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Libya to âgive upâ WMD
The Beeb didnât see fit to include any sneer quotes in the heading, but I thought them appropriateLibyaâs leader Colonel 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. I guess Africans donât need long range missiles 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. Mr Blair said Britain had been engaged in talks with Libya for nine months. "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. Posted by: Paul Moloney 2003-12-19 |
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