Bluezoo
01-21-2005, 11:32 AM
Biden Describes Gadhafi's Stated Motives
White House - AP Cabinet & State
WASHINGTON - Why did Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi suddenly decide to give up his doomsday weapons? Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record), D-Del., said Wednesday he posed that question to Gadhafi during a meeting in Tripoli last year. Biden described their discussion to Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), President Bush (news - web sites)'s nominee to be secretary of state, at her Senate Foreign Relations confirmation hearing.
According to Biden, Gadhafi said he acted as he did because possession of nuclear weapons did the United States no good in Vietnam or Iraq.
Beyond that, Biden reported Gadhafi as saying, if he used nuclear weapons, "you'd blow me away," referring to the United States.
Gadhafi also said Libyan disarmament would enable his country to resume normal U.S. trade and economic ties, the senator said.
"I can have American oil companies in here pumping the oil out of the ground," Biden said he was told. The senator said Gadhafi said he prefers dealing with Americans as opposed to, say, the French.
"You make a deal with the French, they say 90-10 and they take 95. The Americans, you say 50-50, they only take 50," Gadhafi said, according to Biden.
Gadhafi was, Biden said, "the most candid guy I ever spoke with."
Biden cited his encounter with Gadhafi in urging Rice to open negotiations with Iran on ending the country's suspected nuclear weapons program.
Biden asked Rice if she would be willing to cut a deal with Iran.
"I'm not going to get into hypotheticals until I know what I'm looking at," Rice said. "That's the answer."
Gadhafi agreed in 2003, during negotiations with the United States and Britain, to do away with his weapons of mass destruction.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&ncid=1276&e=5&u=/ap/20050119/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_libya
White House - AP Cabinet & State
WASHINGTON - Why did Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi suddenly decide to give up his doomsday weapons? Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record), D-Del., said Wednesday he posed that question to Gadhafi during a meeting in Tripoli last year. Biden described their discussion to Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), President Bush (news - web sites)'s nominee to be secretary of state, at her Senate Foreign Relations confirmation hearing.
According to Biden, Gadhafi said he acted as he did because possession of nuclear weapons did the United States no good in Vietnam or Iraq.
Beyond that, Biden reported Gadhafi as saying, if he used nuclear weapons, "you'd blow me away," referring to the United States.
Gadhafi also said Libyan disarmament would enable his country to resume normal U.S. trade and economic ties, the senator said.
"I can have American oil companies in here pumping the oil out of the ground," Biden said he was told. The senator said Gadhafi said he prefers dealing with Americans as opposed to, say, the French.
"You make a deal with the French, they say 90-10 and they take 95. The Americans, you say 50-50, they only take 50," Gadhafi said, according to Biden.
Gadhafi was, Biden said, "the most candid guy I ever spoke with."
Biden cited his encounter with Gadhafi in urging Rice to open negotiations with Iran on ending the country's suspected nuclear weapons program.
Biden asked Rice if she would be willing to cut a deal with Iran.
"I'm not going to get into hypotheticals until I know what I'm looking at," Rice said. "That's the answer."
Gadhafi agreed in 2003, during negotiations with the United States and Britain, to do away with his weapons of mass destruction.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&ncid=1276&e=5&u=/ap/20050119/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_libya