The Honorable Madeleine K. Albright
Secretary of State
Department of State
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Secretary Albright,
We know you share our commitment to ensure that the terrorits indivated for the henious attack on Pan Am flight 103 are brought to justice.
Speaking at Arlington National Cemetary last December at the tenth anniversary of the bombing, President Clinton rightly committed to seeking stronger United Nations sanctions against Libya if the suspects were not turned over for trial by the February UN Security Council review. That review is scheduled for Friday and the suspects remain at large.
Prince Bandar and President Mandela recently reported Libya's willingness to turn the suspects over for trial in a Scottish court in the Netherlands, on the basis of certain assurances from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. If Libya follows through in the next two days and allows the terrorists to be tried in a Scottish court, we will finally have achieved some measure of justice. However, we cannot be deterred by Qadhafi's posturing. Libya has previously evaded increased pressure by sending disingenuous positive signals.
Enough is enough. If the suspects are not in Scottish custody for trial by Friday's UN review, we urge you to act on the President's commitment.
You previously promised the victims' families the US would seek a multilateral embargo on Libyan oil exports if Qadhafi failed to deliver the suspects. While we know this will not be easy to achieve, we are confident you and Acting Ambassador to the UN Peter Burleigh can win sufficient support to strenghten sanctions against Libya. It is critical that we not allow this sanction review to pass without taking action.
The Qadhafi regime must pay a price for harboring terrorists
who killed American citizens. We must step up the pressure. Justice is
long overdue. The families of the victims deserve no less.
Sincerly,
(signed)
Senator Frank R. Lautenberg
Senator Barbara A. Milsudski
Senator Sam Brownback
Senator Robert Torricelli