A Sad day for the Saltire

Saltires waving in Tripoli branded 'sickening'

Published Date: 21 August 2009
By Stephen McGinty, David Maddox and Tom Peterkin


THE triumphant scenes in Tripoli which greeted the return of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi's return, with Libyan crowds waving Saltires, were last night condemned as "sickening".
Pamela Dix, whose brother Peter died along with 269 others when the Pan Am jet exploded above Lockerbie in 1988, said: "I think a hero's welcome is entirely inappropriate in the circumstances. He has been released on compassionate grounds,

but he remains a convicted man. His return to Tripoli should not have been handled in this way."

Russell Brown, Labour MP for Dumfries, described the scenes as "stomach churning", adding: "I have never been ashamed to see my country's flag waved before, but to see it misused to celebrate mass murder is outrageous.

"This man is convicted of murdering 270 people in my part of Scotland and that conviction stands. This adds further pressure to the SNP to explain why they have freed a man who showed no remorse for the crimes he committed. The SNP are damaging Scotland's reputation and have put our flag in a position where it can be abused like this."

Tory MP David Mundell, whose constituency includes Lockerbie, said: "This is as we feared and why we said that Mr Megrahi should be kept in Scotland. Alex Salmond's government has made a mistake of international proportions. These reports (of the flag being waved] are sickening."

However, a spokesman for justice secretary Kenny MacAskill defended the decision to release Megrahi: "Mr al-Megrahi has been sent back to Libya to die. We deliberately eschewed political and diplomatic considerations, and he was released according to due process and under licence conditions. Our concerns are the interests of justice, and making the right decisions."

The decision to allow Megrahi to go home will be seen as a huge snub to US president Barack Obama, who last night demanded that Libya put the Lockerbie bomber under house arrest as anger at his release grew in the United States.

Earlier, relatives of those killed in the Lockerbie bombing condemned Megrahi's release. Stephanie Bernstein, the widow of Michael Bernstein, a prosecutor who tracked down Nazi war criminals, said: "MacAskill talks about showing compassion and mercy. This is weakness. This is how it will be seen by Gaddafi. This is how it will be played within Libya and this is how it will be seen by every single person that wants to do harm to people all over the world."

Susan Cohen, whose daughter Theodora was one of many students killed on the flight, said: "This has been despicable. He was convicted of mass murder, but you've let him out on the most sickening grounds possible. Shame on Scotland. We were told about this proud little country, but you are still in the grip of the British Empire."

The issue has once again highlighted the divide between the British and American relatives of those who died in the Lockerbie bombing. British relatives, most of whom believe Megrahi is innocent, welcomed the decision to release him.

Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was on Pan Am Flight 103, said: "I don't believe for a moment that this man was involved in the way that he was found to have been involved."

But Dr Swire reiterated his regret that Megrahi's appeal against his conviction had been dropped. "I feel despondent that the West and Scotland didn't have the guts to allow this man's second appeal to continue, because I am convinced had they done so, it would have overturned the verdict against him."

However, there was anger from Lockerbie over Megrahi's release. The self-styled "Baby of Lockerbie" described the decision as "quite disgusting". Aimee Guthrie was born within an hour of the disaster to a couple who ran a hotel in the Borders town. She said she would have preferred it if Megrahi had been left to die in jail.

There was also a fierce debate over how Mr MacAskill's decision had affected the reputation of Scotland's legal system. Despite his claims to support the original verdict on Megrahi's guilt, some claimed the justice secretary had caved in to those who said that Scottish judges, police and prosecutors had got it wrong.

But Scottish Law Society president Ian Smart said the decision had upheld the reputation of the legal profession. He said the doubts were only over evidence, not process.

And retired judge Lord McCluskey said: "There is no reason for us not to show compassion – apart from revenge, which isn't the sweetest of virtues."

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Saltires-waving-in-Tripoli-branded.5575788.jp#4339766

Campbell Bridges dead at 71

Greener than an emerald, and discovered by Scottish geologist, Campbell Bridges, tsavorite is considered as close to perfect as possible in terms of clarity and color among precious gemstones.


Bridges followed a risky career path in the African bush. This week, he was allegedly stabbed to death by a machete-wielding gang that coveted his profitable mining concession. For decades, Scottish geologist and gem dealer Campbell Bridges navigated the risks that came with mining precious stones in Africa.

Campbell Bridges Dead: Mob Kills Famous Geologist In Kenya: Police Report

NAIROBI, Kenya — Assailants armed with arrows, spears and machetes killed a Scottish-born geologist in an apparent dispute over mining rights in southeast Kenya, police said Thursday.

A lawmaker who knew the geologist said Campbell Bridges, 72, had received death threats and Bridges' attackers were incited to kill him.

On Tuesday, about a dozen people attacked Bridges after he stopped to remove a log blocking a road, police said. Bridges had been driving to a mining camp by Tsavo West National Park, near where he lived and made one of his most precious discoveries of gemstones decades ago.

"We suspect those who killed him are probably employees of other people who want to mine in the area," said local Deputy Police Chief John Leshindoro.

Bridges was accompanied by his son, Bruce, and at least two colleagues during the attack. Police said his son was not hurt, but two colleagues were seriously injured.

The attackers "were screaming, 'We're going to kill you all,'" Bruce Bridges told the British Broadcasting Corp. on Thursday.

Bruce Bridges said he and his father had been receiving death threats for three years, but police did nothing to stop it. He accused police of similarly ignoring their reports of illegal digging by bandits, including hours before Tuesday's ambush.

"My father and I had heard these bandits were digging trenches on our land, so we took that information to the police and asked them for extra security," Bruce said.
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"They refused to aid us in any way and basically told us to go it alone. They left us to die," he said. "The family is destroyed – and we are angry. For this country to let what happened happen to him is a tragedy."

A Kenyan lawmaker, Johnstone Muthama, said Bridges told police about three death threats he had received – and had named the people who had issued them.

The local police chief, Herbert Khaemba, told The Associated Press that Bridges had told police once about the threats. He said officers did warn those people to stop threatening the geologist.

Khaemba said he also asked Kenya's Department of Mines and Geology to intervene, because those threatening Bridges were disputing his right to use a mining permit in the area. Bridges had been mining for gemstones in the vicinity of Tsavo since the early 1970s.

Muthama said Bridges' killing may have been motivated by anti-foreigner hysteria whipped up by political leaders.

"This is a problem caused by the leadership, who incite local people (by saying) that this is a foreigner who wants to take resources, so flush these people out," Muthama told The Associated Press.

Muthama, who owns a big gem mining business, said he had known Bridges for 25 years and together they founded the Kenya Chamber of Mines. Muthama is patron of that organization.

In the 1960s, Bridges discovered a rare green variety of garnet initially in modern-day Zimbabwe and later in Kenya's neighbor Tanzania. Today the green gemstone, mined chiefly in Tanzania and Kenya, is named tsavorite after the Tsavo national parks.

Bruce Bridges paid tribute to his father as "an amazing man" and "the world's most famous gemologist."

"Anyone in the industry would say it. No one had a resume like him," he told the BBC.

Southeast Kenya is sparsely populated and impoverished, because its dry, low-lying land is poor for most crops. The area's gemstone riches are mined by handful of companies. Many locals eke out their living on plantations growing sisal, a plant that produces stiff fibers for making rope.

___

On the Net:

Kenya Chamber of Mines, http://kenyachambermines.com/

Bridges' tsavorite history, http://www.tsavorite.com/

Killed by a Gutless Coward!

The killer one James von Brunn, an 88-year-old white supremacist from Maryland.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A lone gunman killed a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday before being wounded himself by return fire from other guards, sources confirmed to CNN.

Stephen Tyrone Johns was shot and killed while working at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday.


The suspect was identified as James von Brunn, an 88-year-old white supremacist from Maryland, two law enforcement officials told CNN.

The museum identified the guard as Stephen Tyrone Johns.

The gunman entered the museum at 12:50 p.m. with a rifle and immediately shot a museum security guard, said Chief Cathy Lanier of the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department. Two other security guards returned fire, wounding the gunman, she said.

Both the gunman and a security guard were taken to George Washington University Hospital, where the gunman was in "critical" condition, said D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty. Neither Lanier nor Fenty would identify the gunman.
The museum released a statement saying Johns died "heroically in the line of duty."

"There are no words to express our grief and shock over these events. He served on the Museum's security staff for six years. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Officer Johns' family," the statement said. "We have made the decision to close the Museum tomorrow in honor of Officer Johns, and our flags will be flown at half mast in his memory."

Von Brunn is a known Holocaust denier who reportedly has claimed that the book "The Diary of Anne Frank," about a teenage girl's experiences under Nazi rule, was a hoax. The shooting occurred two days before what would have been Anne Frank's 80th birthday.

Emergency vehicles converged on the area, which is near the Washington Monument and other popular tourist attractions. The museum was full at the time, with a "couple of thousand" people inside, said William Parsons, the chief of staff.

"Never take your guard force and security people for granted," Parsons said. "They did exactly what they were supposed to do to protect people in the museum." Law enforcement analyst talks about how this could have happened »

An FBI official said there was no prior warning or threat against the museum. In a later statement, the FBI said members of its National Capital Response Squad and Joint Terrorism Task Force are taking part in the investigation.
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Lanier said the area around the museum was checked by bomb-sniffing dogs as a matter of routine.

President Obama was made aware of the incident, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters.

"I walked in and I told him there had been a shooting at the museum," Gibbs said, adding that Obama was "obviously concerned for the security guard that appears to have been hurt ... obviously saddened by what has happened." See where the museum is located »

A witness, who identified herself as 19-year-old Maria without providing a last name, told CNN she heard five shots and saw a security guard lying wounded on the ground.

"It was definitely a security guard, he was down bleeding on the floor," she said. "He was face down. His back ... blood was coming out."
Dave Pearson, a sixth-grade teacher in the Washington area, said he was on the museum's fourth floor when he heard a loud noise.

"At the time, we're visiting and all of a sudden there's like a boom, and all of a sudden they told us to stop where we're at," he told CNN's Ed Henry.

"Only thing we heard was a boom, and that was it." Watch another museum visitor tell what he saw »

A woman who did not give her name said she understood the shooting happened inside the museum near the security checkpoint at the entrance.

She said she was quickly evacuated.

"We did see yellow tape down the hall when we were being rushed out," she said. "They came in and said we had to leave right away, and they got us out."

The museum was closed for the rest of the day, and the museum statement said: "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the officer and his family."

A statement by the Israeli Embassy expressed shock and sadness at the shooting and said it condemned the attack. Fenty called the shooting "an extremely isolated incident" in the nation's capital, which is a major tourist destination.
"In these days and times, you never know when someone is going to grab a gun and use it in an inappropriate way," he said.

A little about Guns and Crime in the USA

Prevalence of homicide and violent crime is greatest in urban areas of the United States. In metropolitan areas, the homicide rate in 2005 was 6.1 per 100,000 compared with 3.5 in non-metropolitan counties.In U.S. cities with populations greater than 250,000, the mean homicide rate was 12.1 per 100,000. Rates of gun-related homicides are greatest in southern and western states not in the east! In 2005, 75% of the 10,100 homicides committed using firearms in the United States were committed using handguns, compared to 4% with rifles, 5% with shotguns, and the rest with a type of firearm not specified. Do the math the areas where most people are farthest left-leaning have the most gun crime. Time to stop drugs and poverty not gun ownership. Social justice lowers crime not removing weapons. Where I live almost every house owns long guns and there in no violence. This country is vast and made up of many subcultures. Passing across the board gun laws is crazy! Guns are not the problem I can tell you, in society. A gun is a tool like any other. I think I have changed allot since I was young. I used to be very anti-gun. I married a man who knew how to shoot and slowly I came to understand the difference between hand gun crime in highly populated areas and the guns kept by honest peace-loving people in small towns and rural America. The reason this topic was on my mind today is because allot of people are attacking our new senator,Kirsten Gillibrand because she owns guns and does not want to see broad gun control bills passed limiting the 2nd amendment. I think Gillibrand is a great person and she is an expert on Asian culture. She was a wonderful choice by Gov. Paterson! Gillbrand really understands rural and small town New York. I use a rifle myself and I enjoy being a gun owner.