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The Daily OrangePan Am 103 families speak out against UN
By Stephanie Musat
Posted: 10/22/07, 1:39 AM EST Section: News
This week marks Remembrance Week, which honors the 35 Syracuse University students lost in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in Lockerbie, Scotland on Dec. 21, 1988.
The hijackers of the plane were Libyan, and the country has yet to fully reimburse the victims' families with the original promised compensation.
Despite this, the United Nations elected the nation of Libya onto the Security Council last week, outraging the victims' families because of Libya's tie to the attack.
Libya's induction to the council came after years of opposition from the United States, specifically in 1995 and 2003. At both those times, Libya was under United Nations authorization because it was responsible for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people.
The United Nations lifted its sanctions against Libya in 2003, and the United States resumed complete diplomatic relations in 2004.
"The Pan Am 103 families are deeply saddened by the administration's decision to reverse its 15-year-long effort to block Libya's bid for a Security Council position," said Kara Weipz, president and political action chair of Victims of Pan Am Flight 103.
Family members of victims protested Washington's decision not to oppose Libya. A statement from the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 last week said they were "horrified" by the American inaction.
"In order to have U.N. sanctions lifted, Libya agreed to reveal all relevant information on the bombing," the Oct. 16 statement read. "It has never done so."
Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 entered a civil lawsuit with Libya and part of its settlement was to provide a the $2 million compensation to the families, Weipz said. Libya has not paid the families fully.
"(Libya's induction) is disappointing," Weipz said. "We are disappointed in our own government because they were too eager to accept Libya without them providing compensation. We are also disappointed in the other members of the Security Council because this is an injustice. Terrorism is not only a U.S. problem but a world problem."
The hijackers of the plane were Libyan, and the country has yet to fully reimburse the victims' families with the original promised compensation.
Despite this, the United Nations elected the nation of Libya onto the Security Council last week, outraging the victims' families because of Libya's tie to the attack.
Libya's induction to the council came after years of opposition from the United States, specifically in 1995 and 2003. At both those times, Libya was under United Nations authorization because it was responsible for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people.
The United Nations lifted its sanctions against Libya in 2003, and the United States resumed complete diplomatic relations in 2004.
"The Pan Am 103 families are deeply saddened by the administration's decision to reverse its 15-year-long effort to block Libya's bid for a Security Council position," said Kara Weipz, president and political action chair of Victims of Pan Am Flight 103.
Family members of victims protested Washington's decision not to oppose Libya. A statement from the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 last week said they were "horrified" by the American inaction.
"In order to have U.N. sanctions lifted, Libya agreed to reveal all relevant information on the bombing," the Oct. 16 statement read. "It has never done so."
Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 entered a civil lawsuit with Libya and part of its settlement was to provide a the $2 million compensation to the families, Weipz said. Libya has not paid the families fully.
"(Libya's induction) is disappointing," Weipz said. "We are disappointed in our own government because they were too eager to accept Libya without them providing compensation. We are also disappointed in the other members of the Security Council because this is an injustice. Terrorism is not only a U.S. problem but a world problem."
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 13
Dan Tobin
posted 10/22/07 @ 1:06 PM EST
The second sentence of this news blurb is wrong, the plane was not hijacked: it was bombed by the convict Abdel Bassett Ali Megrahi who posed as a baggage handler and was employed by the Libyan Government which has sent tens of thousands to death over 35 years, jailed dissidents, and displaced the Libyan National population, used and promoted slavery and has not yet been taken into custody for war crimes and human rights abuses as they should be. (Continued…)
Details Bedevil Libyan Grand Bargain
posted 10/22/07 @ 4:11 PM EST
Libya has not abandoned it's WMD programs. Just as with Lockerbie compensation payments, Kaddafi welched on his commitments to WMD disarmament.
David Foley, a Department of State spokesperson, informed Arms Control Today Sept. (Continued…)
Patrick Haseldine
posted 10/22/07 @ 6:39 PM EST
Please refer to the "Media Monitors Network" (MMN) article at http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/46864. For an American publication, it is a refreshingly unbiased account of the current position in relation to the Lockerbie bombing. (Continued…)
Robert McKie
posted 10/24/07 @ 4:31 AM EST
Major Charles McKie worked for the US Defence Intelligence Agency. While in Lebanon, McKee reportedly discovered a CIA team who were working with Manzur El-Khassar , allegedly a Syrian drug dealer. (Continued…)
Patrick Haseldine
posted 10/24/07 @ 5:56 PM EST
This is all very interesting but gets us nowhere.
(The correct spelling is Major Charles McKee, by the way.)
Who actually targeted and sabotaged Pan Am Flight 103?
Surely not the CIA, nor the FBI, nor the U. (Continued…)
Robert McKie
posted 10/25/07 @ 2:09 AM EST
Reportedly the bomb maker was Marwan Abdel Razzack Khreeshat who reportedly worked for the CIA. According to Juval Aviv, the Lockerbie investigator for Pan Am, Major Charles McKee's team had discovered an illegal CIA drug operation and refused to participate. (Continued…)
Patrick Haseldine
posted 11/01/07 @ 9:41 AM EST
A campaign for a United Nations Inquiry into the 1988 Lockerbie bombing has just been launched - see http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/UNInquiry/
The Inquiry is likely to focus on UN Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson, perhaps the most prominent among the 259 fatalities on board Pan Am Flight 103. (Continued…)
David Howard
posted 12/11/07 @ 5:30 PM EST
Charles McKee and Operation Ringwind
Google and type in "Operation Ringwind"
David Howard
posted 1/23/08 @ 11:59 AM EST
http://menacocaine.blogspot.com/
David Howard
posted 10/03/08 @ 11:17 PM EST
http://www.911researchers.com/blog/73
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