[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 117 (Friday, August 2, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9551-S9552]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing 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.''
____________________