bob Menendez.
...
The senators' report states that Scottish authorities examining the former Libyan intelligence officer relied on "false" and "flawed" medical prognosis that may have been influenced by a doctor hired by the Libyan government.
Mr Menendez, along with three other senators, launched the investigation after officials from Scotland, the UK and BP did not testify at a Senate foreign relations committee hearing, he was scheduled to chair in July.
"This was a case in which commercial and economic considerations trumped the message of our global fight against terrorism," said Mr Menendez.
He added: "We have to make it impossible that anything like this injustice takes place again."
Mr Menendez is set to unveil the report - Justice Undone: The Release of the Lockerbie Bomber - at a news conference in Washington on Tuesday.
There's a different video at that link which I could not embed. But here's a Scottish video that discusses the story.
Let's go to the videotape.
Today, with Gadhafi having been deposed, Michael Rubin says it's time to put Megrahi back where he belongs.
Well, Megrahi is still alive, in a wheelchair but well enough to have been shown on Libyan television attending a pro-Qaddafi rally just last month. If Obama was sincere in his regret [of Megrahi's release], perhaps the time is right to seize Megrahi and finally win justice for the American victims of Lockerbie.
The odds of Obama ordering Megrahi's arrest without the consent of both Britain and NATO (if not the UN as well) are not good. But if we're really lucky, maybe he'll ask the British or the Scottish to do the job for him. That's leading from behind.
Lockerbie bomber Abdulbasset al-Megrahi, who was released nearly two years ago on the grounds that he was 'dying' and would be dead in three months, appeared on Libyan television on Wednesday night at a rally for Muammar Gadhafi.
Let's go to the videotape.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague has admitted that the 'evidence' that led to Megrahi's release was 'worthless.'
THE medical advice which led to the release of the Lockerbie bomber has been shown to be "pretty much worthless", William Hague said as he re-opened the row over the decision to free Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi two years ago. The Foreign Secretary was responding to fresh video footage taken of Megrahi attending what appeared to be a government rally in support of Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi earlier this week.
Mr Hague said the footage showed once again that the decision to let the bomber free was "a great mistake", as US relatives of the Lockerbie victims said they were "outraged" by the sight of Megrahi being used as a propaganda tool.
But the man who ordered Megrahi released still thinks it was the right thing to do.
But Mr MacAskill stood by his decision yesterday. "Colonel Gaddafi is an evil man. We condemn him out of hand. It is for the British government to explain why they have been doing deals in the desert with him. Our position is that we abhor him. Mr Megrahi was released because he has got prostate cancer and is terminally ill."
The British government recognized the Libyan rebels as the legitimate government of Libya on Wednesday.
British cabinet minister: Maybe we ought to get rid of Gadhafi after all
With Barack Hussein Obama having no appetite for leadership, British Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has awoken to the reality that - despite the lack of a UN mandate to get rid of him - leaving Muammar Gadhafi in power would not be a wise thing to do.
Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi could stage a Lockerbie-style attack in revenge for coalition air strikes if he is left in power, Justice Secretary Ken Clarke said in an interview Friday.
Clarke, who is also Lord Chancellor, told the Guardian newspaper that there was still uncertainty in the government about the direction of the Libyan campaign.
"We do have one particular interest in the Maghreb (North Africa), which is Lockerbie," Clarke said, referring to the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988, which killed 270 people.
"The British people have reason to remember the curse of Kadhafi -- Kadhafi back in power, the old Kadhafi looking for revenge, we have a real interest in preventing that."
There are two problems with this entire operation: First, that no one has established any clear goals for it, and second, that it has made itself dependent on the approval of a United Nations body in which Russia and China have veto power.
Germany's Angela Merkel (who refused to bring her country into this leaderless coalition for the party) is looking wiser by the day.
If I were President of the United States.... No, I'm not President of the United States, and the current President won't do anything - particularly in Libya - without asking permission from the 'international community,' but if I were President of the United States, I would do send Special Forces to Libya to do two things. The second is actually more important than the first:
1. Kill Muammar Gadhafi (and that's not because I support the Libyan opposition, but because he is the scum of the earth).
2. Kidnap Abdelbaset al-Megrahi - the Pan Am 103 bomber who was released by the Brits - and bring him back to the United States to spend the rest of his life rotting in prison.
Libyan ex-minister: Gadhafi ordered the Lockerbie bombing
Libya's ex-Justice Minister has told the Swedish newspaper Expressen that Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi ordered the bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi personally ordered the Lockerbie bombing in 1988, former justice minister Mustapha Abdeljalil told Swedish daily Expressen, the paper reported on its website Wednesday.
"I have proof that Kadhafi gave the order on Lockerbie," said the minister, who stepped down Monday to protest the ongoing violence in Libya.
Libyan national Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi was in 2001 convicted of the bombing of Pan AM Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988 that killed 270 people, most of them Americans.
But Scottish authorities, who have power over their own judicial affairs, released Megrahi, 58, on compassionate grounds in August 2009 after doctors said he was suffering from terminal cancer and had three months to live.
His release and subsequent hero's return to Tripoli drew a furious response from many, and outrage in the United States has been stoked by the fact that he remains alive almost a year and a half after his release.
According to Abdeljalil, Kadhafi "ordered Megrahi to do it (the bombing)," and had worked hard to secure his release to ensure that his role in the plot remained secret.
"To hide it, he did everything in his power to get Megrahi back from Scotland," the former minister said.
Expressen said its reporter Kassem Hamade, who is currently in Libya, had conducted a 40-minute interview with Abdeljalil at "the local parliament in a large city."
After what's gone on in Libya for the past week, does anyone doubt that Gadhafi is capable of ordering a plane blown up?
US knew British ministers advised Libya on 'compassionate release' for Lockerbie bomber
A Wikileaks cable discloses that a British government minister advised Libya on how to obtain the 'compassionate release' of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, and that the United States was aware of that advice.
A Foreign Office minister sent Libyan officials detailed legal advice on how to use Abdelbaset al-Megrahi’s cancer diagnosis to ensure he was released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds.
The Duke of York is also said to have played a behind-the-scenes role in encouraging the terrorist’s release.
The Libyans closely followed the advice which led to the controversial release of Megrahi – who was convicted of the murder of 270 passengers on Pan Am Flight 103 – within months of the Foreign Office’s secret intervention.
The disclosure seriously undermines British Government claims that is was not complicit in the release of al-Megrahi, and that the decision to free the convicted terrorist was taken by the Scottish Executive alone.
It will also lead to renewed pressure from senior American politicians on David Cameron to release all internal documents detailing Britain’s role in the scandal. Last summer, the Prime Minister pledged to release the relevant information – but the publication has yet to occur sparking fears that a cover-up may have been ordered.
...
In October 2008 – as negotiations on the prisoner transfer agreement were ongoing –Megrahi was diagnosed as suffering from cancer.
It can now be disclosed that within a week of the diagnosis, Bill Rammell, a junior Foreign Office minister, had written to his Libyan counterpart advising him on how this could be used as the grounds of securing al-Megrahi’s compassionate release from prison.
Rob Dixon, a senior Foreign Office official, met with the American Ambassador to brief him on the letter. An official American memo on the meeting states: “FCO Minister for the Middle East Bill Rammell sent Libyan Deputy FM Abdulati al-Obeidi a letter, which was cleared both by HMG and by the Scottish Executive, on October 17 outlining the procedure for obtaining compassionate release.
“It cites Section 3 of the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act of 1993 as the basis for release of prisoners, on license, on compassionate grounds. Although the Scottish Crown informed the families of the Pan Am 103 victims in an email October 21 that the time frame for compassionate release is normally three months from time of death, Dixon stressed to us that the three month time frame is not codified in the law.”
Mr Dixon went on to disclose to the Americans that Jack Straw, the then Justice Secretary, had also spoken to Alex Salmond, the Scottish First Minister about the case which had led Government officials to believe that the terrorist would be released.
The minute of the meeting with the Americans records: “Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond told Jack Straw that he will make the final decision in this case. Salmond told Straw that he would make the decision based on humanitarian grounds, not foreign policy grounds; Dixon told us HMG has interpreted this to mean that Salmond is inclined to grant the request.”
Following the meeting, the American Ambassador reported back to his superiors in Washington said that the release of al-Megrahi could “occur sooner rather than later” and that Whitehall officials were handling sensitive negotiations with the Libyans on the issue.
Later documents also disclose that the Qatari government, one of the richest in the world, also became involved in the effort to secure al-Megrahi’s release. The Americans thought that the Qataris may have offered financial incentives to the Scottish Government. The Libyans are also recorded to have offered a “parade of treats” to the Scottish government.
A senior Qatari minister visited Scotland to discuss the case.
He's speaking Arabic, which I'm sure most of my readers don't understand, but listen to the voice and look at the mannerisms of Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi. He seems pretty scared, doesn't he? In light of what happened in nearby Tunisia over the weekend, he has something to fear. And maybe the Libyan people would give up that stooge who brought down Pan Am 103.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
