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CNN Saturday Morning News
Interview with Bert Ammerman, Brother of Pan Am 103 Victim
Aired December 20, 2003 - 09:08 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.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Earlier this year, Libya struck a deal with family members of the 270 people killed in the bombing of 15 years ago of Pan Am flight 103. The settlement totals $2.7 billion.
Bert Ammerman is a brother of one of those victims, and he joins us now with reaction to the Libyan weapons announcement.
Mr. Ammerman, good morning, and thanks so much for coming in.
BERT AMMERMAN, PAN AM VICTIM'S BROTHER: Good morning.
KOPPEL: So what's your reaction?
AMMERMAN: Unbelievable disbelief and irritation. Twenty-four hours from now, I'll be observing the 15th anniversary of this horrific act.
I listened to President Bush say that leaders can learn from this, that if they do what Gadhafi just did, they'll be returned in good faith. So I get from this is that Gadhafi massacred 189 Americans at 31,000 feet, and he's now being rewarded by the United States, where President Bush and Prime Minister Blair become willing partners.
The country is not a problem with me. If Gadhafi wasn't in power, I'd be a big advocate of this. But again, the United States has not learned on how to deal with foreign policy or have a moral background.
KOPPEL: Well, let me ask you this, because it sounds like you have obviously a fundamental disagreement with the Bush administration, laying out some guidelines for Libya as to what it would take to lift U.S., not U.N., sanctions, since the U.N. sanctions have now been lifted.
In terms of Gadhafi renouncing his WMD program and renouncing terrorism, now that he's done at least one of those two, why shouldn't the U.S. reward Libya, or at least make movement towards that?
AMMERMAN: As soon as Gadhafi is out of power, I would support that. It begs the question, if Hussein, from his cell now, showed us where the weapons of mass destruction was and denounced terrorism and said he made a mistake and wants to go back into the international community, would President Bush put him back in power? Absolutely not. You know, why haven't we dealt with Castro, who has killed no Americans in over 30 years?
It's hypocritical to make this type of statement. Any citizen, or anyone listening to this show, would say, in common sense, what -- why are we dealing with this man that killed American citizens? Someone else comes into power, absolutely. Begin to do that. Would we have put Hitler back into power if he denounced what he did? Absolutely not.
KOPPEL: So then, should the United States maintain sanctions against Libya no matter what Moammar Gadhafi's government, as long as he is there running the show, continues to do?
AMMERMAN: It really is an interesting question, because the Pan Am families stand to benefit by this, if the sanctions are lifted, because Gadhafi has agreed to give another $4 million.
It's amazing to me, as we were doing our settlement, our country was having a sidebar along with Great Britain and Gadhafi to move in this direction.
What -- Andrea, what this is all driven by is big business and oil, and it really bothers me that 15 years later, that some politician doesn't stand up and simply state, until this person is out of power, we just can't in good conscience deal with the country. Once Gadhafi is out of power, we'll reach out, we will and move ahead.
What we should be doing is saying, Libya, you did what you were supposed to do, give up the weapons of mass destruction. That's a step in the right direction. But do not lift the sanctions or take them off the state-sponsored terrorism. Why your rewarding a criminal?
KOPPEL: Bert Ammerman, we thank you for coming in this morning. And certainly our thoughts will be with you and the other family members on this, the 15th anniversary of the bombing of Pan Am 103.
AMMERMAN: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Victim>
Aired December 20, 2003 - 09:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Earlier this year, Libya struck a deal with family members of the 270 people killed in the bombing of 15 years ago of Pan Am flight 103. The settlement totals $2.7 billion.
Bert Ammerman is a brother of one of those victims, and he joins us now with reaction to the Libyan weapons announcement.
Mr. Ammerman, good morning, and thanks so much for coming in.
BERT AMMERMAN, PAN AM VICTIM'S BROTHER: Good morning.
KOPPEL: So what's your reaction?
AMMERMAN: Unbelievable disbelief and irritation. Twenty-four hours from now, I'll be observing the 15th anniversary of this horrific act.
I listened to President Bush say that leaders can learn from this, that if they do what Gadhafi just did, they'll be returned in good faith. So I get from this is that Gadhafi massacred 189 Americans at 31,000 feet, and he's now being rewarded by the United States, where President Bush and Prime Minister Blair become willing partners.
The country is not a problem with me. If Gadhafi wasn't in power, I'd be a big advocate of this. But again, the United States has not learned on how to deal with foreign policy or have a moral background.
KOPPEL: Well, let me ask you this, because it sounds like you have obviously a fundamental disagreement with the Bush administration, laying out some guidelines for Libya as to what it would take to lift U.S., not U.N., sanctions, since the U.N. sanctions have now been lifted.
In terms of Gadhafi renouncing his WMD program and renouncing terrorism, now that he's done at least one of those two, why shouldn't the U.S. reward Libya, or at least make movement towards that?
AMMERMAN: As soon as Gadhafi is out of power, I would support that. It begs the question, if Hussein, from his cell now, showed us where the weapons of mass destruction was and denounced terrorism and said he made a mistake and wants to go back into the international community, would President Bush put him back in power? Absolutely not. You know, why haven't we dealt with Castro, who has killed no Americans in over 30 years?
It's hypocritical to make this type of statement. Any citizen, or anyone listening to this show, would say, in common sense, what -- why are we dealing with this man that killed American citizens? Someone else comes into power, absolutely. Begin to do that. Would we have put Hitler back into power if he denounced what he did? Absolutely not.
KOPPEL: So then, should the United States maintain sanctions against Libya no matter what Moammar Gadhafi's government, as long as he is there running the show, continues to do?
AMMERMAN: It really is an interesting question, because the Pan Am families stand to benefit by this, if the sanctions are lifted, because Gadhafi has agreed to give another $4 million.
It's amazing to me, as we were doing our settlement, our country was having a sidebar along with Great Britain and Gadhafi to move in this direction.
What -- Andrea, what this is all driven by is big business and oil, and it really bothers me that 15 years later, that some politician doesn't stand up and simply state, until this person is out of power, we just can't in good conscience deal with the country. Once Gadhafi is out of power, we'll reach out, we will and move ahead.
What we should be doing is saying, Libya, you did what you were supposed to do, give up the weapons of mass destruction. That's a step in the right direction. But do not lift the sanctions or take them off the state-sponsored terrorism. Why your rewarding a criminal?
KOPPEL: Bert Ammerman, we thank you for coming in this morning. And certainly our thoughts will be with you and the other family members on this, the 15th anniversary of the bombing of Pan Am 103.
AMMERMAN: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Victim>
