| 01.01.2004
Thursday, January 01, 2004
WASHINGTON — U.S. officials released details Wednesday
of the intercept last fall of a ship carrying nuclear weapons
components bound for Libya, a seizure that came right as
the United States and Great Britain were deep in negotiations
with Libyan leader Moammar Qadhafi (search) to give up such
weapons.
Qadhafi pledged on December 19 that his government would
quit its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and prove
its compliance by allowing international inspections of
all facilities there.
"Now, we think in Libya (search), in the region, in
the Middle East and Africa, it is better for us to dedicate
all our capabilities for our development," Libyan foreign
Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam said on Sunday. "We are
ready to be transparent and cooperate fully."
That decision followed a bust two months earlier of Qadhafi
as he tried secretly to import components for nuclear weapons.
The ship with the hidden instruments was interdicted by
the United States and United Kingdom. U.S. officials said
Wednesday that it was diverted to Italy in October, where
authorities found its secret cargo of nuclear weapons equipment.
Some State Department officials say the incident had a
"profound effect" on the Libyan leader's willingness
to make a deal, but, some analysts say it did nothing for
Qadhafi's already questionable credibility.
"We should be reserved about giving Libya a clean
bill of health until we're absolutely sure that they have
not only said they're going to do this but follow, not only
with a set of words, but also follow with a set of deeds,"
said Heritage Foundation (search) senior fellow Peter Brookes.
The revelation of the secret shipment adds weight to the
concerns of those who were already cautioning the U.S. government
to be wary of Qadhafi.
Dr. Mohamed M. Bugaighis of the American-Libyan Freedom
Alliance (search), for instance, is not against the agreement,
but wants Washington to use the new leverage to force more
reform.
"He's buckling and we have to use that to get the
real situation, where Libya is no more a danger to nobody,
no more a financer of terrorism, no more putting ticking
bombs in airplanes like Pan Am 103 (search)," said
Bugaighis, one of a growing group of Libyan exiles pushing
for Democratic reforms in their homeland.
Bugaighis said that it is not just Qadhafi's long history
of supporting terrorism abroad, including the bombing of
the airplane over Lockerbie, Scotland as it traveled to
the United States, but his decades of atrocities at home
that should draw U.S. scrutiny. Libyan government television
makes no bones about showing victims of Qadhafi's rule,
people whom Bugaighis said are not more than peaceful political
opponents of the regime.
"People have watched, young kids have watched people,
have been hung on the streets killed," he said. "And
he's using this to keep people, you know, afraid and scared
so they you know can't resist him. How could you believe
that this guy can come out and say, 'OK, I'll be Mother
Teresa'?"
The State Department maintains it has no illusions about
Qadhafi and that the sanctions on Libya are not being dropped
any time soon.
"As there is follow through, we are willing to discuss
with them the issue of improved bilateral relations, but
we're not there yet," said State Department deputy
spokesman Adam Ereli.
As further evidence of the U.S. government's intention
to keep an eye on Qadhafi, the State Department's top nonproliferation
official John Bolton was heading to London Thursday to work
on getting U.S. and British inspectors into Libya as quickly
as possible.
Fox News' Teri Schultz contributed to this report.
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