Reactions From 1998 Embassy Bombing Victims

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MICHEL MARTIN, host: September 11th was, of course, a defining moment for the U.S. and our military operations against al-Qaida. But three years before 9/11, al-Qaida also carried out attacks at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Those coordinated bombings killed more than 200 people and wounded thousands of others. Twelve Americans were killed in those attacks.

Edith Bartley lost two family members in the Nairobi bombing. Her father Julian was the consul general of the embassy. Her brother, Julian, Jr. was working there as an intern. She now represents victims and families affected by that bombing, and she's with us on the line now from Fairfax, Virginia.

Edith, thank you so much for joining us. And, again, our condolences to you on the loss of your loved ones.

EDITH BARTLEY: Thank you, Michel. I'm glad to be here today.

MARTIN: May I ask your reaction when you heard the news about the death of bin Laden? Did you ever think this day would come?

BARTLEY: Overwhelmed. And, yes, we did feel strongly that, eventually, he would be apprehended, captured and/or killed. But we were surprised at how long it took, but grateful to see this day come today.

MARTIN: What do you think it means to have bin Laden lose his life in this way? I was asking our earlier guest, Jay Winuk - and I knew you heard our conversation - whether there is a part of you that would have liked to have seen him brought to account in a more public way, perhaps a trial, that represents, say, the values of the world that he tried to destroy. Or is this - as he said - it is what it is? So...

BARTLEY: We're glad that he's been captured and no longer walking the earth. Fortunately, our country has had two trials already with members of al-Qaida, both - one in 2001, and as recently as this year, we've finished up the Ghailani trial. And so - and we expect more to come. For our families, we're sure that followers of al-Qaida see this as a huge blow to their work. And so we are - we feel good about the outcome, but we underscore Secretary Clinton's comments that while this is a milestone for our military, for our nation, for our intelligence services and their fight against terrorism worldwide and for our allies, we certainly, as a nation, must remain vigilant. And we don't know what's to come tomorrow or a year from now.

MARTIN: For the past 13 years, you've worked on legislation that would give compensation to the victims and the families affected by the embassy bombings. Where does that stand?

BARTLEY: We have, again, this year started over, and we hope to make it through the House and the Senate this year. We have strong bipartisan support under the leadership in the House of Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. from Illinois, Senator Blunt of Missouri in the Senate, Senator Mikulski of Maryland and many other members.

We hope that this incident will bring to the forefront people's memories that our nation's role in tracking down bin Laden started long before 9/11. As early as 1996, bin Laden had been under surveillance by our intelligence community and a live active cell was in Nairobi, Kenya, which eventually led to the demise of our embassy there and 12 Americans and hundreds of Kenyans. And we hope that more sensitivity will be brought, and recognition, to the importance of protecting our brave Foreign Service officers that serve on the front lines with our military personnel day in and day out, around the world, and particularly right now in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And we certainly see these developments as an opportunity for our nation to strengthen our relationship with Pakistan.

MARTIN: I'm trying to figure out a way to ask this question, because it's a bit of a delicate question. I wonder whether the whole question of how Foreign Service work is viewed, has that been in some ways an open wound all these years, as well? I mean, the failure of the compensation package to make it through Congress all these many years later, the fact that, you know, foreign aid has been one of the areas that was targeted for cuts in the last cycle of budget actions.

And I wonder - I don't want to lead you into that conversation, but I am interested in whether - is that still a bit of an open wound for you, as a family of a Foreign Service worker - officer?

BARTLEY: Absolutely. Absolutely. For our families, it's something that we live with every day, and we will continue to advocate for the moral obligation of our government to see this through. Following 9/11, our government - rightly so - raised the death gratuity for military personnel. And we need to treat our Foreign Service diplomats in the same manner.

These families - you know, diplomats and military personnel have families. And they're there in those countries, and we've got to continue to look over the budget and secure our embassies worldwide, where we have lots of different federal employees working.

We have to do this. It has to be paramount as we look to Americans to represent our country around the world. We asked President Obama and the first lady to recognize Foreign Service families as just as important as our military personnel. They fight and work together, hand by hand. And that's the only way that we can increase our diplomatic relations around the world and be present.

MARTIN: Edith Bartley represents the families of Americans killed in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Nairobi and Kenya and in Tanzania, which was carried out by al-Qaida. She was on the line with us from Fairfax, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C.

Edith Bartley, thank you so much for joining us. And our condolences to you also on the loss of your loved ones.

BARTLEY: Thank you. Thank you.

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