Libya Agrees to Dismantle WMD Program

[PhiPsiRuss]

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has admitted trying to develop weapons of mass destruction but now plans to dismantle all such programs, President Bush (news - web sites) and British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) said Friday.

Bush said Libya's decision — which would open the country to international weapons inspectors — would be "of great importance" in stopping weapons of mass destruction in a global fight against terrorism.

If Libya follows through, Bush said, "its good faith can be returned." He said the United States and Britain would make sure Libya kept its word, given its "troubled history," but he added, "As we have found with other nations, old hostilities do not need to go on forever."

The Libyan news agency Jana Tripoli quoted Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam as saying Libyan experts had shown their U.S. and British counterparts "the substances, equipment and programs that could lead to production of internationally banned weapons." These included a "centrifuging machine and equipment to carry chemical substances."

"Libya has decided, with its own free will, to get rid of these substances, equipment and programs and would be free from all internationally banned weapons," the news agency quoted the foreign minister as saying in a statement monitored by the BBC.

Blair said Britain and the United States had been talking with Libya for nine months, after negotiating a settlement in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 270 people. Libya made the overture, hoping to resolve its weapons program "in a similarly cooperative manner," Blair said in Durham, Britain.

At the White House, Bush said the war in Iraq (news - web sites) and efforts to stop North Korea (news - web sites)'s nuclear program had sent a clear message to countries such as Libya that they must abandon weapons programs.

"In word and in action, we have clarified the choices left to potential adversaries," Bush said. That was an apparent reference to Iran and North Korea, two other countries that the United States contends are trying to develop weapons of mass destruction.

Without naming them, Bush added: "I hope other leaders will find an example" in Libya's action.

The U.N. Security Council ended sanctions against Libya on Sept. 12 after Gadhafi's government took responsibility for the Pan Am bombing and agreed to pay $2.7 billion to the victims' families.

But the United States has kept its own 17-year embargo in place. Washington has said Libya was actively developing biological and chemical weapons, upgrading its nuclear capabilities and seeking ballistic missiles to deliver weapons of mass destruction, working with the help of countries that sponsor terrorism.

U.S. intelligence agencies, in unclassified publications, have said Libya has developed a nuclear infrastructure, but officials have stopped short of saying the country was definitely trying to develop a nuclear weapon.

Libya was probably seeking chemical weapons and dual-use items that could be used in a biological weapons program, intelligence reports have said.

According to a recent, unclassified report to Congress, Libya's longest-range missiles were thought to be Scud-B ballistic missiles. These have a range of 186 miles. U.S. intelligence reports suggest Libya has been seeking missiles with longer ranges.

Besides dismantlement of its weapons of mass destruction, Libya stated that it wanted to limit the range of its missiles to the 186 miles, Blair said.

Libya had relied heavily on foreign assistance for its weapons programs. It had already made overtures suggesting it would slow or halt its programs to improve its international standing.

The U.S. intelligence statements on Libya's alleged weapons programs suggest efforts in that country were not as advanced as Iraq's were before the U.S.-led invasion.

Very nice. Look for Syria to do the same in the next 2 years.