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| Flight 103 families waiting for Libya |
| 2006-05-22 |
| WASHINGTON -- Although the Bush administration is moving to normalize diplomatic relations with Libya, U.S. families who lost loved ones in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland have not been fully compensated by the Libyan government for the terrorist attack planned and executed by Libyan agents. The families, due a payment of $2 million, are supposed to receive $10 million each as part of a $2.7 billion settlement. They have been urging members of Congress to consider stalling President Bush's attempt to re-establish formal diplomatic ties with Libyan dictator Muammar al Qadhafi until the last remaining installment arrives. "I'm writing a letter (to Bush) that asks that the final details of the recognition of Libya not be implemented until the full settlement is paid out," said U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews, D-1st Dist., who explained that he has been working with Pan Am 103 families in Cherry Hill and Haddonfield. "I don't believe that the diplomatic relations should be fully established until Libya has fully met its obligations to the Pan Am 103 families," Andrews stated. Some family members don't care about the financial settlement, says James Kreindler of New York City, a lawyer who conducted the settlement talks with Libyan officials. They would prefer to see Libya isolated both economically and financially so long as Qadhafi remains in power, Kreindler said. But virtually all of the families of the Pan Am 103 victims want to ensure that Libya fulfills its agreement to pay the full $2.7 billion that it agreed to provide, Kreindler said. Kara M. Weipz of Mount Laurel Township, president of the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, lost her brother Rick Monetti, 20, in the disaster. Weipz in a telephone interview said the State Department should be pushing the Libyans to provide the final installment. Libya has not yet provided the final installment of roughly $536 million. Qadhafi's government allowed an escrow account to lapse and actually withdrew the $536 million from a Swiss bank, the Bank for International Settlements, in February 2005, according to Kreindler and attorneys working at Quinn, Gillespie and Associates, a Washington lobbying firm. "It would be a travesty of justice to begin a new relationship with Libya if Libya failed to honor its commitment at the expense of the Pan Am 103 families," Kreindler said. U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., said, "The government of Libya must honor its commitments to these families." The State Department last week said President Bush was proposing to remove Libya from a list of terrorist states, rescinding a designation the U.S. government first awarded to Qadhafi's dictatorship in 1979. The Bush administration plans to open an American embassy in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, and to let Qadhafi open an embassy in Washington. "For a number of years now, Libya has ceased its direct support for acts of terrorism and has taken concrete steps to distance itself from terrorist organizations with which it maintained active ties," C. David Welch, assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, said at a State Department news briefing. Libya also gave up its long-range missile program in 2003. Qadhafi's government came to be seen by Bush administration officials as a rogue regime that had ceased its support for terrorism and shuttered its program aimed at developing weapons of mass destruction. Lawmakers have up to 45 days to review the State Department's report on Libya and its former links to terrorism. Members of Congress could pass a resolution to halt or delay the normalization of American diplomatic ties to the oil-rich North African nation. However, the House International Relations Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have scheduled no action on any legislation that would address U.S. ties to Libya. Pan Am 103 exploded in mid-air on Dec. 21, 1988, over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The disaster -- caused by a bomb planted in a Toshiba radio and tape deck that was concealed in a suitcase and loaded on the U.S.-bound plane in Frankfurt, Germany -- killed 270 people, including 11 people on the ground. Fully 189 of the victims were Americans, and 29 hailed from New Jersey, according to a passenger manifest posted on a Web site for the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103. Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence agent, was convicted by a Scottish court in January 2001 of conducting the Pan Am 103 attack. Al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison but afforded an opportunity to request parole after 27 years. Another alleged Libyan agent, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, was acquitted by the judges, who heard the case in the Netherlands. Qadhafi, making overtures to settle old grievances with the United States, in May 2002 offered a $2.7 billion settlement to the Pan Am 103 victims' families. The U.S. government was not a party to the talks. The State Department so far is making no effort to ensure that the families receive the outstanding $2 million they are due. "It's true that they're legally not a part of it," Andrews said. "But morally, they are very much a part of it. And I think for our State Department to give any kind of sanction or aid without Libya meeting its obligations to these American citizens is indefensible." |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #1 Plan to stiff us hunh? Last I heard you could get .50 BMG cartridges about 2 for 5 bucks, I may be a bit low. Mail Quidaffi a couple of cartridges, paint on the side of each "Flight 800" and see if he takes the hint. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2006-05-22 11:00 |