Lockerbie with Colin Firth on Peacock

 

My reaction to the first two episodes of Lockerbie, starring Colin Firth, was visceral. December 21, 1988 Libyan operatives smuggled explosives onto Pan Am Flight 103.by way of Malta, which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, raining debris over the village and killing several people on the ground. 

This event is personal for me, in part  because I heard about the terrorist attack when I landed in Cincinnati that same evening following air travel from Chiang Kai Shek Airport in Taipei, Taiwan. I’d flown that Pan Am Flight from Heathrow in the past. Ultimately, it was the death for Pan Am, which had been the American flag ship airline from the early days of commercial aviation. Lockerbie defined the moment for me.

I was living in Asia during Tiananmen Square, the 1st gulf war, terror attacks on US facilities.  I knew people who were traumatized by the bombings in Lebanon, the evacuation of US citizens in Tehran during the revolution, the airline and cruise ship high jackings, and understood that if we were in danger- the best places to find help included the Swiss and Canadian government entities…not the US. How disappointing to know that my own government did not have the best interests of its citizens at the forefront.

Perhaps it is for this reason that I felt the agony of those fighting for answers after Lockerbie. Secrecy     Y governmental entities is toxic. It erases trust of citizens. Maybe this is why so many Americans applaud DOGE. Transparency! Light! Peeling away the layers of the onion. 

The people are entitled to truth. God bless Dr. Swire for reminding me that government owes us truth. Lockerbie is a reminder of that. Obfuscating is wrong. Opacity is wrong. We, the people, deserve truth.