CarltonBrowne the FO
I think we have a chicken and egg analogy here -
it is my opinion that if these men were removed to facilitate the peace process, then it is deservedly discredited;
you are suggesting the other way around, that I am pushing sabotage to discredit it - not so.
I was drawn into this because of my perception (from a navigation viewpoint) that they may have been using a particular system in that situation and (from my systems knowledge) the vulnerability of it.
My first actions were to alert the authorities of this possibility so that they could gather evidence before it was lost - and I made every effort to do so in a timely fashion to the RAF and the government.
The realization of the full impact of the crash on the anti-terrorism effort came later - as did my cynicism for the authorities.
As time has passed and inquiries have been held I came to realize that many fundamental aspects of the flight were not clarified when they could so easily have been - apparently (to me at least) the authorities seemed not to want any relevant detail to come out. When you add the premature dismissal of sabotage, given who was on board and the timing of the crash, you really start to wonder.
What I need, the families need, the British people need, is the truth - analysis of the available information suggests that they were using a reference which misled them in the prevailing conditions; one such candidate reference is the one that I have described which, to date, has not been explored fully as a possibility – in view of who was on board and the impact on the anti-terrorism effort, every possibility should have been explored - and I have done my best to encourage interested parties to request certain information that could finally bring to closure this line of thought – or perhaps really start the investigation into what actually happened.