Inching to Reconciliation, Blair Plans Meeting with Qaddafi

LONDON, Feb. 10 — Prime Minister Tony Blair plans to meet Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi "as soon as convenient," Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Tuesday. The announcement came following the first formal visit here by a Libyan foreign minister since 1969.

The foreign minister, Muhammad Abdul Rahman Shalgham, met Mr. Blair and Mr. Straw in private talks that centered on the "good progress" Mr. Straw said had been made since Colonel Qaddafi announced on Dec. 19 that he was ridding his country of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs.

No weapons-related materials have been destroyed, but surveys are under way with assistance from United States and British intelligence officials and experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, Western officials said.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy on Tuesday became the first Western leader to travel to Tripoli since Colonel Qaddafi's declaration. Italy's relations with Libya are close and complicated. Under Mussolini, Italy imposed a brutal and repressive administration in Libya.

Mr. Blair and President Bush heralded Colonel Qaddafi's turnaround as a diplomatic success that resulted from the military campaign in Iraq. But Libyan and Western officials in Tripoli link it also to disastrous economic policies that have fueled domestic discontent within Libya.

Mr. Bush has allowed Mr. Blair to take the lead in engaging directly with the Libyans, an indication of how sensitive White House political advisers remain about the negative imagery of meeting with Libyan officials given Colonel Qaddafi's past association with terrorism.

At a news conference, Mr. Straw said, "We are hoping very much that a visit can be arranged" between Mr. Blair and Colonel Qaddafi "as soon as convenient, but no date has yet been fixed," he said.

Mr. Shalgham explained Libya's position, saying that "we had the equipment, the material and the know-how, but we decided not to produce" unconventional weapons. He also said he hoped that the families of victims of Libyan-sponsored terrorism would understand that it was "in everybody's interest" to restore relations with Libya.

"Things have changed," he said. "We have the courage to review our politics and directions. The caravan is moving on."

Britain is still pressing for the arrest of a Libyan diplomat believed to be responsible for the murder of a British police officer, Yvonne Fletcher, in 1984. She was shot from inside the Libyan mission during street potests. Colonel Qaddafi has not allowed the diplomat to be interviewed by British detectives.

A spokesman for Mr. Blair said that Britain wanted to see "a continuation" of progress before announcing the next steps. Bush administration officials have hinted that they would like to complete the initial steps for removing or destroying illicit weapons and related technology before rewarding Colonel Qaddafi.

Colonel Qaddafi seems as sincere about reconciliation as he was when he made his statement, which followed nine months of secret talks among diplomats and senior intelligence officials from Libya, Britain and the United States. Since then, American and British weapons inspectors and a senior American diplomat have been advising Libyan officials on how to destroy mustard gas, pack up thousands of components for enriching uranium and prepare formal presentations on violations of nonproliferation treaties.

What an empty soul Blair is - like all Labourite leftists. Meet with a man that had his goons shoot and kill a British female bobby? Meet and honor a man with a state visit that caused a jet plane full of souls to fall out of the sky on Lockerbie?

I will reserve judgment for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi - I do not recall if Libya was ever accused of sponsoring any of those Arabic acts of terror on Italian soil.

I bet John Brown the head of BP was with him.

They want oil and Libya has lots of it, that is why they are forgiving him.

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