Free Republic

Excerpt - The United States is preparing to dispatch up to a dozen diplomats and intelligence officers to Libya to establish a U.S. mission that will help oversee the dismantling of the North African nation's programs for weapons of mass destruction, U.S. officials said yesterday. The move would create the first U.S. diplomatic presence in Libya since May 1980, when a dozen American staff members closed the embassy and slipped out shortly before the building was sacked and burned. Several months before, angry mobs attacked the American mission in sympathy with the Iranian takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran...

The foreign minister's political adviser Ron Prossor reportedly met in Paris with a representative of Libya's Gaddafi regime. The meeting was brokered by the government of Katar, reports a Kuwait newspaper. Sides reportedly scheduled an Israeli mission to Tripoli late January to discuss diplomatic relations The paper also reports that Israeli and Libyan senior officials met in Vienna last Friday at the US embassy there. Ministerial sources claim that this is no more than a small step on a very long road, and stressed that without concrete actions on the part of Libya, there will be no advance beyond...

The crisis between the United States and Libya that led to the declaration of a national emergency on January 7, 1986, has not been fully resolved, although there have been some positive developments. On September 12, 2003, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1506 (UNSCR 1506), ending the United Nations sanctions against Libya. These U.N. sanctions were imposed in 1992 and 1993 as a result of Libyan involvement in the terrorist bombings of Pan Am 103 in 1988 and UTA 772 in 1989, and included travel restrictions, an arms embargo, and financial sanctions. The UNSCR 1506 lifted these...

WASHINGTON (UPI) -- It was surprise enough that one formerly revolutionary leader should have decided that President George W. Bush and Britain's Tony Blair were right, and that it was time to abandon dreams of acquiring weapons of mass destruction as an equalizer against Western power influence. It was stunning that the first convert should have been Libya's Muammar Qadaffi, who since the 1968 coup, remained an enigma to most outside observers. His official biography is remarkably devoid of details about his early years -- but it always begins with "born in a desert tent near Surt." I've always...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - During secret visits to Libya, US intelligence officials found a more advanced uranium enrichment program than publicly disclosed but no evidence of actual production of fissile material for nuclear weapons, officials said Saturday. They were given extraordinary access during two-week-long visits in October and December with the help and encouragement of Libyan leader Colonel Moammar Khadafy who met personally with them, senior intelligence officials said. The secret dealings culminated Friday with the stunning annoucement in London and Washington and Tripoli that Libya has agreed to fully disclose and dismantle its programs to build unconventional weapons under...

The AIDS is a "peaceful virus", affirms Kadhafi VIH/sida is a "peaceful virus", affirmed Saturday the Libyan leader Mouammar Kadhafi with his counterparts joined together for the top closure of the African Union (UA) with Maputo. "AIDS, AIDS, AIDS. We do not understand anything other. It is terrorism. It is a psychological warfare. The AIDS is a peaceful virus. If you remain clean, it there does not have a problem ", declared Mr. Kadhafi, during a speech impromptu 45 minutes, supposed to be short and agreed short speech of thanks for the end of the top. The AIDS and...

TRIPOLI, March 1 (AFP) - Thousands of protestors gathered near the Saudi embassy here Saturday to protest a live TV spat between Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz and Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi at an Arab summit in Egypt. Several demonstrators were injured in clashes with riot police who prevented the crowd from approaching the embassy compound in the Libyan capital, an AFP correspondent witnessed. The state JANA news agency also accused Gulf countries of being behind US-led plans to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Television viewers across the Arab world were able to see Crown Prince Abdullah, Saudi...