O'REILLY: In the second Personal Story Segment tonight, just a short time ago, Dan Cohen met with Attorney General Janet Reno to voice his concerns about the way the trial of the two Libyans accused of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 is being handled. That trial is being held in The Netherlands, and Mr. Cohen has a deep personal interest in it because his 20-year-old daughter, Theodora (ph), was killed in the bombing along with 269 others in the air over Scotland in 1988.
 

Dan Cohen joins us now from Washington, D.C.
 

So what was the purpose of your meeting with the attorney general today?
 

DAN COHEN, DAUGHTER DIED ON PAN AM 103: Well, the whole -- I think the purpose of the whole thing -- this is a two-day affair that's going on right now. The Scottish prosecutors are here. There are members of the Justice Department. There are members of the Dumfries constabulary.
 

A lot of people are there, and Janet Reno came in. She said a few words, you know, walked around, shook hands, answered a few questions.
 

I asked her one. The whole purpose of the thing is really to kind of sell the trial to the families. Some of us have expressed great reservations, some of us don't like the damn thing at all, and this is just -- you know, this is a sort of a hand-holding, head-patting kind of session.
 

O'REILLY: All right. So "Everything's going to be OK. Even though they're being tried in The Netherlands, justice will be served." Now what did you ask Ms. Reno?
 

COHEN: Well, I asked -- we had a specific question here. In -- in late February or early March, the United Nations Secretary General prepared a document for -- to be given to Muammar Qaddafi. It was vetted and signed on by representatives of the United States government and the British government, and it set out certain conditions for this trial.
 

One condition was that the -- nothing in the trial could under -- would be -- would undermine the Libyan government. Then there were certain conditions about -- if these guys are actually convicted, about their imprisonment, that they would be imprisoned in Scotland, yes, but under UN supervision.
 

And there are a number of other provisions in this document that - - which we've heard about but we've not seen. We find it very disturbing.
 

We know it exists because, for one thing, Fred Eckhard, who is Kofi Annan's chief spokesman, called my wife to tell her it didn't exist, wound up admitting that it existed, and then hung up on her.
 

O'REILLY: All right. So, basically, they made a deal with Qaddafi to extradite these guys that said number one...
 

COHEN: Right. You got it.
 

O'REILLY: ... they're going to be tried in The Netherlands, if they' re convicted, they'll go to prison in Scotland, and number two...
 

COHEN: In Scotland.
 

O'REILLY: ... the Scottish authorities will not be supervising them, UN authorities would.
 

COHEN: That is correct.
 

O'REILLY: All right. And you don't like that why?
 

COHEN: I don't -- well, you know -- you know, the whole -- a whole variety of reasons. For one thing, if they got the UN authorities supervising the prison, they -- these guys ain't doing hard time, and there's -- there are questions about when will they get out. If these guys are actually convicted, they get a life sentence, which in Scotland means about 20 years. But, hey, they let out the guy -- they just let out the guy who tried to blow up Margaret Thatcher and did get four innocent bystanders. His parole date was -- the earliest parole he could get was 2019. He's gone now.
 

O'REILLY: All right. So you --- but you see that...
 

COHEN: I'm worried about that.
 

O'REILLY: The problem is that if the gov -- if the U.S. didn't make the deal and the British authorities didn't make the deal, Qaddafi probably would have just kept these guys and they wouldn't have been punished at all.
 

COHEN: Yeah, but the co -- but these guys are not the problem.
 

These guys are the hit men. Qaddafi is the godfather. What has come out of this deal is he turns over his henchmen, and what happens immediately? The Brits suddenly restore relations with Qaddafi. The United States is -- is giving -- is allowing oil executives to go to Libya to see -- check up on what can be done after all this is over.
 

O'REILLY: All right. So you -- you want Qaddafi is to be punished, is what you want.
 

COHEN: You got it. You got it.
 

O'REILLY: But how do you do that?
 

COHEN: Well, for one thing, you can keep the damn sanctions on him. That's one thing you could do. They're talking now about -- about the -- not only lifting the sanctions but removing them entirely.
 

They're talking about taking him off the terrorism list in the United States. These are the things that shouldn't be done.
 

O'REILLY: Why are you so convinced that he himself ordered this bombing?
 

COHEN: Well, let's see. These guys -- and everybody at this briefing says -- these guys are Libyan agents. They -- they are following the directives of the Libyan secret service. The Libyan secret service is headed by a guy named Senoussi, who is Qaddafi's brother-in-law. Nothing goes down in -- nothing big goes down in Libya without Qaddafi' s approval. What would you think?
 

O'REILLY: No, I -- listen, I...
 

COHEN: Seriously, what would you...
 

O'REILLY: I don't doubt it.
 

COHEN: What would you think?
 

O'REILLY: I don't doubt it for one millisecond that he...
 

COHEN: Yeah, neither do I. Neither did anybody in that room doubt for one minute that Qaddafi was responsible for this.
 

O'REILLY: All right.
 

COHEN: But they say, "Well, we haven't got the evidence to bring to court." O'REILLY: We've got -- we've got a minute left.
 

COHEN: Yeah, sure.
 

O'REILLY: Do you believe that you and your family have gotten a fair shake from the United States government here?
 

COHEN: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. We do not believe we've gotten a fair shake from the United States government. This was the largest terrorist attack against American civilians in history. The -- Clinton told us this is an attack on America. So what -- what have we got here? Two hit men and -- and Qaddafi's reputation is being restored. He's -- he's walking -- he's being hailed as a statesman for turning over his -- his -- his henchmen. That's -- that makes me sick, and to be honest with you, when you talk to -- talk to these people, they tell you, "Yeah, it makes me sick, but this is the -- this is" -- you know, "It's better than nothing. It's the best we can do." O'REILLY: All right.
 

COHEN: This is the greatest nation on earth. This is the best we can do? The hell it is.
 

O'REILLY: All right, Mr. Cohen. We appreciate your point of view very much, and good luck to you and your family.
 

COHEN: Thank you.
 

O'REILLY: Next, we will wrap things up with the Most Ridiculous Item of the Day and some of your mail.

Bill O'Reilly, Personal Story: The Pan Am Flight 103 Trial. , The O'Reilly Factor (Fox News Network), 08-23-1999.