Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The United States has verified with “reasonable certainty” that Libya has eliminated, or prepared for destruction, all its programs to develop weapons of mass destruction and longer-range ballistic missiles, a senior U.S State Department official said yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 22).

Following Libya’s decision late last year to renounce weapons of mass destruction, the United States has worked with the United Kingdom to aid and verify the disposal process, including the dismantlement and removal of Libya’s nuclear weapons program, the elimination of thousands of chemical munitions, the preparation of chemical weapons agents for final disposal and the elimination of Scud C ballistic missiles. The last U.S. team left Libya on Monday, rendering verification “essentially” complete, according to Assistant Secretary of State for Verification and Compliance Paula DeSutter.

“I have been involved in verification for a long time, and the opportunity presented by Libya’s decision is unique. This is one of those rare times that a state has volunteered to rid itself of its WMD programs — and it is a first for a state sponsor of terror to do so without regime change,” DeSutter said in her prepared testimony before a House International Relations subcommittee.

In her testimony before the International Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Human Rights Subcommittee, DeSutter praised Libya’s cooperation in verifying its WMD disarmament, such as by providing complete access to requested sites, scientists, technicians and officials. Libya has also provided thousands of pages of documents that are still being reviewed, she said.

In the latest of a set of rewards offered to Libya for its progress in eliminating its WMD programs, the Bush administration this week lifted most of the economic sanctions that were imposed against Libya in the late 1980s. The White House also eliminated a ban on direct air travel between the United States and Libya and released more than $1 billion worth of assets. The United States did not move forward with each set of rewards, though, until each stage of Libya’s disarmament was verified, DeSutter said.

The United States wanted Libya to be “happy” that it decided to disarm and to not feel that its security would be jeopardized by giving up its weapons of mass destruction, she said.

Libya will remain on the State Department’s list of terrorism-sponsoring nations, subjecting Tripoli to continued restrictions on foreign assistance, arms exports and dual-use exports.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is scheduled to meet with Libya’s foreign minister, according to reports. Reuters cited a senior U.S. official as saying that Libya’s presence on the terrorism-sponsoring list was likely to be a topic of discussion during the meeting. 

In addition to preparations for the final destruction of Libya’s stockpiles of chemical weapons agents, plans are in place to eliminate Tripoli’s arsenal of Scud B ballistic missiles, according to DeSutter. She said the agreement to eliminate the Scud B missiles was one of the last to be reached with Libya. There had previously been suggestions that Tripoli might be allowed to keep its Scud B missiles after modifying them to travel a shorter range with a smaller payload. DeSutter provided no information during yesterday’s hearing, though, as to how the Scud B elimination would be carried out.

To resolve any issues that might arise in the future, the United States, the United Kingdom and Libya have created a Trilateral Steering and Cooperation Committee, according to DeSutter. In addition, the State Department’s Verification and Compliance Bureau is preparing a report on its efforts in Libya, both to provide a historical record and to help compile the “lessons learned,” she said.

The report will address the effect that sanctions had on Libya’s decision to disarm, DeSutter said, adding that “anecdotal evidence” indicated sanctions were highly effective.

Democratic and Republican subcommittee members sparred during yesterday’s hearing over what effect the Iraq war and the overthrow of former President Saddam Hussein also had on Libya’s decision. The Bush administration has sought to link Libya’s decision to disarm to Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In testimony before the subcommittee, Representative Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) said that during two visits to Libya — one in January and a second in March, Libyan leader Col. Muammar Qadhafi told him that he did not want to meet a similar fate as Hussein. 

Representative Brad Sherman (Calif.), the subcommittee’s top Democrat, described Republican attempts to link Libya’s disarmament with the Iraq war as an “ex post facto” excuse to justify the Iraq war. In addition, Sherman dismissed the claims by Qadhafi cited by Republican lawmakers, saying that it was impossible to trust the Libyan leader’s statements.