As rebels flood Tripoli, victims of Pan Am Flight 103 tell National Review Online that Col. Moammar Qaddafi’s ouster is a bittersweet victory.

“We felt we could have done more as a nation to stop Qaddafi,” says Brian Flynn, vice president of Victims of Pan Am Flight 103. “We legitimized the Qaddafi regime by returning [bombing mastermind Abdulbaset Ali] al-Megrahi and cynically believing Qaddafi would help us fight al-Qaeda.”

Thankfully, Flynn notes that the Obama administration has asked the rebels to turn over al-Megrahi once they get their hands on him.

“It’s got to be a good thing,” says Bob Monetti, who lost his son Rick on the flight. Yet Monetti warns, “I’d like to have them find [Qaddafi]. Then we could be certain.”

“Truthfully, I don’t think he’ll be captured,” says Eileen Walsh, who lost her father, brother, and sister in the attack. “I think he’s a coward and he’ll kill himself instead of being captured and standing trial.”

Nonetheless Flynn grants partial credit to the president for this limited success: “The credit goes to the Libyan people, but also to the Obama administration and the Brits and French, who — not necessarily with wide popular support — stepped up and in an appropriate fashion enabled the rebels. We didn’t do it for them. We just helped them out — which I think is a better model than we’ve seen in the past.”