LIBYA GIVES UP WMD
President Bush is making a speech on this agreement as I type. More to follow.
Update (1741): AP has this:
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi confirmed that his country sought to develop weapons of mass destruction but plans to dismantle all such programs immediately, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Friday.Britain and the United States have been talking with Libya for nine months, Blair said.
“Libya came to us in March following successful negotiations on Lockerbie to see if it could resolve its weapons of mass destruction issue in a similarly cooperative manner,” Blair said in the northern city of Durham.
“Libya has now declared its intent to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction completely and to limit the range of Libyan missiles to no greater than 300 kilometers (187.5 miles).”
Very interesting.
The President’s speech on this was pretty impressive: We’ve engaged, aong with the Brits and others, in nine months of what Bush called “quiet diplomacy” with Gadhafi. It appears we’ve extracted a workable inspection regime in exchange for gradually eased sanctions and improved relations. The speech made it clear that Iran and others could benefit from cooperating in a similar manner.
It’s a bit early in the process to get too excited by this, but this combined with the recent turnabouts of France and Germany on Iraq War cooperation are encouraging. Could it be that the “you’re either with us or you’re against us” line is actually having positive results?
Update (2224): Kathy Kinsley has the links to the speech and several other sources.
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About James Joyner
We’ve engaged, aong (sic) with the Brits and others, in nine months of what Bush called “quiet diplomacy” with Gadhafi.
May it be so noted that Moammar Gadhafi is now a far more reasonable negotiating partner than Jacque Chirac.
I think that says it all.
Paul
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…and we’d be remiss if we did not give credit for the assist to Ronald Reagan.
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THIS WAR WILL NOT ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING
Righhhhhhht:President Bush said Friday that Libya would allow international inspectors to check for all major weapons in the country, a step he said would be “of great importance” in stopping weapons of mass destruction in a global fight against terror…
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Demonstration effects
James Joyner, Dan Drezner and John Cole are among those who note that the United States and United Kingdom have reached an agreement with Libya on dismantling the latter’s nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons programs. Fancy that. Of course,…
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Libya Roundup
Hello Electric Venom readers, Kate has asked me to fill in for a little while as she recovers from her back injuries and makes it through the holidays. First up: The announcement that Libya is giving up it’s WMD program. Austin Bay on the cascading eff…
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Libya Abandons WMD
Libya’s abandoning of WMD is one heck of a foreign policy victory for the President Bush. Without firing a shot,
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