AUGUST 26, 2000    CONTACT: CLIFF KINCAID,   301-855-2679

Washington, D.C.: Previously classified documents in the Pan Am 103 bombing case confirm that the Clinton Administration has made a deal with Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, one of the most notorious terrorists the world has ever known. Cliff Kincaid, president of America's Survival, a public policy organization, says the crime is "worse than treason" because the documents clearly outline a secret diplomatic deal that lets Gadhafi off the hook for his alleged role in the bombing, which killed 270 people, including 189 Americans. A trial of two low-level Libyan intelligence agents for the crime is underway in Holland.

As feared, the U.S.-approved U.N. documents promise Gadhafi that the trial of the two scapegoats "will not be used to undermine the Libyan regime." This is seen as a grant of immunity for Gadhafi, who would have ordered the bombing. The documents also promise special U.N. treatment for the two Libyans if they are convicted. Equally important, the documents describe how economic sanctions against Gadhafi were to be suspended and reimposed only if all permanent Security Council members, including Russia and China, agree. This, too, lets Gadhafi off the hook, because Russia and China would never agree to the reimposition of sanctions. However, certain Western interests, including Big Oil companies such as Occidental Petroleum, also wanted the sanctions lifted so they could resume business in Libya.

America's Survival is the organization that sought access under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to these documents, which had been kept secret for more than one year. In order to evade the disclosure requirements of the FOIA, State had put a "classified" stamp on them. They have have now been released because the defense counsel for the two Libyans requested them in the trial. Gadhafi, of course, had them all along, and had confirmed the existence of the deal in an interview with British Sky TV.

The FOIA request and State Department response are included in the 44-page America's Survival report, "Getting Away With Mass Murder," available on the web site www.usasurvival.org

What follows is the text of the Annex that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan provided to Gadhafi as part of the deal:

Understanding on the issues outstanding from the point of view of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.

As provided for in Security Council resolution 1192 (1998) the two persons concerned will be transferred from Libya to the Netherlands and tried under Scottish law before a Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands.

If found guilty, after any necessary appeals process, they will serve their prison sentence in Scotland. If the two are not convicted, they will be free to return to Libya unimpeded.

There is no intention to interview them, or to allow them to be interviewed, about any issue not related to the trial. There will be no deviation from Scottish law which provides that the two persons have the right to refuse to see any police or intelligence officers. The two persons will not be used to undermine the Libyan regime.

The prisoners would be held in a distinct portion of a Scottish prison to provide maximum security. All necessary measures will be taken to ensure the safety and well-being of the two persons, if convicted. This facility will be given a special international designation, and special arrangements will be introduced to provide for a role for the United Nations in monitoring the treatment of the two persons concerned. These arrangements, which will be subject to discussions with the United Nations, will be regularly reviewed by the British Government to ensure that they worked effectively and satisfied the legitimate concerns of all parties.

The two prisoners would have unfettered access to legal and diplomatic representatives. An official Libyan presence in Scotland for that purpose will be allowed. Pursuant to the conditions of imprisonment set out in the relevant Scottish law, religious, health and dietary requirements of the two prisoners would be fully met. Visits by clerics and the supply of religious books would be arranged.

The two prisoners or their representatives will have the right to make representations to the authorities of the United Kingdom if they consider that some aspect of their place of imprisonment was contrary to humanitarian concerns. Any such representation would be very carefully considered by the United Kingdom authorities.

With reference to the measures set forth in Security Council resolutions 748 (1992) and 883 (1993), these measures shall be suspended immediately if the Secretary-General reports to the Council that the two persons concerned have arrived in the Netherlands for the purpose of trial before the Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands. These measures could only be reimposed by a new decision of the Council taken by an affirmative vote of nine Members of the Council, including the concurring votes of all the Permanent Members.

 

America’s Survival, P.O. Box 146, Owings, MD 20736 www.usasurvival.org