Libya, Lockerbie and France

VFW Magazine, Oct, 2003

The 15-year saga of holding accountable the Libyan terrorists who blew up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988, has taken another turn. In August, a deal was reportedly worked out whereby Libya would compensate the families of the 189 Americans killed aboard.

In return for this payment and accepting of responsibility, the U.S. agreed not to block the lifting of U.N. economic sanctions on Tripoli. Libya accepted only "civil responsibility" (whatever that means) for the bombing. Yet earlier this year, Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi's son said, "We regard ourselves innocent and had nothing to do with that tragedy."

Not all family members are falling for Gadhafi's ploy. Dan Cohen, who lost a daughter in the attack, believes "the United States should have nothing to do with [Libya] so long as that regime exists. Period." He is not alone. Many Americans understand Libya's continuing connections to terrorism.

Meanwhile, our French "ally" refuses to go along with the U.N. deal because it is not getting enough money out of Libya for the downing of a French airliner over Niger in 1989. "Their behavior is outrageous," an anonymous State Department official said in USA Today.

"France is doing all it can to make sure that doesn't happen," editorialized the Investor's Business Daily. "It's willing to use its veto in the U.N. Security Council to block the lifting of U.N. sanctions. That would freeze the first payment and place the entire settlement in jeopardy ... Too bad that's the sort of behavior we've come to expect from a once-venerable nation."