Word: libya
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Soviet Union, the Palestinian decision to negotiate with Israel and the increasing spread of Islamic extremism forced him to change course, he believes that it was his atomic bomb program that enabled him to deal with the West from a position of strength. Even today, he concedes nothing in Libya's support for terrorism, bragging about how revolutionaries he aided like Nelson Mandela and Yasser Arafat became welcome visitors to the White House. Libya's regret, he says, is that some of the groups committed the error of killing innocent civilians. Although a Scottish court convicted a Libyan official...
...Seif al Islam opened the discussion by saying that Libya proposed a strategic dialogue on mutual concerns starting with extremism. He recalls their surprise when he quickly agreed that Libya could begin by making a sincere effort to address WMD concerns. Seif al Islam says they reciprocated by immediately obtaining Blair's promise to deal with Libya in good faith. "When they called 10 Downing Street," he recalls, "they said, 'Don't fall off your chair. We got something from the Libyans.' It was a total surprise to them...
...Libyans agreed in principle to throw its WMD projects wide open to an MI6-CIA team of technical experts. But besides the distraction of the Iraq War, progress was held up by Gaddafi's insistence on guaranteed incentives - like military cooperation and a complete end to sanctions - if Libya followed through and not only admitted but dismantled its WMD programs. When Gaddafi grew nervous, Seif al Islam says he reassured his father about the West's intentions, telling him, "'Trust me.'" As he recalls his own faith in the process, he claims, "I could smell...
...British air marshal flew in to Tripoli on a Royal Air Force plane and handed Gaddafi a personal letter from the British Prime Minister formally agreeing to Gaddafi's conditions for proceeding. That paved the way for the visit of the MI6-CIA technical team to inspect all of Libya's top-secret WMD sites and report back to their governments...
...before they could arrive, the secret negotiations were thrown in jeopardy when Italian authorities, acting on information from U.S. officials, seized the BBC China cargo ship in the Mediterranean carrying thousands of components for Libya's illicit uranium-enrichment facility. As only a handful of top U.S., British and Libyan officials knew about the secret talks, the discovery provided the public with smoking gun proof of Libya's covert nuclear program. According to Seif al Islam, MI6 officers immediately flew from London to Tripoli to assure the Libyans that the incident need not affect the secret disarmament plans. The seizure...