NJ Woman Outraged Over Libya

Victoria Cummock, whose husband was one of 270 people killed in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, said Libya's reported offer to settle a lawsuit filed against the country's government was an outrage.

"For us to accept $10 million when there's a mass murder that took place and no admission of guilt is given, you're saying you can kill as many Americans as you want and we'll look the other way," Cummock said.

Many relatives of those killed when a bomb exploded aboard the airliner in December 1988 were similarly enraged when they heard of the preliminary $2.7 billion settlement offer, while emotions in others ranged from skepticism to grudging acceptance.

Lawyers for the families announced the offered compensation package Tuesday. Libya publicly denies a settlement offer was made.

Some said the purported offer, which would settle a 1996 lawsuit against the Libyan government and provide $10 million to relatives for each victim, was politically motivated by Libya's efforts to get U.S. sanctions lifted.

"It's a business deal, not a compensation offer. It's contingent on how much Libya has to gain from the United States by the lifting of the sanctions," Daniel Cohen of Cape May Court House, N.J., said Wednesday. "It puts us in the position of being cheerleaders for (Moammar) Gadhafi."

Cohen's only child, Theodora, 20, a Syracuse University student, was among 270 people killed in the bombing.

Cohen said families knew meetings on the lawsuit were taking place in Paris but did not know what was discussed. They believed a sum of money was being negotiated, not relations between the United States and Libya.

"Money is not the issue. We would have accepted even a far lower offer if there hadn't been all these conditions," Cohen said. "We feel we've been blindsided by this."

Under the agreement, the money would be placed in escrow and released in parts: 40 percent when U.N. sanctions were lifted, 40 percent with removal of U.S. commercial sanctions and 20 percent when Libya was removed from the State Department's list of sponsors of international terrorism.

The lawsuit was filed after the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act was amended in 1996 to permit lawsuits against seven foreign governments for alleged state-sponsored acts of terrorism.

"These are uncharted waters," said a statement by Jim Kreindler, a member of the plaintiffs' committee and attorney for 118 victims' families. "It is the first time that any of the states designated as sponsors of terrorism have offered compensation to families of terror victims."

In March, a Scottish appeals court upheld the murder conviction of former Libyan intelligence agent Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi for the bombing. In all, 259 people on board the Frankfurt-London-New York flight and 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie were killed.

Al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 20 years. A second Libyan was acquitted in the original trial.

Analysts say Libya considers compensation necessary before it can be welcomed back into the international community and start to repair ties with Washington.

Secretary of State Colin Powell cautioned that no official offer is on the table.

"It certainly is a step in the right direction, but I don't think it resolves the entire issue, resolves all the outstanding issues that have to be dealt with respect to Libya and Pan Am 103," he said.

Georgia Nucci, whose 20-year-old son, Christopher Jones, died in the blast, was frustrated with Kreindler, who she said "very inappropriately" leaked details of the settlement proposal.

"I think it has jeopardized the entire settlement, and this is something that I wanted to put behind me," said Nucci, from Claverack, N.Y. "I'm livid. There is no deal. There's a suggestion."

As word came that a settlement might be near, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Libya's ability to reach an agreement "would be a highly significant factor as we went forward to consider how to proceed."

"But at this point," Boucher said, "it's the first of a variety of things, requirements that need to be fulfilled. It's not the be-all and end-all of the whole process."

Article continues below

---

advertisement

---

Author: 6 ABC-AP