[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 117 (Friday, August 2, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9551-S9552]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              SUSAN COHEN--THE TIRELESS PURSUIT OF JUSTICE

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, on Monday, August 5, a distinguished 
American named Susan Cohen will be present in the White House when 
President Clinton signs H.R. 3107, the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act of 
1996. Susan Cohen imminently deserves this honor. She was a dedicated 
and tireless leader in the effort to enact this legislation.
  Susan Cohen, of Cape May Court House, NJ, is the mother of Theodora 
Cohen--a victim of Pan Am Flight 103. Since the bombing of that flight 
over Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988, Susan and her husband, Dan, 
have dedicated their lives to bringing to justice those responsible for 
their daughter's death. In recent months, Susan has been extremely 
effective in her efforts to educate Members of Congress about the 
importance of applying this legislation to Libya, which continues to 
harbor the two suspects indicted in the bombing.
  All of us who know Susan Cohen admire her inspiring devotion to 
justice. Her efforts have brought us closer to the goal. I commend her 
for her leadership, and I ask unanimous consent that a recent New York 
Times article may be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From the New York Times, July 24, 1996]

                 Time Passes, But the Pain Never Fades

                           (By Evelyn Nieves)

       Susan Cohen watched the mourners toss single roses into the 
     sea, heard a reporter talk about ``a sense of closure,'' and 
     turned off her television, shuddering with sadness and 
     disgust.
       Of all the hard times in the week since T.W.A. Flight 800 
     blew up, seeing Monday's seaside memorial to the 230 victims 
     had to be one of the worst. ``I couldn't stand to watch those 
     people,'' she said. ``It was just too much. And to hear the 
     talk about closure just made me want to throw up.''
       The next day, her emotions were still raw. ``All these 
     homilies about loved ones going to a better place. I just 
     hate that,'' she said. ``The politician said eight million 
     meaningless things. As if that could help. As if any of that 
     could help.''
       It is going on eight years since Mrs. Cohen and her 
     husband, Daniel, lost their only child, Theodora, 20, to the 
     terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, 
     Scotland, which killed 270 people. ``The pain will not go 
     away,'' Mrs. Cohen said. ``It will never go away.''
       Theodora--Theo to all she knew--was a singer and aspiring 
     actress. ``She had a beautiful soprano voice,'' Mrs. Cohen 
     said. ``She was vibrant and artistic.''

[[Page S9552]]

       She was on her way home from London, where she had spent a 
     semester studying drama. A plastic explosive, hidden in a 
     portable radio in the cargo hold ripped the jet apart and all 
     259 people aboard, and 11 people on the ground, were killed.
       ``I feel such a rage of anger that you cannot imagine,'' 
     Mrs. Cohen said, ``Because Theo's murderers are out there. No 
     one has been punished. I looked at Fred Goldman in that 
     ghastly O.J. trial and knew what he was going through for his 
     son.''
       When she talks, the words spill out in coherent sentences, 
     as if she has thought them a million times.
       The Cohens have spent countless hours since the death of 
     their daughter in pursuit of answers, and justice. Two Libyan 
     Government agents indicted for the bombing remains in Libya, 
     free. Over the last several months, Mrs. Cohen has spent six 
     or seven hours a day on the phone, lobbying Congress to pass 
     sanctions against foreign oil companies doing business in 
     Iran and Libya. Yesterday, it passed the House. ``Because a 
     plane blew up, not because of anything that I've done,'' she 
     said, ``Is that what has to happen for justice? A bombing?''
       Even the prospect of tough sanctions does not make her 
     happy. Getting the bill passed was just the first step, she 
     said. Now, ``the fight is to see it's enforced.''
       She has worked on fighting Congress with a few other people 
     who lost relatives to the Pan Am 103 bombing, but not many. 
     Over the years, Pan Am 103 families, who won a civil suit 
     against Pan Am, have argued bitterly over how best to pursue 
     justice. ``There are now four groups of Pan Am families,'' 
     Ms. Cohen said.
       ``We've all fought horribly. I look at the pictures today 
     of families locked shoulder to shoulder on the beach. We 
     started together, too. But the idea that everybody gets 
     together as one big unhappy family is one of the myths of 
     these tragedies.''
       Another great myth: ``The Getting On with Your Life 
     story,'' Mrs. Cohen said. ``The idea that you can move beyond 
     the tragedy makes me want to vomit. The year is circular. 
     Theo's birthday is coming up Sept. 10.''
       When her daughter died, Mrs. Cohen, a writer like her 
     husband, stopped writing. For months, years it seemed, she 
     stopped doing much of anything. Days passed in bed, months in 
     a blur. Four years ago, the Cohens moved from Port Jervis, 
     N.Y., where they raised their daughter, to Cape May County in 
     New Jersey. ``I couldn't stand that house any more.'' Mrs. 
     Cohen said. ``I couldn't take the memories any more.
       Though it doesn't really help, she knows she is not alone. 
     One women she knows who lost her 20-year-old son to Pan Am 
     103 visits his grave every day, sometimes twice a day. 
     Another who lost her husband ``has been just as devastated by 
     his loss as I am by my daughter's,'' Ms. Cohen said. ``It 
     takes a great poet to describe this. It takes genius to be 
     able to describe the depths of pain, and I'm not a great poet 
     or a genius.''
       The Cohens live with a dog and three cats in a ranch house 
     with bird feeders hanging in the backyard. Mrs. Cohen belongs 
     to a P.G. Wodehouse society, a Sherlock Holmes reading group 
     and goes birding near home. They happen to live in one of the 
     world's best venues for bird-watching.
       ``It's not like I'm living here and can't get out of bed,'' 
     Ms.Cohen said. ``I'm living. But there's an enormous hole, a 
     hole so huge it's the size of the Grand Canyon. It's never 
     the same. It can never be the same.''

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