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[DreamPipEr]

Libya Agrees to Dismantle WMD Program

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.

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.

Tony Blair and Bush

The decision entitled Libya to rejoin the international community, Mr Blair said.

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."

Questions for Debate:

1. Do you think the war on Iraq had a significant influence on Libya’s decision? Given the time line (around March 2003) that they started talks about dismantling?
2. Should the US end its own sanctions against Libya? Is dismantling WMD’s enough of a reason to end sanctions or do they also need to prove that they are no longer sponsoring or helping terrorists?
3. Should the fact that Gadhafi is a dictator factor into our reasons?

This post has been edited by dreampiper: Dec 20 2003, 12:42 AM