[What follows is a snippet from the Libya News and Views website from this date in 1999:]
After years of condemning Libya as a rogue state, the Clinton administration has recently taken steps toward better relations with the government of leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafy, citing evidence of growing moderation on the part of a leader long demonized as a patron of international terror. Since Qadhafy agreed in April to the extradition of two men suspected of blowing up a Pan Am jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, the administration has permitted four US oil companies to visit Libya on reconnaissance missions and last month, publicly welcomed the expulsion from Libya of the infamous Abu Nidal terrorist group. Although unilateral US sanctions still bar most trade between American companies and Libya, the administration approved last spring the de facto lifting of international UN sanctions against the oil-rich North African country and -- according to a senior official -- is considering whether to lift a passport restriction that bars US citizens from traveling to Libya without a special State Department exemption. [Washington Post]
[RB: I wish a happy Christmas to all readers of this blog.]
After years of condemning Libya as a rogue state, the Clinton administration has recently taken steps toward better relations with the government of leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafy, citing evidence of growing moderation on the part of a leader long demonized as a patron of international terror. Since Qadhafy agreed in April to the extradition of two men suspected of blowing up a Pan Am jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, the administration has permitted four US oil companies to visit Libya on reconnaissance missions and last month, publicly welcomed the expulsion from Libya of the infamous Abu Nidal terrorist group. Although unilateral US sanctions still bar most trade between American companies and Libya, the administration approved last spring the de facto lifting of international UN sanctions against the oil-rich North African country and -- according to a senior official -- is considering whether to lift a passport restriction that bars US citizens from traveling to Libya without a special State Department exemption. [Washington Post]
[RB: I wish a happy Christmas to all readers of this blog.]
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