Rice Visits Libya
Today, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Libya. It will, by all means, be a historic visit. For the first time in 1953, a top U.S. diplomat will visit this country and meet Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.
Rice decided to visit Libya in order to show countries like Iran and North Korea the benefits of working with the West. Libya decided to abandon its nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programmes after severe U.S. pressure. Rice’s visit will show to countries like Libya that abandoning those programmes is useful and it will function as a reward for Libya itself.
The last U.S. secretary of state who visited Libya was John Robert Dulles. He visited it in 1953 to meet King Idris Senussi, who was then the country’s leader. Relations between Washington and Tripoli were completely suspended in 1981, when the U.S. called Libya a supporter of terrorism. To be precise, then President Ronald Reagan called Kadhafi a “mad dog” because of the latter’s support for terrorist organizations.
After secret negotiations with the United States and Britain Kadhafi renounced weapons of mass destruction back in 2003.
“The whole business of the conflict between Libya and the United States has been closed once and for all,” Kadhafi said this week in the speech marking the 39th anniversary of his overthrow of the country’s Western-backed monarchy.
“There will be no more wars, raids or acts of terrorism,” he said.
Whether this is true remains to be seen, but it is undeniable that Libya has taken some important steps in recent years. Its support for terrorism seems to have decreased, and it has stopped trying to produce weapons of mass destruction. Additionally, it has signed an agreement with the U.S. recently in order to compensate American victims of Libyan attacks and vice versa.
Other countries should pay attention; the current U.S. strategy is perfectly clear. Regimes that work with the U.S. will be rewarded, whereas those who do not will be punished and suffer tremendous economic consequences.
