BOOK REVIEW : Lockerbie Crash Leaves a Mark of Deceit : THE FALL OF PAN AM 103 Inside the Lockerbie Investigation<i> by Steven Emerson and Brian Duffy</i> G.P. Putnam’s Sons $21.95, 304 pages

John Root, a young attorney and a newlywed, became a widower, his wife the victim of a complex terrorist plot that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988. After more than a year’s agony and frustration with government, he has begun to understand the bureaucratic infighting among police and intelligence agencies worldwide, and the insensitive, self-protective maneuvering of governments in search of an effective foreign policy when faced with state-sponsored terrorism.

“I’m just 29. How can all this have happened to me?” he queried me.

Having worked in the anti-terrorism field for more than 15 years, I cannot answer John Root’s question with the clarity and honesty it deserves. More troubling, however, is that there is no group, agency or government that can.

This point is implicit in Steven Emerson’s and Brian Duffy’s “The Fall of Pan Am 103: Inside the Lockerbie Investigation.” What arises from reading the book is the specter of negligence and arrogance by governments before the tragedy, and a trail of cover-up and interstate competition during the subsequent mammoth international investigation.

The crux of Emerson’s and Duffy’s argument is that PA 103 was as much a political as a personal tragedy, emerging from the chronic failure of Western governments to adopt a coherent counterterrorism policy. The story begins, according to the authors, with the government of West Germany turning a blind eye to Palestinian terror networks on its territory, in exchange for immunity from terrorist attacks. The organization which ultimately committed the PA 103 tragedy, run by a Syrian-backed radical Palestinian known as Ahmed Jibril, was operating in Germany, and some of its members had been monitored--indeed at one point briefly held--by German authorities. Once it became clear that German intelligence had blundered in preventing the Pan Am tragedy, Germany embarked on a cover-up that slowed the investigation by British and American intelligence services.

It is revealed that the FBI and CIA were furious with the Germans for withholding information. Relations became so tense at one point that the United States would not trust Germany to translate documents and instead sent its own translators.

In fact, what emerges is a curious slurry of investigative excellence, especially upon the parts of the FBI and British authorities, and obstruction by the Germans, with no positive measures taken against the state sponsors.

Ultimately, Western intelligence services did pinpoint the Jibril group and its sponsor, Syria, as the perpetrators of this ugly crime. But as is proven time and again in this sorry tale, the United States and its allies did not have sufficient resolve to take punitive measures. Consequently, there is continuing inaction against those countries (Iran and Syria) which sponsored the event.

Emerson and Duffy successfully cover the human side of the tragedy; they are painstakingly thorough in exploring the movements of the PFLP-GC terrorists involved in the bombing and they treat thoroughly the police investigation, the forensics trail, and the legal obstacles encountered in holding terrorist suspects.

Inevitably, some will take issue with the fine points of the book. Moreover, many experts will disagree with the treatment accorded the Germans. In the end, there is plenty of blame to go around.

Unfortunately, the longer national security implications of this terrorist incident, and its precedents, were largely ignored. While these concerns make less dramatic reading, PA 103 provides a perfect example of the futility and frustration of U.S. counterterrorism policy of the past two decades. The question is whether terrorist acts, particularly big ones which can be traced to state sponsors, should be treated as police matters or as national security concerns.

Since we have waited nearly a year since establishing Iranian, PFLP-GC, and Syrian complicity, “cause-and-effect” have been lost. Instead of having a punitive option open to us, we are left with pragmatic choices, including normalizing relations with Iran in return for Iran’s and Syria’s help in freeing the hostages. So much for our tough-line policy.

The Pan Am 103 story should therefore serve as a telling reminder of how tenuous the West’s counterterrorism policy is. The recent release of two American hostages in Beirut held by Syria and Libya has created a false impression that the terrorist threat is receding. Instead, the PA 103 episode indicates that terrorists and their state sponsors can get away with using violence as a political tool, and there are plenty of sponsors with the money and technology to manipulate terrorism in the future.

The Emerson-Duffy book is worthwhile reading. Although a little choppy at times, a lot of effort went into it. The material gleaned is the basis of a longer dramatic novel or possibly a screenplay. The sad fact is that it is all true.

Next: Jonathan Kirsch reviews “Triple Cross: Israel, the Atomic Bomb, and the Man Who Spilled the Secrets” by Louis Toscano (Carol Publishing Group/Birch Lane Press).