Lisa Gibson -- who lost her brother in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing -- sat down the other day with the man many blame for the notorious attack: Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
"I welcomed him to America," she told CNN.
The 39-year-old Colorado Springs lawyer said she and another relative of a Lockerbie victim went to see the controversial figure in New York on Wednesday, the same day he delivered a rambling speech to the U.N. General Assembly.
Calling herself an "ambassador of reconciliation," she views the encounter as the latest step in a journey to build bridges between Libyans and Americans -- a mission energized by her strong Christian faith.
"I wanted him to know there were some people out there who've lost loved ones who have a different vision and different heart," she said. "He warmly received us."
Gibson said she is motivated by her Christian faith and one of its overriding tenets -- forgiveness. However, she added that she isn't exonerating anybody.
"As a Christian, I need to forgive you. Only God knows if you are responsible," she said.
Gibson said she has tried to understand the terrorism emanating from the Muslim world over the years and dedicated her life to build a "bridge of reconciliation" with Libya.
She wrote a letter of forgiveness to Megrahi a few years ago and she said he wrote back to say he was sorry for her loss.
"At the heart of terrorism is hate and the only way to effectively battle that is with love," she said.
Gibson formed a group called the Peace and Prosperity Alliance, a non-governmental organization involved with business and educational projects in Libya.
She regards her group as a "conduit of change." Gibson said Libyans have been touched by her effort to forgive.
Gibson said her actions don't "undermine the losses or say it was OK." But she believes her slain brother would support her. She believes he'd think "I don't want my death to be in vain."
She wanted to continue her journey of building bridges by meeting with Gadhafi.
"He said he very much appreciated us coming and welcomed us," Gibson said.
Gadhafi's sanity is still questionable judging from that speech at the UN and we will probably never know for sure whether Libya's government was sponsoring terrorism but Gibson seems to have completely forgiven and that's an amazing thing, religious or not. Excerpts from CNN.com. Read the full article here.
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