COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—A sister of a 20-year-old soldier killed in the Lockerbie bombing says she wants the death Thursday of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi to bring closure and allow families of those who died in the 1988 terrorist attack over Scotland to move forward.
Lisa Gibson’s brother Ken was among 270 people killed 13 years ago in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103—an attack blamed on Gadhafi’s regime. She noted that Gadhafi, who ruled Libya for more than 40 years, could have stepped down months ago when the country’s unrest began.
“It’s kind of a bittersweet day to see him die in this way,” said Gibson, who lives in Colorado Springs. “I think it’s unfortunate but I do believe that at least now, the person that we believe is responsible for Lockerbie is dead and that person who’s responsible for all the atrocities in Libya is dead.”
Gibson stood out as one of the few family members of those killed in the terrorist attack to publicly support Scotland’s August 2009 release of the only man convicted in the bombing, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi. He was freed on humanitarian grounds after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and doctors estimated he had only three months to live.
Al-Megrahi, who was convicted in Scotland in 2001, is still alive.
“For me, he’s dying of cancer, at this point I have peace with the outcome,” Gibson said of the convicted bomber and one unfinished thread to the attack. “And I just trust that ultimately, God will judge him.”
The same year al-Megrahi was released, Gibson met and spoke with Gadhafi for about 10 minutes in New York when he attended the U.N. General Assembly.
Gibson said that she’s tried hard to focus on reconciliation through her foundation, the Peace and Prosperity Alliance, that has raised money for Libyan children with AIDS, trained English teachers and has plans to help train the country’s new leaders in conflict resolution.
“It seems like it’s been a 25-year never ending battle to see this resolved,” Gibson said. “It’s been hard to labor through this for these many years … I want it to be closure to that door and hopefully an opening to a new one and seeing Libya develop and restoring ties between our countries it’ll hopefully have the next generation look very differently than the last.”
She said she forgave al-Megrahi and told Gadhafi so in 2009. She also told Gadhafi she forgave him, during their meeting in New York.
Gibson’s brother was stationed in the Army in Berlin and was going home for Christmas when the Pan Am flight blew up over Lockerbie in 1988.
