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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (2080)	1/12/2003 11:07:15 AM
From: lorne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15987

Gaddafi Says Libya Helps West in Anti-Terror War Sat January 11, 2003 09:37 PM ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was quoted on Saturday as saying Libyan terrorists were operating in the United States and Britain but his government was helping in efforts to eliminate them. In an interview with Newsweek magazine, Gaddafi said widespread support for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the Muslim world was a threat to his own rule, and members of the group had tried to assassinate him. Asked if he was providing the United States with information on al Qaeda, blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on America, he said: "Intelligence agencies in Libya and the United States are exchanging information. There are Libyan terrorists in America and in Britain. The Libyan intelligence service exchanges information (with Britain and the United States) so that they will be wiped out." Gaddafi, in the comments published in Newsweek, did not elaborate but the magazine cited him as saying Libyan cooperation in fighting terrorism was "irrevocable." In discussing compensation for the bombing of the Pan Am aircraft that was blown up over Lockerbie in 1988, Gaddafi said it should be linked to compensation for the victims of a U.S. military attack on Libya two years earlier. Lawyers representing Libya signed an offer in October to compensate relatives of the 270 people killed in the Lockerbie bombing, for which Libyan intelligence agent Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was convicted by a Scottish court. The offer would provide $10 million per victim. Gaddafi said Libya had no problem with paying compensation, but said "there is nothing official so far." "We hope an agreement can be reached to solve the Lockerbie problem and provide suitable compensation which Libya alone will not pay. Perhaps Libya and the United States will contribute to a compensation fund," he said. Asked why the United States would contribute, Gaddafi replied: "To compensate for the Libyans who were killed in 1986 -- as well as for the victims of Lockerbie. How much do you think the compensation should be for Gaddafi's daughter who was killed in 1986? If a normal American needs $10 million, then a daughter of Gaddafi who was killed should be worth billions." Britain's Sunday Times newspaper reported in 1999 that Gaddafi personally ordered the bombing of the Pan Am flight in retaliation for the U.S. attack which killed his adopted daughter. In the Newsweek interview, the Libyan leader said he was optimistic about the future of relations with the United States. "During the time of wars of liberation, we waged war. Now it is time for peace, and I want to be part of world peace," he said. reuters.com