February 2001 World Headlines

Thursday, February 1, 2001 - Web posted at 8:03:16 AM GMT

Attention turns to Gaddafi

CAMP ZEIST, Netherlands - Relatives of the Lockerbie victims demanded yesterday that the United States and Britain follow up the conviction of a Libyan for the 1988 airliner bombing by indicting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi."

"They have pinpointed the jokers in the pack.

Now we want the kings," said Betty Thomas after a special Scottish court convicted Abdel Basset al-Megrahi of planting the suitcase bomb that blew the jumbo jet to bits in the air in December 1988.

The Welshwoman lost her daughter and grand-daughter in the attack."

"This was not one lone man deciding single-handedly to avenge his government," said Helen Engelhardt Hawkins, an American whose husband died in the blast.

In Washington, relatives who gathered to hear the verdict broadcast welcomed the guily verdict but said Gaddafi was the real perpetrator and must be held accountable."

"This is the beginning.

You can't make friends with someone who blows up an American plane," said Susan Cohen, who lost her 20-year-old daughter in the tragedy.

"This bloody murderer, Gaddafi, has destroyed my life."

"Cohen said Megrahi was "really the hand of Gaddafi".

George Williams, who lost his son, said: "We still have Muammar Gaddafi to get ... Gaddafi was the godfather.

These guys were the hit men."

"Bruce Smith, a former Pan Am pilot who lost his wife Ingrid, criticised the former Clinton administration for obstructing a case against the Libyan government."

"The US State Department has not been our friend in this process," Smith said.

He also offered a bitter comment on reports that Britain would continue diplomatic relations with Libya even if there was a guilty verdict.

- Nampa-Reuters

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