US, Libya near deal to compensate terror victims, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

US, Libya near deal to compensate terror victims

Compensation: Under the deal, Libya will set aside $536 million to pay the remaining claims from the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and $283 million to compensate those killed and injured in the bombing of a West Berlin disco in 1986, said attorney Jim Kreindler, whose law firm represents the 130 Lockerbie victims.

Two hundred and seventy people died when a bomb destroyed a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988. The Berlin disco bomb killed three and injured 229. The deal will also set aside additional funds to compensate victims of other incidents blamed on Libya, possibly bringing the total payout to more than $1 billion.

To implement the tentative agreement, however, congress will have to relieve Libya of the effects of a law enacted this year making it easier for terrorism victims to collect damages by having the assets of target governments frozen. “It’s not locked in,” a senior US official said of the tentative agreement, adding, “Congressional action would help us enormously to make sure it happens.”

http://newageislam.com/us,-libya-near-deal-to-compensate-terror-victims/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/375

Libya signs bombing compensation deal with US, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Libya signs bombing compensation deal with US

15 Aug 2008, REUTERS

US victims covered include those who died in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people and the 1986 attack on a Berlin disco that killed three people and wounded 229, Libyan officials said.

It also covers Libyans killed in 1986 when US planes bombed Tripoli and Benghazi. Forty people died.

In Washington, a State Department official confirmed the signing of the comprehensive deal. Ties between OPEC member Libya and the United States have improved dramatically since 2003, when Libya accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and said it would stop pursuing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

Since then, the United States has dropped many sanctions, removed Libya from a terrorism blacklist and restored diplomatic links after decades of enmity.

Muammar Gaddafi's Libya has slowly emerged from its international isolation. But Libya objected early this year to new US legislation to enable terrorism victims to collect damages from governments such as Libya by having their assets frozen.

http://newageislam.com/libya-signs-bombing-compensation-deal-with-us/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/563

Libya: End is Welcome, but Doesn't Justify the Means, Islam and the West, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and the West

25 Aug 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

Libya: End is Welcome, but Doesn't Justify the Means

By Simon Jenkins We may all applaud Qadhafi’s downfall, but it remains the case that Britain's intervention in Libya was wrong. The downfall of a dictator is always welcome. Especially welcome is the downfall of Qadhafi of Libya. He was not the worst of his genre, but for 42 years was the beneficiary of the crassest western intervention, veering between ineffective sanctions and ostracism and Tony Blair's cringing, oil-drenched “friendship.” More welcome still would have been his downfall clearly at the hands of his own people, not courtesy of western armies. http://www.newageislam.com/islam-and-the-west/libya--end-is-welcome,-but-doesn-t-justify-the-means/d/5317