Wtf?
The colonel gets his reward
By Paul Reynolds
BBC News Online world affairs correspondent
The visit by the British Prime Minister Tony Blair to Libya is the culmination of a remarkable episode in the history of diplomacy and of relations between the West and the Middle East.
It was announced last month that Blair would meet Colonel Gaddafi
From being one of the West's bogeymen, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has turned into, if not exactly a new friend, then someone the West is doing business with.
The man whose agents blew up the Pan Am plane over Lockerbie, ran guns to the IRA and one of whose diplomats shot a London policewoman is now back on the diplomatic circuit.
It happened because Libya settled the Lockerbie claims, offered co-operation over the death of Police Officer Yvonne Fletcher (though how far that investigation actually gets will be interesting to watch) and, above all, agreed to give up its programme of developing weapons of mass destruction.
Libya's rewards
In return, Colonel Gaddafi has got not only this visit and the attention it will attract. He has got UN sanctions lifted and soon American bilateral measures might go as well. That will help the development of Libya's oil industry.
It must also be remembered that he has had to overcome his own bad memories of the British.
US planes used their British base from which to bomb Libya in 1986. In that raid his own adopted daughter is said to have been killed. So he, too, has moved on.
It is also important in giving a reassurance to Colonel Gaddafi that there is no hidden agenda
Sa'ad Djebbar, RIIA
Mr Blair is said by his officials to be ready to offer military training to Libyan officers as a way of showing that Britain and the US do not want to disarm Libya totally and have no intention of attack
The colonel gets his reward
By Paul Reynolds
BBC News Online world affairs correspondent
The visit by the British Prime Minister Tony Blair to Libya is the culmination of a remarkable episode in the history of diplomacy and of relations between the West and the Middle East.
It was announced last month that Blair would meet Colonel Gaddafi
From being one of the West's bogeymen, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has turned into, if not exactly a new friend, then someone the West is doing business with.
The man whose agents blew up the Pan Am plane over Lockerbie, ran guns to the IRA and one of whose diplomats shot a London policewoman is now back on the diplomatic circuit.
It happened because Libya settled the Lockerbie claims, offered co-operation over the death of Police Officer Yvonne Fletcher (though how far that investigation actually gets will be interesting to watch) and, above all, agreed to give up its programme of developing weapons of mass destruction.
Libya's rewards
In return, Colonel Gaddafi has got not only this visit and the attention it will attract. He has got UN sanctions lifted and soon American bilateral measures might go as well. That will help the development of Libya's oil industry.
It must also be remembered that he has had to overcome his own bad memories of the British.
US planes used their British base from which to bomb Libya in 1986. In that raid his own adopted daughter is said to have been killed. So he, too, has moved on.
It is also important in giving a reassurance to Colonel Gaddafi that there is no hidden agenda
Sa'ad Djebbar, RIIA
Mr Blair is said by his officials to be ready to offer military training to Libyan officers as a way of showing that Britain and the US do not want to disarm Libya totally and have no intention of attack
