In the interview, Cohen offered one exception: Herb Zweibon and Americans For a Safe Israel. "Herb Zweibon has been absolutely wonderful. AFSI is the only Jewish organization that helped us in any way. They used their contacts on our behalf, they reached key members of Congress, they gave us invaluable advice."

Because they were able to keep up the pressure through the years -- and no family worked harder at this than the Cohens -- the families of the victims of Pan Am 103 have had limited success, at least in comparison to other high profile cases of government sponsored terrorism. For example, the destruction of the American marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983 and the murder of Americans in military housing at Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia have fallen into a memory black hole, with no culprits identified let alone punished. In the case of Pan Am 103, there was a genuine investigation, Libya was identified as the instigator, and sufficient pressure was brought upon Qadaffi to persuade him to relinquish the two men accused of actually carrying out the crime.

The Cohens close their book optimistic that the case against the two Libyans is a strong one. While they have no faith in genuine punishment being meted out to the two Libyans, they believe that they (and implicitly the Qaddaffi government) will be found guilty. But as the trial unfolds, it appears possible that even here their hopes will be betrayed. The key prosecution witnesses tying the men to the crime turn out to be scoundrels on a par with the con men who tortured the families earlier with their phony stories. The Swiss businessman who first contacted the CIA to say Libya was behind the attack and had testified that one of the accused had visited his factory (which made the timing device incorporated into the bomb), recanted on the stand. A second key witness, a double agent for Libya and the U.S., who claimed to have seen the defendants in the act at Malta, also fell apart under cross examination. While it is possible they have crumbled under Libyan threats of vengeance, as things stand the trial shows signs of converting the tragic bombing of Pan Am 103 into the script for an Oliver Stone movie (if not one starring Inspector Clouseau). The Swiss businessman now claims he made false claims under British threats, and newly-released CIA cables are being put in evidence by defense lawyers to show that the CIA knew for years their Libyan double agent was worthless but deliberately unloaded him on unsuspecting FBI investigators.

Why would the U.S. and England push so hard and pour so much money -- costing $200 million, the trial is easily the most expensive in history -- into such a problematic case? An article in the Jerusalem Report (on-line, September 18) offers an answer from Robert Black, a law professor at the University of Edinburgh, whose repeated visits to Libya helped paved the way for the

"I mistakenly thought that issues like Arab terrorism and Jewish sufferingbesides my daughter Theo there were a number of other Jews on board Flight 103 are precisely the sort of issues that would concern Jewish organizations."

Fortunately, the case against Libya does not rest solely with the weak reeds the Libyan defense team have effectively undercut. There are many thousands of pieces of evidence and as the Jerusalem Report article points out, the prosecution case might still prevail.

But what is already absolutely certain is that the real culprits will be untouched (whatever the identity of the triggermen, they acted under orders from above). And it is possible even the triggermen may go scot free. The credibility of both the FBI and CIA has already been damaged. In the aftermath of the trial, the sense of betrayal of the Cohens and the other families may only grow worse.

Rael Jean Isaac is editor of Outpost.

October 2000               - 9 -               Outpost