GREENOCK, Scotland – Embarking on our trip to Scotland early Monday morning to cover the potential release of the only man ever to be convicted for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, we thought we would return to London barely 24 hours later.

Three days later, we remain here, in Greenock, a small town on the west coast of Scotland, a town which for the last four years, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi has had to call "home."

In that time, we've visited Lockerbie. We're seen the garden memorial which has replaced the huge crater left by the flaming fuselage when it fell from the sky, it in turn, replacing the homes that had stood there and the families who had lived in them.

We've heard from eyewitnesses and emergency workers who cannot forget what they saw, even over 20 years later. We've heard conspiracy theories from local politicians who have blamed Iran, the Palestinians and the U.S.

We've even heard from relatives of the dead who really believe that the Scottish justice system has got it wrong and that Megrahi is an innocent man.

As we file more reports and speak to more involved parties, this case seems to get murkier and ever more confusing and my thoughts begin to lie with the one man who now has to decide the fate of the Libyan.

Kenny MacAskill, Scotland's Justice Secretary, has been given the sole responsibility of determining the fate of the terminally ill Meghari.

The Scottish Parliament has said that it doesn't need to be involved. Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond has said that he trusts whichever decision MacAskill will take.

Supportive words, but hardly conducive for a man who needs to weigh up years of evidence, appeals, medical advice and family statements.

Since we came to Scotland, political heavyweights such as U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, Senators Edward Kennedy and John Kerry have weighed into the debate, urging MacAskill not to allow Meghari to go free.

The Justice Secretary hasn't even been able to count on the support of his own colleagues with the Scottish Secretary, Jim Murphy, yesterday slamming the ongoing situation as "embarrassing."

And so as we wait, busying ourselves collecting our elements and watching the news wires for updates, I feel rather sorry for the beleaguered Scottish politician who must be now sitting in his office, pouring over reams of material and trying to work out the right thing to do.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — So, what is happening with the Pakistan Taliban?

From where I stand, there is a curious pattern to recent events.

Let's connect the dots: a few weeks ago, a new Taliban code of conduct emerged ordering more discipline and less brutality, especially against local civilians.

Reports immediately surfaced within Pakistan that some hard-line militants were rejecting the new code, preferring to continue a campaign of terror that includes beheading people and publicly displaying the bodies.

Then – late last month – I made contact with a senior Taliban leader who had fought on the frontlines in Afghanistan and helped lead a bloody uprising at Islamabad's Red Mosque in 2007.

I was expecting the usual anti-American diatribe and I got that; but I got something else - a surprising denunciation of other Pakistani Taliban.

He labeled them 'not real Taliban' and said they had no future. He said his allegiance was to the Afghan Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, and the real fight was against coalition forces in Afghanistan, not Pakistan's military.

He also surprisingly mentioned the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, rejecting his authority and saying he had no contact with him.

Just a few days ago, Mehsud was reported to have been killed in a U.S drone strike, though his death has not been confirmed.

Now there are reports from Pakistani officials of a shoot-out among Taliban rivals during a meeting to choose a successor to Mehsud, leaving one senior commander dead. The Taliban have denied the reports.

All of this takes place amid a Pakistan military offensive against the Taliban, a U.S. military surge in Afghanistan and an upcoming Afghan election. At the same time, the international community is talking of negotiating with so-called 'good Taliban.'

The Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan continue to reject the possibility of negotiations. That at least is the public face; but in Pakistan there is the new code of conduct, an increasingly effective campaign of missile attacks by the United States, Taliban turning on Taliban and –- probably - the deaths of senior militants. It may be the militants themselves are trying to define just who are the 'good Taliban.'

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The car in front of me is carrying a man at the heart of the Taliban uprising in Pakistan.

This has been a carefully orchestrated rendezvous: Secrecy is everything.

We arranged for our cars to pass at a designated spot at a turnoff on the outskirts of Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.

We slow down, and the other car positions in front of us.

We are led down a narrow alleyway and into a non-descript house for a face-to-face interview.

This has all been patiently organized by our intermediary, a man known to the militant and trusted by us.

But there are always nagging concerns. Some in our car are a little nervous, and that is perfectly understandable, but I am comfortable we have taken every safeguard.

The man I finally meet is tall, probably in his mid-to-late 30's with a heavy black beard. He is wearing a white shawal kameez (traditional Pakistani dress), and he ties a white turban around his head.

He is wanted by Pakistani police for terrorism.

This is a man who has fought on the front lines both in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He was a leader of the Red Mosque in Islamabad, the scene of a siege by Pakistan military in 2007 which left more than 100 people dead.

We can't film his face, and we can't identify him. He tells us we can refer to him only as “Mullah Wajid.”

As we begin the interview, at first he won't meet my eye. When we shake hands he looks slightly away.

My cameraman can only film him from behind, and he won't allow us even to film his hands.

Two men stand behind our camera watching every shot. When the interview is over they command us to stop filming immediately.

But the interview itself is a surprise. Interviews with Taliban are rare. To have the chance to put questions directly to a man so heavily involved in the insurgency shines a light into a world often closed from us.

I expect the usual anti-America diatribe, and there is. He says the U.S and coalition forces must leave Afghanistan, and he wants a return to Taliban rule there.

He also criticizes some in Pakistan for being pro-U.S and implementing U.S. foreign policy.

What I wasn't expecting was his denunciation of other Taliban.

He says some in Pakistan have gone too far and are inflicting suffering on ordinary civilians. He says the supreme Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, has rejected these militants and says they are not “real Taliban.”

This is a twist, and it comes after the release of a new Taliban code of conduct. The code says civilian suffering and casualties are to be avoided, urging Taliban to go after “high value” targets like coalition troops and government officials.

The Taliban is bogged down in heavy fighting both in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Like any insurgency, if it loses the people, it loses the war.

And now the U.S. and others are seeking out what they call “good Taliban:” moderate militants they can negotiate with.

The Taliban leadership wants to cleanse itself of the rogue elements. It wants to present a disciplined, cohesive force that can't easily be divided and conquered.

“Mullah Wajid” may be rejecting some hard-liners, but he hasn't gone soft. He wants nothing less than the U.S. out of all Muslim land.

I ask him if he is prepared to kill and die for his beliefs.

"Yes. Inshallah (God willing).”

In that he is not so different from other Taliban after all.

JAKARTA, Indonesia - I was experiencing an unsettling sense of déjà vu while rushing to the airport in Bangkok.

A body is removed after two hotels were bombed in Jakarta.

Once again a bomb had put Jakarta top of the news bulletin. Not for the first time, I was juggling flights, connections and traffic to make a seemingly impossible deadline.

I'd been half-expecting this phone call to come for a while. During the filming of a World's Untold Stories on the Bali bombers I'd been immersed in the world of Jemaah Islamiyah.

All the experts we interviewed warned that while JI was on the back-foot, after months of pressure from Indonesia's elite Detachment 88 anti-terror group, JI should not be written off.

One of their most notorious disaffected former members is Noordin Top.

Experts think he's formed a sort of ultra violent splinter cell, after the mainstream of JI decided to turn its back on violence and try to achieve their aims of an Islamic caliphate across south-east Asia through preaching and politics.

Noordin is linked to the previous attack on the Marriott in 2003 which left 12 people dead.

I know this because his friend, convicted terrorist Abu Dujana told me he met Noordin shortly before the attack.

I interviewed Dujana a couple of years ago and he dodged and weaved as he tried to evade answering questions about Noordin, who he described as a "brother in Islam."

Noordin is also linked to the 2005 Bali bombing, as well as an attack on the Australian Embassy in 2005.

In short, Noordin has a track record of hitting western targets and he's been lying low for four years.

Some had thought that was a sign he was no longer capable of organizing another "spectacular" or that perhaps he was dead.

We still don't know for sure Noordin is linked to this latest attack but the evidence is mounting.

The police say the type of explosive used is almost identical to a cache of explosives found a couple of weeks ago in a house in west Java, which police believe was linked to Noordin.

The police will also doubtless be chasing down leads found in room 1808 of the Marriott where they believe the terrorists were checked-in posing as guests.

Among the possessions they found a bomb ready for detonation.

Together with crucial security video footage which may show one of the bombers wheel his deadly charge towards the breakfast room of the Marriott, the police will have plenty to work on over the next few days.

But until they catch Noordin Top, I doubt sadly this will be the last time the phone rings and I have to run for a plane bound for Jakarta.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - It was the sort of shoot I'd been angling for for quite some time – Paris, in the company of the woman widely regarded as the most stylish in the world.

Malika el Aroud

My job, to follow French Vogue's Carine Roitfeld as she did the rounds during three days of couture shows.

To put it simply I would not be slumming it.

Then, the tap on the shoulder from my boss (a former friend). "Any chance you could hand the Paris job over – I think you need to concentrate on this Brussels business."

Ah – the Brussels business.

The previous week I'd been sent there at short notice to help paint a picture of the early life of Malika el Aroud, who police say is linked to al Qaeda.

The Eurostar to Brussels had been pleasant enough – croissants and scalding coffee, but the fun stopped as soon as I stepped off the train.

The author and journalist, Paul Cruickshank met Darren (our Aussie cameraman) and me and soon we were setting off to the Molenbeek district.

It was where Malika had spent her formative years and more pertinently, Paul claimed, remained something of a no go area for police.

I am not a brave man – when gatecrashers tried to invade my teenage party I sent my younger sister to confront them while I hid under a bed upstairs – but I was unimpressed by what Molenbeek had to offer in terms of menace.

It consists mainly of graffiti free cobbled streets complete with patisseries and smiling children.

"Paul, have we come to the right area? It doesn't look that bad here," said Darren vocalizing my thoughts as we stepped out of our taxi.

Darren turned the camera on and started filming the buildings on the street where we had stopped. Passers-by asked courteously if they could walk through the shot – all was well with the world.

Then, suddenly a hand as large as a mighty rib of beef, grabbed the camera. The arm it was connected to angled sharply upwards towards a bearded face.

From top to toe the man who was insisting that we turn the camera off couldn't have come in at much under 6ft 6".

Run for your life, don't even think of the others were my immediate thoughts, but I soon realized I didn't have a clue where I was and that safety in numbers might be the best option.

We managed, after a minor scuffle, to squeeze into the car. Me, Darren, Paul; and an increasingly terrified looking taxi driver.

"Tell him to drive," I shouted at Paul. "Drive," shouted Paul (in French). He pulled off but was more like my aged mother than Michael Schumacher and the crowd that had rapidly gathered blocked our exit.

A peculiar standoff – more literally a sitoff – ensued. We sat in the car watching them. They surrounded it and stared in. We were on the phone screaming for police help, they were on their phones looking increasingly sinister.

In my mind it became a race between the forces of law and order and the arrival of an individual who wanted to cause me immense pain.

It almost goes without saying that the police – the one on the motorbike was the only person in Brussels bigger than our initial antagonist – arrived first.

An escort out of town was hastily organized and before I knew it I was back at the hotel, beer in hand, bragging of my heroism to anyone who cared to listen.

It's New York Fashion week next Monday and I've got backstage passes to all the best shows. Happy days.

Watch World's Untold Stories One Woman's War. CNN's Nic Robertson sheds new light on al Qaeda's global jihad. Tuesday: 1430, 1930 CET | 2200, 0230 (Wed) HK.

For the first time in three days of covering the horrific events in Mumbai, I finally got carded.

What do I mean by that? I'll explain.

While terrorists and commandos tried to blow each other away inside the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, journalists and the general public were able to come and go as we pleased in this hotbed of danger.

We were all standing within 200 yards of the stand-off.  We listened to grenades exploding, bullets whizzing by and massive explosions so loud they rattled our ear drums.

We saw glass exploding out of windows, big flashes of light, fire in three places, police with automatic weapons and in the end, a body being pulled out of a window by the feet.

We were so close to the action that we changed our positions several times. There was nothing between us and the war torn hotel. No barricades, no police tape, no police.

On the second day of the siege I was able to get so close that I could have walked on to the steps of the front lobby of the hotel.

We were being told by authorities it was over. But it was not even close to over. There were still three terrorists inside but you wouldn't have known it from the lax security outside.

I know it's a bit late but I'm now well aware we were all simply too close.

Which takes me back to my first sentence: I was carded today by police who wanted to check my ID before I was given access to the same area.

The public is now being held back and a big rope has been put up to keep us back. But all the dangerous action is over.

I guess my question is why now? Maybe you have the answers out there because I'm not getting any here from the authorities.

MUMBAI, India - My heart is pounding. I have some knowlege of what is going on behind me but it doesn't register with my senses until I hear the sound: Bang. Rata tat tat. Bang, bang.  This is a hostage situation.

Ducking for cover outside the Taj Mahal Hotel.

I am standing just outside of the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. The fabulous 105-year-old five star hotel has been raided by terrorists who police say have taken hostages, and killed and maimed across 10 sites in Mumbai.

As we go live outside describing the scene, that sound jolts my body forward. Bang. It doesn't matter who you are or where you are from, when you hear a sound like that you do what instinct tells you: Duck and run. In this instance I happened to be on the air.

These moments have a way of reminding those of us who cover stories how terrifying it must be for those who are living it up close and personal. Not talking about what is happening, but experiencing terrorism first hand.  All I can say is my heart goes out to the victims of terrorism around the world.

Watch footage of an explosion at the Taj Mahal Hotel