What to Do About Outlaw Libya Now? : Brilliant work by FBI and others cracks Pan Am 103 case

The indictment of two Libyan intelligence officials in the bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, culminates three years of exhaustive investigation involving the police forces of 53 countries. In the course of gathering the evidence that led to simultaneous murder indictments in both the United States and Scotland, 16,000 people were interviewed and four million fragments of wreckage were collected and examined.

Thanks especially to the work of the FBI and of police in Scotland and Malta, there is now a good chance that some measure of retribution can be exacted for what British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd so aptly calls “a fiendish act of wickedness.”

The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on Dec. 21, 1988, killed all 259 people aboard the Boeing 747 and 11 people on the ground. It was planned as a perfect crime that would leave no evidence behind to incriminate those responsible. U.S. and Scottish authorities are confident that this calculation has now been proved wrong.

LIBYA’S SANCTION: But having identified two of the alleged conspirators in this monstrous crime, what next? Certainly there is no realistic expectation that Libya will surrender the two intelligence officers to American or British jurisdiction. The two indicted men, employees of an intelligence service tightly controlled by Libyan dictator Moammar Kadafi, could only have acted with sanction from the very top. The White House has made a point of calling attention to a continuing pattern of support for terrorism by Libya, stretching back over many years. France has also suffered an act of terrorism against one of its airliners where the forensic evidence pointed to Libya’s involvement.

WORLD’S PROBLEM: If the accused cannot be tried in a court of law, they and their masters can be brought brought before the court of world opinion. An international crime demands an international response, for terrorism against civil aviation is unequivocally a threat to global security. The evidence gathered in the Pan Am bombing should be presented to the U.N. Security Council, and sanctions should be demanded. The Libyan intelligence agents are known to have used Libya’s government-controlled airline as a cover for their activities. That justifies seeking a ban on landing rights for that carrier everywhere in the world. Other mandatory sanctions should also be sought.

The Bush Administration has refused to rule out possible military action against Libya, although one White House official says such a step is not imminent. The White House also says that the President has talked with allied leaders about a future course of action against Libya. It’s important, we think, especially in view of the bitter course of relations between the United States and Libya, that every effort be made in this instance to mobilize an effective international response--without, however, prejudicing the inherent U.S. right to act in self-defense.

Meanwhile, full credit must be paid to the truly remarkable forensic work done by those who worked so diligently to solve this crime. Jay Stephens, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, summed it up well: “Surely, this has been one of law enforcement’s finest hours.”