Fri, August 01, 2008
The Congress on Thursday passed legislation smoothing the way for Libya to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to compensate U.S. victims of bombing attacks that Washington blames on Tripoli.
The United States and Libya worked out a tentative deal to resolve all outstanding cases of what Washington regards as past Libyan terrorist acts that killed or wounded Americans.
These incidents include the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people and the 1986 bombing of a Berlin disco that killed three people and wounded 229.
The legislation now goes to President George W. Bush for his expected signature into law. Libya has yet to sign the agreement but U.S. officials said they expected it to do so after it becomes U.S. law.
If carried out, the deal could end the legal liability to Libya stemming from multiple lawsuits by families of the U.S. victims and it could herald a further warming in ties between Tripoli and Washington.
Long estranged, the two countries have dramatically improved relations since Libya's 2003 decision to abandon its pursuit of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
Paving the way to carry out the deal, first the Senate, then the House of Representatives voted to exempt Libya from a law enacted this year that would help people deemed victims of terrorism to collect damages by making it easier for them to seize the assets of target governments.
"For too many years, Libya has refused to accept responsibility for its horrific acts of terrorism against American victims," said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, the New Jersey Democrat who sponsored the original legislation.
"But after the pressure we applied, Libya can finally be held accountable for these devastating events. Now these victims and their families can get the long overdue justice they deserve," he added.
NO ADMISSION OF RESPONSIBILITY
Technically, Libya would not accept responsibility for the acts but it would provide the money to compensate the victims.
Under the arrangement, Libya would set aside $536 million to pay the remaining claims from the Lockerbie bombing and $283 million to compensate the U.S. citizens killed and wounded in the bombing of the West Berlin disco, said attorney Jim Kreindler, whose law firm represents 130 Lockerbie victims.
The deal would also set aside additional funds to compensate victims of other incidents blamed on Libya, possibly bringing the total payout to more than $1 billion.
The legislation also creates a mechanism for the U.S. secretary of state to select an entity to receive funds from Libya that would then be used to compensate the victims.
It requires the U.S. government to certify to Congress that Libya had turned over sufficient funds.
The deal has been structured to respect Libyan sensitivities about making a large payout to compensate victims of incidents for which it has not taken responsibility.
"We think that for the families of the victims, this is the right move," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said of the legislation and the tentative agreement. "We think it will allow them the fair and just compensation that they've been seeking in an expeditious manner."
(Agencies)
