 Allan Gerson - For most Americans, waging a battle
against international terrorism became top priority on September 11, 2001. For
the families of those who died in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am 103 over
Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988, that battle began thirteen years ago.
Allan Gerson has been in the thick of their struggle for most of those years.
Allan Gerson, a well-known expert on international law,
brought the first suit against Libya on behalf of the Lockerbie victims -- and
helped write and pass the law (the 1996 amendments to the Foreign Sovereign
Immunities Act) that makes it possible for ordinary citizens to hold foreign
governments accountable for acts of terrorism. Allan Gerson and Newsweek senior
editor Jerry Adler have written The Price of Terror: One bomb. One plane. 270
lives. The History-Making Struggle for Justice After Pan Am 103, a stirring
account of the victims' decade-long fight for justice.
Most recently, Allan Gerson served as Senior Fellow for
International Law and Organizations at the Council on Foreign Relations. An
authority on international law, he earned his doctorate at Yale University and
has lectured and published widely in the field. He is also the author of The
Kirkpatrick Mission: Diplomacy Without Apology.
In a recent speech at a session at the General Assembly of
the United Jewish Communities, Allan Gerson noted that the U.S., and to some
extent Israel, is dealing with disillusionment over the failure to solve
problems through peaceful means. For Israel, it is the Oslo Accords, and for the
U.S., the Sept. 11 attacks. Mr. Allan Gerson called attention to the fact that
all of the major points, and even phrases, used by President Bush in recent days
to describe America's war on terrorism can be found in a presidential report on
aviation safety commissioned 11 years ago in the wake of the Pan Am tragedy.
"The fact that we did nothing" to counter terrorist attacks in the last decade
"can only be described as `sick,' " said Allan Gerson, who expressed hope that
the U.S. finally has learned its lesson to strike at terrorism without mercy.
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