Libya 'to give up WMD'

BBC ^ | 19/12/2003 | BBC

[Da_Shrimp]

Libya's leader Colonel Gaddafi has said his country sought to develop weapons of mass destruction capabilities but will dismantle this programme completely, Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced. "This decision is an historic one and a courageous one and I applaud it," Mr Blair said.

Colonel Gaddafi had told him the process of dismantling the programme would be "transparent and verifiable", the prime minister said in a statement from Durham Cathedral.

The range of all Libya's missiles would be restricted to "no more then 300km, he added.

Mr Blair said Britain had been engaged in talks with Libya for nine months.

"Libya came to us in March following successful negotiations on Lockerbie to see if it could resolve its weapons of mass destruction issue in a similarly cooperative manner," he said.

[Grampa Dave]

You bet you helped from Tony to your brave warriors in Iraq. As our great allies, only the stupid dare to stand up against us. Krazy Kaddaffy is Krazy, but he ain't stupid.


Thanks for being there with us since 9/11 as our real allies!

[TomGuy]

Kim Jong has been "away" from public view for several months now.

ko-wink-e-dink??????

If the media didn't know GWB was flying to Bagdad,
and the media didn't know GWB was negotiating with Qaddaffi,
imagine how they will act if GWB secretly has Kim on ice somewhere.

[chiller]

Three cheers that Tony Blair made the announcement first....but what time is it in Britain?

Blair made the announcement first, probably 10:15 pm or so. The timing however suggests that the deal was struck during daylight on this side of the Atlantic, wouldn't you think?Good on W to let Tony take the first bow.

[kabar]

I recall the Israelis claiming before the UN inspectors went back in that Saddam was shipping WMD to Libya. Once Saddam was caught, Gaddafi must have got the pucker factor, afraid that Saddam may have spilled the beans. I hope we check closely to see where Gaddafi's WMD were produced.

[Radioactive]

THANK YOU RONALD REAGAN

[BJClinton]

So here's what Al-Jazeera has to say:

Libya to scrap weapons of mass destruction

Saturday 20 December 2003, 2:37 Makka Time, 23:37 GMT

Qadhafi agreed after nine months of secret dealings with Washington and London

Libya has announced it would eliminate all its weapons of mass destruction.

The North African country's foreign ministry said in a statement Libya "had decided on its free will to... completely eliminate the internationally banned weapons of mass destruction."

The statement said the agreement was reached after meetings with "experts" from Britain and the United States. No details were immediately available on the nature of these meetings, where they took place and when.

The text, of which an excerpt was obtained by Reuters, said the decision was in line with Libya's pledge to make the Middle East and Africa a nuclear-free area.

It said Libya had decided to keep only missiles "of the range and specification agreed under (requirements of) the MTCR" (Missile Technology Control Regime).

'Historic' decision

Libya accepted responsibility for the bombing of a Pan Am airliner

"This decision by (Libyan leader)Colonel Qaddafi is an historic one and a courageous one and I applaud it. It will make the region and the world more secure," said British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who first announced the deal in a television address.

"Today's announcement shows that we can fight this menace through more than purely military means; that we can defeat it peacefully, if countries are prepared, in good faith, to work with the international community to dismantle such weapons," Blair said.

In a surprise announcement to the White House press corps, US president Geroge Bush said Colonel Muammar Qadhafi had agreed, after nine months of secret dealings with Washington and London, to destroy all of his weapons of mass destruction.

"With today's announcement by its leader, Libya has begun the process of rejoining the community of nations," said Bush.

"And Colonel Qadhafi knows the way forward," he said. "Libya should carry out the commitments announced today. Libya should also fully engage in the war against terror."

Troubled history

Bush made clear, however, that he and Blair were not yet prepared to take the Libyan leader entirely at his word.

"With today's announcement by its leader, Libya has begun the process of rejoining the community of nations"

George Bush, US president

"Libya has a troubled history, but America and Britain will be vigilant," he said. "Libya can regain a secure and respected place among nations and over time can achieve far better relations with the United States...Libya should also fully engage in the war against terror."

Qadhafi has "agreed immediately and unconditionally to allow inspectors from international organizations to enter Libya," said Bush. "These inspectors will render an accounting of all nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs.

"Colonel Qadhafi's commitment, once it is fulfilled, will make our country more safe and the world more peaceful."

Travel ban

Washington now bans most economic activity and travel by US citizens to Libya. It said last month it would renew the travel ban for a year but review it every three months.

Libya escaped from broader UN-imposed international sanctions earlier this year after accepting responsibility for the bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 and paying out billions to the families of victims.

[Grampa Dave]

The answer to your question re what happened 9 months ago?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1043737/posts?page=270#270

To: BOBTHENAILER; Miss Marple; Ernest_at_the_Beach; PhilDragoo
Actually, Krazy Kadaffi after seeing the Shock and Awe being delivered to Iraq, sent out feelers that he didn't want to be aligned with the Islamofascists any more. He preferred to be aligned with the African countries.

I'm sure that what closed this deal was what was in $oddomite's briefcase. So we now have the Reformed and Kuddly Krazi Kaddafi.

270 posted on 12/19/2003 3:39:38 PM PST by Grampa Dave (George $orea$$ has owned and controlled the Rats for decades!)

[wizardoz]

Tony Snow calling it a carrot and stick arguement that the President just gave.

I dunno, could be more stick than carrot. A BIG stick.

[Batman94]

To whom it may concern:
A few thoughts regarding this news of Libya... sorry for any repeated thoughts.

First a great line from Bush speech in last Repub convention I think applies over and over;
"They had their chance, they have not led, we will!"

Some points why Dean is wrong about a safer America;
Someone ought to make a complete list of the thousands of nuances that one could dream up why.

Afghanistan and Iraq are relatively stabilized.

Libya, Pakistan, India, Iran and others have seen the light and are working against terrorism and towards deals and agreements.

Lots of bad guys are scared out of their wits over what's in Saddam's briefcase. Not to mention certain E and W European countries worried about what's America finding and what information will be made public. If we spare their dignity on this one the dark side countries should thank us.

Our pilots are no longer in danger in the no fly zone.

Our neighbors and enemies have far less to worry about.

Our soldiers and sailors can redploy to a new strategic situation and are in less danger in areas like Kuwait, Saudi A. and the Gulf waters. All of which were in range of scuds or RPG's with chem/bio weapons packed in the nose.

We're basically getting out of Saudi Arabia which aides us and reduces need for Al Queda and Mujhadeen members to fight.

Our military and geopolitical situation is brilliant. We have wiped out two political dire enemies.
We have assets on the border and in the deserts and cities of Iran, Syria, Pakistan, China, more?
Its great to be at the gateways of the middle east traffic of evil doers and gov'ts.
We are in control of the early choices of Iraq rebuild and Gov't setup which is of critical interest of to friends and foes of the war which will "internationalize" the Iraq effort like the dems wanted.
Terror attacks in their own nations and satellite television to the masses and the Bush Doctrin are getting Arab nations to talk democracy.
We are now showing the current state of france germany russia china and especially the united nations for what they are (the dark side) and completely re-engineering the leverage over them in a historically short amount of time. There is so much more on this but I won't go on, I find these very exciting days.

WMD and Terrorism have been properly vilified in the world's eyes enough so that they understand their own danger and the need to strike threats early. Libya felt safer and more in danger depending on the decision to "be with us or be with the terrorists". Obviously the President has been busy covertly as promised and I wish that point would be more exploited as well as the fact that the public has no bloody idea what information he gets. We won't know most of it ever but most for 20 - 50 years.

The region is safer, our soldiers in harms way are safer region-wide and now we are pressuring our enemies to beat their WMDs and suicide bombers into plow shares.

All this adds up to the fact that Howard Dean is incorrect or did he just say it to get elected.
Compared to "THE GREAT EXECUTIVE" he's a petty little man who ought to talk to serious people before he speaks.


Sorry for the miniblog...

[CIB-173RDABN]

Bush still can't pronounce "nulclear". That is true. I am totally amazed at how many folks misprounounce it. It's:

NU'-KLEE-UR !

---

No offense MeeknMing, but...

Am I the only one tired of hearing about how someone pronouces nuclear?

Give it a break already. The way a word is pronounced will eventully be how everyone pronounces it.

Of all the problems in the world today, how President Bush, (or anyone for that matter) pronounces "nuclear" should be too low to even comment about. Yet, every time someone says "nuclear", we have people posting about how they mis-pronounce it.

I am sorry I have even this much time on the subject.

Bah-humbug.

[Ann Archy]

How can this BE??? Bush is too STUPID to strategerize!! He's a MORON!! Why would a smart man like the General...uh, Col. make a deal with this half-wit President of ours??

[Da_Shrimp]

Thank you both!

[MeekOneGOP]

X42 pronounced "NU CLEE UR" correctly EVERY TIME. The only thing accomplished by that FEAT was China gaining 20 years in ICMB technology. Who cares!

hehe ! Not a point for debate, actually. But clintoon actually did something right, eh? (pronouncing 'nuclear' correctly). hehe!

The point of my post was that a LOT of folks DON'T pronounce it right. I notice a LOT of high profile folks pronouncing it Nu-Q-lar [or similar to that]. President Bush, the one that I voted for in 2000 and will do so again in 2004, should know better. That is all. It's simply an annoyance when I hear anyone pronounce it incorrectly. Especially educated folks.

Anyway, Happy Days ! Libya is going down the happy road.

Now for some humor ...

[LS]

When reached for comment, Muammar Quaddaffi said, "I may be a crazy sumbitch, but I ain't that crazy. And there are no spider holes near Tripoli."

[Grampa Dave]

Well, Jim's briefcase with some stuff from The $oddomite's brief case changed the minds of the French and Germans about forgiving the Iraqi Debt run up by their best buddy, the $oddomite.

While Jim was visting in Europe, he probably dropped by an US Embassy and had a closed door meeting with the local Lybia Ambassador. Krazy Kaddaffy moved pretty quick after we learned about The $oddomite's Briefcase.

[LS]

So you're suggesting that Americans immigrate to Libya?

[CIB-173RDABN]

Shame they had to announce this on a Friday evening leading into a holiday week. It needs max exposure becasue it validates Bush's strategery and makes the Rats look like idiots.

---

I disagree. The news cycle has changed. Just how many talking head shows are on over the weekend now. They will all have to talk about this.

[RoseofTexas]

Not bad for a stupid, dumb COWBOY!! GIV'EM HELL W!!!

[LS]

It is the Saddam effect. Never underestimate the significance of humilating an Arab leader when it comes to laying down the law to a Muslim nation.

[CIB-173RDABN]

post to myself to remove my early morning tag.