10.09
A number of journalists considered that the Iranian revenge motive (retaliation for the shooting down of the Iran Air Airbus by USS Vincennes) was prematurely dismissed by investigators. They drew attention to a comment by former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in her 1993 memoirs, where she seemed to discount the Libya revenge motive (for the 1986 bombing of Tripoli and Benghazi by the United States air force):
“It turned out to be a more decisive blow against Libyan-sponsored terrorism than I could ever have imagined. …There were revenge killings of British hostages organized by Libya, which I bitterly regretted. But the much-vaunted Libyan counter attack did not and could not take place… There was a marked decline in Libyan-sponsored terrorism in succeeding years” (Thatcher 1993, pp448-9).