The deal that Libya is on the verge of reaching with America with respect to the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 is a step backward in the war against terrorism. According to the outline of the deal reported by the Associated Press, the Libyan dictator, Muammar Gadhafi, is to pay billions of dollars to the families of the victims and accept some responsibility for the bombing in exchange for a lifting of United Nations sanctions on Libya.

The most articulate and heartfelt assessment of the deal no doubt was the one given to us yesterday by Susan Cohen of New Jersey, whose 20-year-old daughter Theodora died in the bombing. We’ve been speaking to Ms. Cohen about the bombing and the Libyans on and off now for almost a decade, and our conversation yesterday was one of the saddest ever.”It’s happening, what I had hoped would never happen,” she said. “This is blood money. This is a terrible thing. This is a triumph for Gadhafi.”

President Bush has a lot on his plate, and we are generally inclined to give him some room to maneuver as he commands the war against the Muslim terrorists. But this deal smacks of something out of the Clinton administration. It makes one wonder what’s next — if Osama bin Laden surfaces and offers to pay compensation to the victims of September 11 and take responsibility for the bombing while renouncing future acts of terror, would America consider the matter settled?