January 03, 2004

U.S. Dismisses Libya's Warning Over Sanctions

The United States ignored on Friday a warning by Libyan officials that they will stop paying compensation to families of Pan Am 103 victims unless Washington lifts sanctions against Libya by May.
[Actually, it's by May 12, to quote Momar accurately.--Jen]

State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the United States will discuss relations with Libya only after that country has eliminated its deadliest weapons programs and renounced terrorism.

[...]...In a reported published Friday, however, Libyan Prime Minister Shukri Ghanim told The New York Times that his country will withhold future payments if the Bush administration does not quickly reward Libya for its promises to abandon its secret weapons programs.

The State Department's Ereli said U.S. policy "is based on Libyan actions and what steps Libya takes to follow through on its commitments."

He said the compensation agreement resulted from negotiations between Libyan officials and lawyers for the Pan Am 103 families. Because the U.S. government was not a party to the discussions, Ereli told reporters, questions about compensation should be directed to the Libyan government and the Pan Am 103 families.

Glenn Johnson, chairman of the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, which represents about 150 families, said it's up to Libya to meet the conditions for lifting the sanctions by dismantling weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear, chemical and biological, and admitting inspectors.

"They haven't dismantled," he said. "They say they're willing to and going to, but I don't think anyone wants to lift sanctions because they say they're going to do it."

Susan Cohen, mother of a Pan Am 103 victim, said that, given the choice between lifting sanctions by May and a cutoff of compensation payments, she would prefer the latter.

She said she has no faith that Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi is sincere about giving up doomsday weapons for good.

President Bush said he saw al-Qaddafi's pledge on Dec. 19 to surrender his weapons programs as a victory for his policy of forcefully confronting unfriendly states. He expressed hope other states will follow suit.

Current sanctions include a ban on U.S. oil company operations in Libya and on most use of U.S. passports to travel there. Additional economic sanctions are in place as a result of Libya's membership on the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism.

I pray the Lord will continue to bless and comfort these poor people that lost loved ones in the Lockerbie bombing.
They have suffered enough without (al-)Qaddafi dragging them through agony again!
The way some of the Lying Liberal Left papers like the NYSlimes were reporting this story, they made it sound as if Muammar had a point and that the United States was being the Big Bad Guy (again) for not lifting the sanctions immediately when the Colonel Kadaffy Duck pwomised to disarm.
I love our policy (Don't trust, but verify first!) and I am touched as an American that even those who lost their beloved family on Pan Am 103 want President Bush to stay the course and not to give in to Libya's crazy demands just because they want the money that is supposed to compensate them for their personal loss and grief.
(And yet according to this book I'm reading about anti-Americanism in France, the French think that greed is our defining national characteristic and that all we think about is $$$. Funny, how when one spends it in Paris or on French goods, they don't seem to mind!)
And I guess this serves me right for thinking that Qaddafi had completely "changed" for the Good--he hasn't changed his old tyrannical spots enough to suit me!