Pan Am 103 Victim's Family Not Surprised Ghadafi Ordered Bombing
SHREWSBURY (CBS) -- The mother of a young woman killed on Pan Am Flight 103 was not surprised to hear the news Wednesday that a top government official says he has proof that Libyan dictator Moammar Ghadafi was the mastermind behind the bombing.
"We knew eventually the truth would come out and bear out what we all believed to be the case, that it was state-sponsored," said Jeannine Boulanger, whose 21-year-old daughter Nicole was one of 270 people who died when their plane was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988. Nicole was one of nearly three dozen Syracuse University students coming back to the United States after having spent a semester studying in London.
WBZ-TV's Jim Armstrong reports.
"No surprise at all," the Shrewsbury native continued. "We knew from the get-go. If you go back to the 80s, any terrorism that went on at that time was usually state-sponsored. You know, two lowly gentlemen don't decide to bomb a plane without having some support for doing that."
As unrest and political turmoil in Libya continue, that country's former justice minister and longtime Ghadafi confidant, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, has now announced his one-time boss ordered the bombing and helped to cover it up. He did not immediately elaborate about what that proof might be.
For Boulanger's part, she does not see any wisdom in seeking further punishment against the dictator. Besides, she said, his fellow countrymen will likely see to that anyway.
"You know, as I look at what's going on," she explained, "I think that Colonel Ghadafi will see his own justice by the people of Libya."
