Muammar Gaddafi's death resonates with the families of Lockerbie

Muammar Gaddafi . She received good news Thursday: He was dead

The photo associated press release A policeman walks past the wreckage of Lockerbie, Scotland Pan Am flight 103 from London to New York in December 1988. In late 2003, after years of denial, Muammar Gaddafi in Libya acknowledged responsibility for the attack that killed 270 people jumbo aircraft. The death of Qaddafi on Thursday, some good news for family members of those killed in the attack.

He planned to hold a promise he made to himself long ago.

“I’ll just go buy an expensive bottle of champagne to celebrate,” said Cohen, the city of Cape May Court House.

Pan Am flight 103 carrying

his daughter, Theodora, and 258 people from London to New York when it exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland December 21, 1988, killing all 11 people on board and in the soil. Many of the victims were Americans in New Jersey and New York, flew home for the holidays.

The U.S. government Gaddafi regime involved, and a Libyan intelligence agent Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, was convicted as the mastermind. He was released from British captivity in 2009 allegedly for reasons humanitarian because he was near death.

But the fact still alive two years later is still a thorn in the side of U.S. officials and relatives of the victims. Many families, like Cohen, have spend day gap since 1988, until Gaddafi to be brought to a semblance of justice.

“I got up every day and run to the computer and search all news articles about what was happening to him, reading, reading, playing every day in anticipation of this, “said

.

Kara Weipz, Mount Laurel, New Jersey, including 20 years brother Richard Monetti, was a student at Syracuse University on the flight, said he was surprised to learn of the death of the dictator.

“a shock” said.

Weipz said he felt “relief, knowing that it can not hurt anyone and torture. For the last 20-odd years, I ‘ I never thought this day would come. The world is a better and safer today. “

Your father, Bob Monetti, from Cherry Hill, said that much more information than Families need to know.

“There are a number of people who participated in the attack have not been arrested or captured,” he said.

Two weeks ago, Monetti opened a nursery school with her daughter in Mount Laurel, using funds received in a monetary settlement of Qaddafi with the families of victims, an agreement made years after the bombing.

Weipz agreed, adding that the death of Kadhafi remains close the book on Lockerbie.

“Finally, I just hope that there was evidence against him,” he said. “All the families really want to know the truth of how it ‘s has passed. This has been our motto since 1988 and continues to be our motto in 2011. ”

In London, British Prime Minister David Cameron has promised assistance to Libya’s leaders as they work to form a new government.

“Today is a day to remember all victims of Qaddafi,” he said. “We must also remember the many people, many of those who died at the hands of this brutal dictator and his regime.”

Bert Ammerman of River Vale, New Jersey, whose brother, Tom, died in attack, said Thursday was a day I wanted to.

“I never thought I’d see the day when this man, this coward, would not be a part of the world , “he said. “Today I can say with great satisfaction that my brother and the other 269 people were killed December 21, 1988, did not die in vain.

He also welcomed President Barack Obama with a military action that resulted in death Gaddafi and Osama bin Laden.

“eliminate bin Laden. Kadhafi is now eliminated is the right way to do it,” he said. ” Never again should occupy these countries, we must use our technology, our intelligence and work by a group of allies such as NATO and if we eliminate I think the future areas of state terrorism .. “

Cohen said he spent an anxious morning news-consuming than the first mentioned – but could not confirm that Gaddafi had died -.

>” It was like Dracula: Dracula is really dead, “he asked” It’s great, now we know .. I do not want him to go to trial. When you have a tyrant, a monster like him, everyone is better off with his death. Now there can be no illusions that he ever return to power. “

Even among people who have lost loved ones in the attack, the news of the death of Qaddafi has made a relief.

The word was received with joy by members of small and scattered Southern California Libyan-American. Most have a life in the United States and not return to Libya, but they all have friends or the parents.

“All the families I know he is happy. We called the other at 4:30 this morning … congratulate each other, “Idris Traina, 62, of Torrance, President of California American South in Libya.

Geoff Mulvihill , Associated Press, Wayne Parry, Associated Press

Parry reported

point Pleasant, New Jersey, contributed to this report were Associated Press writers Shawn Marsh in Trenton and Larry Rosenthal, Robert Jablon in Los Angeles and David Stringer in London .