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Libya Agrees to Give Up WMD
Libyaâs leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has said his country sought to develop weapons of mass destruction capabilities but will dismantle this programme completely, Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced. "This decision is an historic one and a courageous one and I applaud it," Mr Blair said. Colonel Gaddafi had told him the process of dismantling the programme would be "transparent and verifiable", the prime minister said in a statement from Durham Cathedral. The range of all Libyaâs missiles would be restricted to "no more then 300km", he added. The US and its allies have long suspected that Libya had secret chemical and bio-weapons programmes, however Libya always denied such allegations saying it had only facilities for pharmaceutical or agricultural research. Gaddafiâs government took responsibility for the Lockerbie bomb Mr Blair said Britain had been engaged in talks with Libya for nine months. Yes, March was a busy month ... "Libya came to us in March following successful negotiations on Lockerbie to see if it could resolve its weapons of mass destruction issue in a similarly cooperative manner," he said. The decision entitled Libya to rejoin the international community, Mr Blair said. President Bush confirmed the announcement from the White House. "Col Gaddafiâsâs commitment, once fulfiled, will make our country more safe and our world more peaceful," President Bush said. Wolf Blitzer noted that Bush basically said, do it the easy way or do it the hard way .... Posted by: rkb 2003-12-19 |
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