At 20.08 on 27 June 1980, the DC9 of the Itavia IH870 took off from the Bologna airport to Palermo, with 77 passengers and 4 crew members on board. The weather and visibility were perfect. The flight continued normally, and was tracked by the various competent radars. Suddenly, at 20.59, while it was on the sky of Ustica, the plane disappeared from the screens. The search began immediately, without much hope of finding survivors. The next day some bodies, baggage and small pieces of the wreckage surfaced. It soon became clear that the DC9 had sunk.
Massacre of Ustica, prosecutors listen to the journalist Fabrizio Colarieti of the site-investigation stragi80.it
The first hypothesis was of a structural failure: the company, it was said, did not shine out of diligence in maintenance. In reality nobody believed it. That aircraft was not old at all, and could not fall apart like this, without reason. So something else was thought of: and as had happened with other catastrophes, dietrology began to flourish.
Those were difficult years. Terrorism raged in Italy. The Mediterranean was a comings and goings of fedayn financed and protected by Gaddafi, Arafat and the Soviets, often in conflict with each other. The USSR had deployed its SS20 nuclear missiles not far from us, and the US was responding by placing Pershing and Cruise ships. The pacifists protested, of course always and only against the Americans.
(drawing by Emilio Laguardia)
The Polish Pope was undermining the overseas monolith, and the Warsaw Pact was preparing yet another repression. Our country, already battered by the attacks of reds and blacks, would have suffered, shortly thereafter, the massacre of the Bologna station. There was therefore enough to attribute the disaster of DC9 to someone’s act of war. Who?
Massacre of Ustica, ministries of Defense and Transport condemned: compensation of 330 million to the airline Itavia
THE REFLECTION
Here the reflection of the putant quod cupiunt was triggered, that is, to marry the thesis that best suits one’s own prejudices and conveniences. And so the hypotheses were unleashed. Once the structural failure was dismissed, a bomb was thought of: a technically more likely thesis given the suddenness of the event and the sudden interruption of any communication. And of course it was said that the bomb was fascist. After the massacre in Piazza Fontana in 1969, every bomb was ontologically fascist, as the secret services were diverted, and their wrongdoings destined to lead to sensational developments despite the utmost reserve: our journalists did not shine with lexical fantasy. But evidently the black terrorists, some of whom have already been identified, tried and convicted, were not enough. We had to look higher: the CIA, the SISMI, and of course the Mossad. Then the hypothesis of the missile emerged. But a missile is not fired like this, like a slingshot: it was necessary to identify its type, the builder, the owner and of course the chosen shooter. Here the assumptions crossed: it was an American missile, launched from an aircraft of the aircraft carrier Saratoga, or French, of the aircraft carrier Foch, (or Clemenceau); no, it belonged to our F104; indeed, a Libyan rocket, sent to counter an attack on Gaddafi that was in those parts. In fact, in July a Libyan Mig had crashed on Sila: if the dates did not coincide, it was enough to backdate the fall. These hypotheses generated subspecies: a plane had joined the DC9, taking advantage of its wake and escaping radar; the Israelis had bombed a uranium trade; for some, the DC9 had even found itself in the midst of a giant air battle. In total 29 versions, one different from the other: to paraphrase Gibbon, all true for the populace, all questionable for the technician and all useful for conspiracy theorists.
Ustica, after 39 years the truth is still being sought
THE RIGOR
A recent book by Franco Bonazzi and Francesco Farinelli demolishes the various conspiracy theses that flourished in the tribunal and inquisitorial climate of the time. Bonazzi was an F104 test driver for the Italian Air Force and defense consultant during the trials. But this does not detract from the technical rigor and professional impartiality with which it examines every aspect of the tragedy. The result is a discouraging panorama of the times, efficiency and contradictions of our ramshackle justice. But it is even more discouraging to witness the obstinacy of those who, to defend preconceived theories, have entrusted themselves and still rely on the most diverse sources. Unfortunately, as happens in these cases, credulity has spawned monsters, and has claimed other victims.
Criminal trials have in fact essentially involved the Air Force, whose leaders have been accused of having misrepresented, falsified and suppressed evidence to endorse the theory of the bomb at the expense of that of the missile. No one has ever explained the motive for such a callid misdirection, which, however, if it had been foreordained to safeguard the image of our state, it would have had a political inspiration, which was never indicated. In reality the whole construction was paradoxical: dozens of generals, colonels and non-commissioned officers would have been led to silence to protect it is not clear who: the Americans, the French, the Libyans or the Israelis.
Massacre of Ustica, the Cassation: «The ministries must compensate Itavia»
THE ANOMALIES
However, investigations began, also because some radar tracks had anomalies, and continued for several years through consultancy, expert reports, testimonies, letters rogatory and affidavits. Presidents Clinton and Chirac were solicited to cooperate: they replied that they had provided all possible material, and would continue to do so. But since nothing emerged from that material, they began to suspect them too: a conspiracy of silence that should have been involve several hundred politicians and military personnel. In a democracy where no secret remains that secret for more than a few days, we should assume that on that occasion all the American press was bought or enslaved.
THE COST
At the end, after one million and 750 thousand pages of preliminary investigation, 4000 witnesses and 277 hearings, with a cost of several billion, all the defendants were acquitted because the fact does not exist. As for the causes of the catastrophe, the criminal courts do not pronounce with certainty. But the expert report, signed by eleven Italian, German, English and Swedish luminaries had concluded by rejecting the hypothesis of missile abatement, collision and structural damage, considering instead that of the bomb as technically sustainable.
Recently, Giuliana Cavazza De Faveri, who lost her mother in the explosion, asked President Conte for access to some documents, already classified as top secret which would involve Palestinian terrorists. We hope that it will be answered, even if we imagine the resistance, because the prejudices on the State Plot are hard to die. And also because, as Carlo Ginzburg wrote, “conspiracies exist, but false conspiracies often hide conspiracies of the opposite sign”.
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