'Still searching for the truth'

Pamela Dix: Search for answers continues

By Douglas Herbert, CNN.com Europe writer

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Pamela Dix, whose brother Peter was killed by the Lockerbie bomb, is no stranger to mixed emotions, unanswered questions and long ordeals.

Wednesday's verdict capped a trial that many relatives of the Lockerbie victims once despaired of ever seeing - and opened a new chapter in a tragic saga that has eluded closure for more than 12 years.

Abdel Baset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, 48, faces a mandatory life prison sentence in Scotland after he was convicted of planting the bomb that downed Pan Am flight 103.

His co-defendant, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, 44, was found not guilty of murder and can walk free.

"This is definitely one step, but there are many questions that have been raised by the trial that have not been answered by the verdict," said Dix, from London, speaking to CNN.com within minutes of the ruling.

She received the ruling from the Scottish judges via a remote link-up at the Civil Service Training College in London.

Dix has never believed that the truth about the bomb that ripped apart the Boeing 747 over the Scottish village on December 21, 1988, killing 270 people, lay solely in the fate of two Libyan suspects who became the focus of a transatlantic tragedy with global ramifications.

AUDIO Pamela Dix: "I'm surprised with the verdict" 471K/45 sec. AIFF or WAV sound

"Even if these two men were the ones who planted the bomb, they are at the bottom of the chain of responsibility," Dix said at a memorial to mark the 10th anniversary of the bombing in 1998. "They were not the ones who decided that Pan Am 103 should be bombed."

That sense of just scraping the surface has dogged relatives of the tragedy as they have fought through the years for a public inquiry to ascertain why U.S. and U.K. intelligence agencies -- among other perceived failings in the case -- failed to thwart the attack.

But for Dix and others, finding out what really happened 31,000 feet (9,400 metres) above Lockerbie has been about much more than a search for judicial truths.

It has also acquire a moral dimension that relatives say transcends the daily cut-and-thrust of lobbying politicians, consulting with lawyers and talking to journalists.

In an article published in a British newspaper in July 1998 -- before the case went to trial -- Dix wrote about the difficulties of dealing with personal tragedy under such controversial circumstances, in the full glare of the media spotlight.

"People find it difficult to understand that when you are on the receiving end of such events, you take on the responsibility to ensure that others do not go through the same ordeal," Dix wrote.

"This responsibility can sometimes weigh heavily on your shoulders. You realise that it is something people will not thank you for -- many see your quest as a self-indulgent obsession, a failure to let go and move on."

Dix said she still finds it a bit "surreal" that her personal tragedy is inextricably linked with Lockerbie -- a name that has become synonymous with disaster. Sometimes, she said, she finds herself trying to assume the perspective of an objective outsider looking in.

Dix also expressed hope that more answers will be forthcoming in time.

"There have been other tragedies in which people have waited for years before finding the truth of what happened. I would hope that the truth will eventually emerge."

How long that may take is an open question. For all the attention the Lockerbie case has received in the run-up to the verdict, Dix said there have been long stretches where the world's attention has lapsed.

"There have been times when the media has not been interested in the story," she said. "Trying to uncover the truth when there is no interest has been difficult."

Dix said her late brother, Peter, who she last saw at Dublin airport on December 19, 1988 -- two days before the disaster -- after the two had attended a family funeral in Ireland, would approve of her tireless campaign for answers.

"Peter would support the way in which we try to tackle getting to the bottom of this matter."

Libyan guilty of Lockerbie bombing
January 31, 2001
Mixed emotions for many families of Pan Am 103 victims
April 5, 1999

Lockerbie Verdict
Pan Am flight 103
Scottish Courts

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