Payoff in Respecting Global Law

Nearly eight years passed between the identification of the suspects in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, and Libya’s decision to turn the two men over for trial. Then, almost instantly, the United Nations suspended its sanctions and the Tripoli government opened its arms to foreign investors. The message couldn’t have been clearer: Comply with the global rule of law and you can get right back on the global money train. The United States and its allies obviously hoped that message got through to Yugoslavia and Iraq, whose people are suffering under sanctions and worse because of their leaders’ intransigence.

Libya, unlike Iraq, never had to endure a worldwide oil embargo because European nations are too dependent on Libyan oil. But Moammar Kadafi’s regime and Libya’s people suffered nonetheless, particularly from an isolating ban on international air travel; overland journeys into Libya were blamed for intimidating large investors.

American companies won’t be among those getting a piece of Libya’s business because of continuing U.S. sanctions related to other terrorist incidents. The State Department said Monday the U.S. restrictions will continue.

Many families of the 259 people who died when their flight plunged into a Scottish field are unwilling to let Kadafi off the hook. As one victim’s father put it, the planned trial in the Netherlands in front of Scottish judges is like prosecuting the hit men while the Godfather goes free. It’s true that the trial might not lead all the way to the puppet masters of this tragedy; Syria and even Iran have been suspected of some role in the Lockerbie crash, along with Libya. But it bolsters the rule of law, always a development to applaud.