My Brother's Bomber

In December 1988, during the waning days of the Reagan presidency, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 on board, as well as 11 people on the ground. Director Ken Dornstein's brother was one of the casualties. This three-part PBS-aired Frontline documentary series follows Dornstein's years-long effort to track down and confront the Lockerbie killers. A major government investigation determined that a bomb with a timer was smuggled aboard the plane, an act of revenge arranged by Libyan operatives as payback for a 1986 U.S. air attack on Libya, which in turn was retaliation for the Libyan bombing of a German disco frequented by American servicemen. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was the only operative charged, but he was released after serving only a fraction of his sentence—a "compassionate release" because he was dying of cancer and allegedly only had a few months to live. After returning to Libya and receiving a hero's welcome, he lived another five years. Clearly, justice was not served. Against the backdrop of Libya's slow descent into chaos after the overthrow of strongman Gaddafi, Dornstein visits several times, and comes tantalizingly close to seeing the dying Megrahi, but is left mostly with questions, particularly regarding a Swiss man named Edwin Bollier, who allegedly made the timer, and the mysterious Abu Agila Mas'ud, a Gaddafi loyalist at the heart of many Libyan bombing plots. In the end, Abu Agila is ensnared in Libyan show trials for plots against the state, but with the death of Gadaffi, the lack of a functioning government, and the nation's subsequent slide into lawlessness, it's highly unlikely that justice for the Lockerbie victims will ever be served. A tragic true-life detective story in our age of terrorism, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (S. Rees)