|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Qadhafi Says U.S., U.K. Have Not Yet Rewarded Libya for Renouncing Weapons of Mass Destruction
Libyan leader Col. Muammar Qadhafi said that Libya has not yet been rewarded for dismantling its WMD programs and explained why the country acquired those capabilities in the first place, Time magazine reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 26). “The [WMD] program started at the very beginning of the revolution,” Qadhafi told Time. “The world was different then.” Qadhafi added that, over time, it became apparent that nuclear arms were not strategically useful weapons. “We started to ask ourselves, ‘By manufacturing nuclear weapons, against whom are we going to use them?’” he said. “World alliances have changed. We had no target.” “And then we started thinking about the cost,” he added. “If someone attacks you and you use a nuclear bomb, you are in effect using it against yourself.” Qadhafi said that, while U.S. and British officials had praised Libya’s move to eliminate its WMD efforts, both countries have yet to fulfill pledges of rewards. “[British Prime Minister Tony] Blair and [U.S. President George W.] Bush expressed their satisfaction,” he said. “But there must be at least a declaration of a program like the Marshall Plan, to show the world that those who wish to abandon the nuclear-weapon program will be helped.” “They promised, but we haven’t seen anything yet,” he said (MacLeod/Radwan, Time magazine, Jan. 30). Meanwhile, Libya on Saturday awarded 15 oil exploration licenses to foreign companies — the first in 18 years — after the United States and the European Union eased their trade embargoes, the Xinhua News Agency reported (Xinhua, Jan. 30).
| ||||||||||
Back to top
