1988 Terrorist Attack on Pan Am Flight 103

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It has been widely accepted from media depiction of terrorist attacks, that they normally occur in the streets of some Middle Eastern town, within a war-torn over ran village seized by a drug cartel, on a train or discotheque in Europe, or somewhere other than in the sky. As stated within The National Counterterrorism Center: Report on Terrorism (2011), traditional or well know tactics account for some 80% of all attacks, terrorist attacks directed toward airlines or air vehicles are less than 2%. For this reason many such threats are discounted or its relevance to put resources toward investigating. Prior to the attack on Pan Am Flight 103, intelligence data received was disseminated however, no high level officials were directly involved in the security measures required to thwart the event. December 21, 1988 was a day when the consequences of complacency would be felt by the nation.
On December 21, 1988 a civilian airliner exploded over the small town of Lockerbie, located in the Dumfries and Galloway region of southwest Scotland. Aboard were civilians representing 21 different countries; 189 those being from the United States. In all, 270 people lost their lives that day; 259 passengers and crew members and 11 killed on the ground. Because of the altitude, speed, and weather over the region that day, aircraft parts and bodies were scattered over a 2000 square kilometer area. According to The CIA Report: “Terrorist Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 2012)”, months after the plane crash and end of the formal recovery effort, a piece of scorched shirt was discovered. The piece contained a fragment of circuit board that the heat of the explosion had fused into the shirt’s polyester fabric. The organizers, resource suppliers,...

... middle of paper ...

...t full proof, it’s not a guarantee, and it is the right step in the right direction.

Works Cited

Greenspan, Jesse (2013, December 20). Remembering the 1988 Lockerbie Bombing. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/news/remembering-the-1988-lockerbie-bombing
Rabbitte, Eimear (28 April 2014). Sheridan to direct Lockerbie attack film. Retrieved from http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/film/sheridan-to-direct-lockerbie-attack-film-30224654.html
The National Counterterrorism Center. Report on Terrorism (2011). Retrieved from http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/nctc2011.pdf
The Pan Am 103 Crash Website. The Victims of Pan Am 103 (2002). Retrieved from http://plane-truth.com/Aoude/geocities/victim.html
The Washington Post. Security Rules Tightened for U.S. Airlines Abroad (1988) Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/panam103/stories/faa123088.htm

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