Gadhafi's Offer Of Compensation example essay topic

349 words
It has taken 15 years, but Libyan leader Mo ammar Gadhafi's pariah regime is finally being forced to shell out some compensation for bombing a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 270 people. Gadhafi is now offering to pay $2.7 billion (U.S.) - as much as $10 million per victim - in a bid to regain standing in the international community. He wants an end to crippling United Nations, American and international sanctions, and Libya's removal from the list of terror-friendly states. However his offer plays out, the Canadian government need be in no big hurry to upgrade ties. It has been two years since Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi was convicted in the bombing by a special Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands, and sentenced to life. He was a Libyan security official close to Gadhafi.

Given that delay, Gadhafi's rehabilitation needen't be rushed. He certainly took his time acknowledging responsibility. That said, his $2.7 billion offer represents only a fraction of the real cost the U.N. has made Libya pay for this terrorist outrage. Over the years, U.N. sanctions and isolation have cost Libya a breathtaking $50 billion in lost oil sales and other costs. That loss will never be recovered. The U.N. squeezed Libya hard in 1992.

Diplomatic ties were downgraded. An air travel and arms blockade were imposed. Sales of machinery to Libya's oil industry were stopped. And Libyan assets were frozen. This resolve forced Gadhafi to surrender al-Megrahi for trial. The Security Council deserves credit for keeping the pressure on.

Gadhafi's offer of compensation now has France pressing for hefty reparations in the similar 1989 mid-air bombing by Libyans of a French aircraft with 170 aboard. Payments cannot bring back the victims. But Gadhafi's regime has at least been held to account for a hideous crime. And that is some comfort. It puts others on notice that the world is resolved to exact a price from those who practise terror.