Newsday (New York) December 20, 2003
Libya to Dismantle Arms
Bush praises decision, says renegade regimes get the message
By Ken Fireman
Knut Royce, Craig Gordon and Timothy M. Phelps contributed to this article.
Washington - After nine months of secret talks with U.S. and British officials, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has agreed to dismantle his unconventional weapons programs and open his country to international inspections, President George W. Bush announced Friday.
The agreement was the culmination of a process that began with a Libyan overture to London in mid-March, just as the United States and Britain were about to go to war in Iraq, according to administration officials. That contact led to two visits to Libya in October and early this month by U.S. and British intelligence experts, then high-level political talks in London this week, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The president and his aides cast the Libyan decision as a direct result of Bush's policy of confronting regimes seeking nuclear arsenals with tough action ranging from interdiction of weapons shipments to pre-emptive military action like the Iraq invasion.
"All of these actions by the United States and our allies have sent an unmistakable message to regimes that would seek or possess weapons of mass destruction," Bush said. "Those weapons do not bring influence or prestige. They bring isolation and otherwise unwelcomed consequences.
"And another message should be equally clear: Leaders who abandon the pursuit of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them will find an open path to better relations with the United States and other free nations."
One senior administration official said that while, to his knowledge, no Libyan official explicitly noted the U.S. campaign to topple Saddam Hussein as a motivating factor, "I can't imagine that Iraq went unnoticed by the Libyan leadership."
But a veteran Middle East expert, Judith Kipper of the Council on Foreign Relations, expressed doubt at that view. She said Gadhafi made a "strategic decision" at least two years ago to renounce terrorism and repair relations with the West. "It started before they [Washington and London] went to Iraq, a long time ago, so that argument simply does not hold," Kipper said.
The programs U.S. experts inspected included one to build centrifuges for production of highly enriched uranium, a key element of nuclear weapons, an administration official said. The official said the effort had apparently produced "components for an enrichment facility," but not a functioning facility.
The official said the experts were shown "a significant quantity" of mustard agent produced a decade ago at a plant near the town of Rabta. They also were shown aerial bombs designed to carry chemical weapons, equipment that could have been used to build a second production facility and "dual-use chemical precursors" that could be used to produce mustard and nerve agent.
Libya admitted "past intentions" to develop biological weapons but no present capacity to do so, the official said. They also acknowledged a program to develop extended-range missiles, including past cooperation with North Korea.
John Pike, a military analyst at GlobalSecurity.org, which tracks weapons systems, said Libya was once feared to be a major risk as a weapons proliferator. He said concerns about its nuclear ambitions had faded in recent years, but that apprehensions remained about its chemical stockpile, which was believed to include at least 100 tons of nerve and blister agent. "They were not on the A-list, but they were definitely on the B-list," Pike said.
Libya has been seeking to end its international isolation since 1999, when it began to admit responsibility for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, by surrendering two of its nationals to face trial for the crime.
International sanctions imposed on Libya for the bombing have been lifted, but U.S. sanctions remain. The administration official said no explicit promise was made to lift those sanctions in return for the arms deal, but that if Libya lives up to its commitments, "there is a prospect for improved relations between the United States and Libya."
Knut Royce, Craig Gordon and Timothy M. Phelps contributed to this article.
Thorny Relationship
Relations between the United States and Libya have been troubled since Moammar Gadhafi took control of the African nation in 1969.1969: Gadhafi, an army colonel, seizes power in a coup that topples longtime king Idris al-Sanusi.
1972: Gadhafi's pan-Arab agenda results in a merger with Egypt, which is agreed to but fails to materialize. Later merger agreements with Tunisia and Syria also are stillborn.
1981: U.S. shoots down two Libyan aircraft that challenge American warplanes over the Gulf of Sidra.
MARCH 1986: Gadhafi calls for Arab assaults on American interests worldwide after a U.S.-Libyan naval clash in the Mediterranean.
APRIL 5, 1986: Bombing in a West Berlin dance club kills three, including two U.S. servicemen, and injures 200. Evidence later points to Libyan government.
APRIL 15, 1986: U.S. bombs Libyan military facilities, residential areas of Tripoli and Benghazi and Gadhafi's house, killing 101, including Gadhafi's daughter. U.S. says attack is in response to dance club bombing 10 days earlier.
DECEMBER 1988: Bomb downs Pan Am Flight 103 in skies over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270.
1992: United Nations imposes sanctions on Libya to compel it to hand over two of its citizens wanted in connection with Pan Am 103 bombing.
1999: Lockerbie suspects handed over for special trial in the Netherlands under Scottish law.
2001: One of the two Libyans accused of the Lockerbie bombing is found guilty; other is acquitted.
2002: Libya says it is ready in principle to pay compensation to families of victims of the Pan Am 103 bombing.
AUGUST: Libya reaches agreement with victims' families on a $2.7-billion compensation fund. Move effectively ends decade of U.N. sanctions.
FRIDAY: Libya announces it will dismantle all of its weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, in a move designed to repair its relationship with the West. President George W. Bush praises the move.
SOURCES: BBC, The Associated Press
© Copyright 2003, Newsday, Inc.
