CORAL GABLES, Fla. — President Bush lifted most of the economic sanctions on Libya yesterday, ending more than 20 years of isolation from the United States as a reward for giving up its program to develop weapons of mass destruction.
The easing of the sanctions will allow several American oil companies to resume doing business with Libya, which has been cut off from much of the world’s markets because of its sponsorship of terrorism stretching back to the mid-1980s.
The White House announced in December that Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi was giving up his weapons programs and had opened his country to inspection by U.S. and U.N. officials. Col. Gadhafi also pledged to halt support for terrorism, and the White House is now convinced a new era for the African desert country has dawned.
“The president made clear on Dec. 19 that Libya’s actions to voluntarily dismantle its WMD and longer-range missile programs, as well as renounce terrorism, would open the path to better relations,” the White House said.
Easing the sanctions is “in recognition of the steps [Libya] has taken over the last two months to repudiate WMD and to build the foundation for Libya’s economic growth and reintegration with the international community,” the statement said.
The Libyan dictator reached out secretly to U.S. and British officials about giving up his WMD program in March, just as the war in Iraq was getting under way. The Bush administration says the timing of his capitulation is not merely a coincidence, but a validation of the president’s hard-line against terrorist-sponsoring rogue states.
“Through its actions, Libya has set a standard that we hope other nations will emulate in rejecting weapons of mass destruction and in working constructively with international organizations to halt the proliferation of the world’s most dangerous systems,” the White House said.
While many of the economic sanctions have been lifted, Libya will remain on the list of terrorist-sponsoring nations. The United States will also strictly control exports to Libya, restrict direct flights to the country and continue the freeze on Libyan assets in U.S. banks.
But this is clearly a start to normalizing relations with a country considered an unofficial enemy of the United States since the early 1980s. Terrorists supported by Libya bombed a Berlin disco in 1986, killing two U.S. servicemen and causing a strengthening of milder sanctions imposed by the United States in 1982 when diplomatic relations soured.
Libya also was found responsible for the downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing all 258 aboard and 11 on the ground — an act that turned the United Nations and most of the West against Libya.
“In conjunction with our enhanced economic relations, we will begin a dialogue on trade, investment and economic reform, and will take steps to encourage Libya’s reintegration with the global market,” the White House said.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, said Mr. Bush was too quick to reward Libya for its recent friendly actions.
“I welcomed Libya’s decision to abandon its weapons of mass destruction program, and I know … easing sanctions is music to the ears of the American oil industry.
“It is surprising, however, that President Bush would so quickly strengthen relations with a dictator who opposes democracy, persecutes his own people and continues to cause instability in Africa.”
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