The Bush Administration Agrees to Pay Libya Reparations for Air Strike Ordered by President Reagan

Yes, you read that correctly.  Blood boiling yet? 

This is from the WND report after the State Department acknowledged the settlement on an August Friday:

Despite 189 American lives lost in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing, the U.S. settled all lawsuits against Libya for terrorist killings and restored diplomatic relations with the country today – with reparations to be paid to Libya.

President Ronald Reagan ordered air strikes on Tripoli and Benghazi on April 15, 1986, after Libyan terrorists planted 6 pounds of plastic explosives packed with shrapnel on the dance floor of La Belle discotheque in Berlin, killing three people – including two U.S. soldiers – and maiming 200 others.

Two years later, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded in a terrorist attack by a Libyan intelligence agent. The blast killed 268 people from 21 countries, including 189 Americans. U.S. families filed 26 lawsuits against Libya for the 1988 bombing of the plane en route to New York from London….

Nicole Thompson, a State Department spokeswoman, told WND, 'The settlement goes to both sides. The settlement is for outstanding claims on the part of Libya as well as the United States.'When asked whether the U.S. will make reparations payments to Libya, Thompson responded, 'Yes.'

France 24 confirms the report, oozing with enthusiasm from State's Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs, David Welch (italics mine):

'This is a very important agreement. This turns a new page in our relationship,' [Welch] said after the signing ceremony.  'This agreement signed today is designed to resolve the last major historical issue that has stood in the way of a more normal relationship between our two countries,' Welch said.
  
'Under this agreement each country's citizens can receive fair compensation for past incidents. When fulfilled, the agreement will permit Libya and the US to develop their relations.'

Past incidents?  Fair compensation?  I thought the idea was that President Reagan's strike was fair compensation for the past, er, incident — which Libya then compounded with another terrorist atrocity … ordered by the guy who's still running the place.

Is there anyone out there who was pining for a 'more normal relationship' with Gadhafi?  I confess I must have missed that.

What would we be saying if Clinton or Obama did this?