Senator Biden : Gadhafi's assertions that Libya will move toward democracy are - 06.03.2004

06.03.2004 By ERIN KELLY Washington Bureau reporter 03/06/2004 WASHINGTON -- Sen. Joe Biden said his one-on-one meeting with Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi this week convinced him the dictator is serious about giving up weapons of mass destruction and ending his financial support for terrorists. "He is out of the terror game, and that's a good thing," Biden said. But he said Gadhafi's assertions that Libya will move toward democracy are "a joke." "Gadhafi is still a dictator who has not a Democratic bone in his body," Biden said. "It will be a cold day in hell before he allows democracy there." The Delaware senator - the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee - was invited to Libya to address the nation's General Assembly. He also had a nearly hour-long conversation with Gadhafi. He described Gadhafi as a pragmatic man who wants to end Libya's isolation to improve his nation's economy and ensure that he - and later his son - remains in power. More than 70 percent of Libya's population is under age 30, and they are in desperate need of jobs and economic investment, which better relations with the West can help provide, Biden said. Biden said he believed it was that fact - and not the U.S.-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq - that prompted Libya's recent overture seeking an end to U.S. economic sanctions. "I don't believe for a second that he just suddenly did this because he was scared by what we did in Iraq," Biden said. Gadhafi, who came to power in a 1969 military coup, announced in December that he would rid Libya of weapons of mass destruction, halt its nuclear development program and open up the country to international weapons inspectors. Earlier in 2003, Libya took responsibility for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, and agreed to pay reparations. The United States first imposed economic sanctions against Libya in 1986 in response to terrorist attacks in Rome and Vienna. The United Nations joined in those sanctions in 1992, after evidence proved a link between Libya and the bombing of the Pan Am flight. The U.N. lifted its sanctions after Libya took responsibility for the bombing. The United States has not yet lifted sanctions, saying it will not do so until it is convinced that Libya has destroyed its weapons of mass destruction and severed ties with terrorists. "If they really do not pursue weapons of mass destruction and stop their support of terrorism, then I'll support President Bush on lifting sanctions," Biden said. During their meeting, Gadhafi asked Biden why Libya and the West "had had this falling out in the first place," the senator said. "I said because you were acting like a terrorist, you bombed 250-plus people out of the sky, and you were seeking weapons of mass destruction," Biden said. "I told him, 'You're a bad guy.' " Gadhafi, according to Biden, remained unruffled and replied calmly, "That's logical."