A $2.7 billion settlement offered by Libya to end a civil lawsuit stemming from the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 will probably be accepted by the victims' families, even if it helps clear the way for the removal of sanctions against Libya, the father of one of the victims said Tuesday.
"A large number of families are getting tired. It's taking its toll on our health. A lot are saying we've done all we can do," said Glenn Johnson of Hempfield Township, the chairman of Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 Inc.
Lawyers for the families have been negotiating with the Libyans for years, apparently with the idea of reaching a deal that would permit the lifting of both U.N. Security Council and U.S. sanctions against Libya.
If the offer is accepted, each of the 270 families represented in the lawsuit would receive $10 million.
Under the agreement, the money would be placed in escrow and released piecemeal as the sanctions against Libya are revoked: 40 percent when the U.N. sanctions are lifted, 40 percent with the removal of U.S. commercial sanctions and 20 percent when Libya is removed from the State Department's list of sponsors of international terrorism.
That's not exactly the best arrangement, said Johnson, whose daughter died in the explosion. Many families believe Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi ordered the bombings and have "wanted Gadhafi to accept responsibility, admit he did it."
Johnson had not yet been officially informed of the staggered distribution aspect of the deal, but said the settlement offer might be "the best we could hope for."
The government has been telling the victims' families for years that Gadhafi will likely be "off the hook," Johnson said. "There's been an awful lot of pressure to lift the sanctions."
Beth Ann Johnson, 21, was one of four area residents killed when the Pan Am jetliner exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988. Also killed were Elyse Saraceni, 20, of Salem Township; U.S. Army Maj. Charles McKee, 40, of Trafford; and David Gould, 45, of Pittsburgh.
Johnson and Saraceni were Seton Hill College students returning to the United States after spending a semester studying in England. Gould was a professor at the University of Pittsburgh and was returning home via Europe after traveling in Africa.
McKee was stationed in Lebanon, where he was working in an intelligence unit assigned to find American hostages who had been kidnapped in Beirut.
The offer comes in response to a civil lawsuit filed by the victims' families against the Libyan government in 1996, five years before the conviction of Libyan intelligence agent Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi for the murder of all 259 people aboard the aircraft and 11 victims on the ground.
Last year, a Scottish court convicted al-Megrahi of murder for smuggling an explosive aboard the flight. A co-defendant was acquitted.
"We don't consider it compensation for Beth," said Johnson's wife, Carole. "But rather to send a message to terrorists that there's a high price for terrorism."
A senior State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that the Bush administration may not feel bound to comply with the arrangement and predicted Congress would reject it as well.
