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CNN Saturday Morning News
Family Members Not All Comfortable with Pan AM Deal
Aired November 09, 2002 - 09:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Today in New Jersey, family members of the victims of Pan Am flight 103 are meeting to discuss a settlement proposal from Libya.
Jason Bellini is covering that meeting, and Jason joins us now live from Newark. Good morning, Jason.
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Renay.
Family members are beginning to arrive for this meeting. This is going to be the very first meeting of these families to discuss this proposal. These are the families of the victims, the 270 victims of Pan Am flight 103, 189 of them were Americans, another 11 people died on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland.
Not all of them are comfortable with this deal. There are controversial elements to it, because the -- Libya, the United States, and the United Nations would require -- be required under this deal to do certain things before they would receive their money, at least $10 million for each family
They would get their money in several phases. First, Libya or -- first Libya would admit to its responsibility for the bombing, something it has not yet done. Then, before they got some of them -- before they'd get some of the money, the United Nations would have to lift sanctions against Libya. Then the United States would have to lift sanctions, and they'd get more money.
They'd get the rest after the United States lifted -- or took the country of Libya off of its list of terrorist countries, something that the country of Libya desperately wants, as they want to regain credibility within the international community and be able to make better trade deals, especially deals relating to oil.
Other family members feel better about this deal, saying they think that Libya is now ready to put an end to this and to reach their -- this financial settlement.
We spoke with Bert Ammerman, he's the brother -- his brother died on Pam Am flight 103.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERT AMMERMAN, 103 VICTIM'S BROTHER: In my years of experience, you never know what Libya's going to do. You know, they get up to a point, they may pull out again. But what's interesting and intriguing about this is that the family attorneys have negotiated the settlement with representatives from the Libyan Central Committee.
It's almost similar to when the two individuals almost turned over for trial, and I firmly believe both countries would like to have this eliminated as quickly as possible so they can start selling oil and they can start working with Libya again.
So there is some seriousness to it. Now the families have to make a decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELLINI: Now, Renay, the U.S. State Department sources tell CNN that they're very skeptical that this deal is really going to happen. They don't think that Libya is going to admit to this bombing. It's something they haven't done since 1988, and that would certainly have to happen for this deal to go forward, Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: The families looking for some closure after all of these years. Jason Bellini, live from Newark, New Jersey, thanks for that report.
BELLINI: You're welcome.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 9, 2002 - 09:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Today in New Jersey, family members of the victims of Pan Am flight 103 are meeting to discuss a settlement proposal from Libya.
Jason Bellini is covering that meeting, and Jason joins us now live from Newark. Good morning, Jason.
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Renay.
Family members are beginning to arrive for this meeting. This is going to be the very first meeting of these families to discuss this proposal. These are the families of the victims, the 270 victims of Pan Am flight 103, 189 of them were Americans, another 11 people died on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland.
Not all of them are comfortable with this deal. There are controversial elements to it, because the -- Libya, the United States, and the United Nations would require -- be required under this deal to do certain things before they would receive their money, at least $10 million for each family
They would get their money in several phases. First, Libya or -- first Libya would admit to its responsibility for the bombing, something it has not yet done. Then, before they got some of them -- before they'd get some of the money, the United Nations would have to lift sanctions against Libya. Then the United States would have to lift sanctions, and they'd get more money.
They'd get the rest after the United States lifted -- or took the country of Libya off of its list of terrorist countries, something that the country of Libya desperately wants, as they want to regain credibility within the international community and be able to make better trade deals, especially deals relating to oil.
Other family members feel better about this deal, saying they think that Libya is now ready to put an end to this and to reach their -- this financial settlement.
We spoke with Bert Ammerman, he's the brother -- his brother died on Pam Am flight 103.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERT AMMERMAN, 103 VICTIM'S BROTHER: In my years of experience, you never know what Libya's going to do. You know, they get up to a point, they may pull out again. But what's interesting and intriguing about this is that the family attorneys have negotiated the settlement with representatives from the Libyan Central Committee.
It's almost similar to when the two individuals almost turned over for trial, and I firmly believe both countries would like to have this eliminated as quickly as possible so they can start selling oil and they can start working with Libya again.
So there is some seriousness to it. Now the families have to make a decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELLINI: Now, Renay, the U.S. State Department sources tell CNN that they're very skeptical that this deal is really going to happen. They don't think that Libya is going to admit to this bombing. It's something they haven't done since 1988, and that would certainly have to happen for this deal to go forward, Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: The families looking for some closure after all of these years. Jason Bellini, live from Newark, New Jersey, thanks for that report.
BELLINI: You're welcome.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
