The government of Libya has stated that they will dismantle all ongoing WMD programs after nine months of negotiation with the United States and Great Britain.
Bush said Libya’s leader, Col. Moammar Gadhafi, had “agreed to immediately and unconditionally allow inspectors from international organizations to enter Libya.
“These inspectors will render an accounting of all nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and will help oversee their elimination,” Bush said.
Hmmm… I wonder what event that occurred nine months ago might have caused Libya to suddenly decide to enter into these negotiations? Could it be that the events in Iraq might have had something to do with this? The short answer clearly is yes.
The events in Iraq have given teeth to efforts at non-proliferation worldwide. Before the worst thing that would be done to countries developing weapons of mass destruction and delivery systems would be ineffective sanctions and diplomatic slaps on the wrists – if even that. Now, the price of such actions can be regime change and ending up having to be stuffed into a snakehole while US troops close in. That helps ensure that the price of developing nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and long-range missiles could be very well far too high.
And if the Colonel hadn’t been making overtures towards reconciliation since the mid-1990s, I’d agree with:
“The events in Iraq have given teeth to efforts at non-proliferation worldwide. Before the worst thing that would be done to countries developing weapons of mass destruction and delivery systems would be ineffective sanctions and diplomatic slaps on the wrists – if even that. ”
But the sanctions against Libya were a buig part of the Lockerbie settlement, and if you actually think Gadhafi would be giving up a viable weapons program, you’re nuts. He’s got mustard gas, and maybe even the beginnings of a nuclear research program, but he doesn’t have nukes, he doesn’t have any of the most worrying biological and chemical weapons, and he’s got jack shit for delivery outside his region. Couple that with the fact that his country desperately needs to receive outside investment to begin anew its export economy, and you can see why it was a good bargain on Libya’s part to “stop” their weapons programs. When something is producing nothing, what is the cost of giving it up?