QADDAFI'S VICTORY
Bolton, John R.
QADDAFI’S VICTORY by John R. Bolton THE COLLAPSE OF AMERICA’S LIBYA POLICY— nearly lost in the recent crush of news—should not be allowed to pass unnoticed, for the Clinton administration’s...
...Second, by giving in to the Libyans on the location of the trial, the Clinton administration has hopelessly muddied its supposed new policy against international terrorism...
...But, incredibly, even after those bombings, as the United States was retaliating with cruise missiles against terrorist camps in Afghanistan and a nerve-gas production facility in Sudan, the administration went ahead and made official its retreat from a key demand on Pan Am 103...
...sanctions against Libya was incorrect and that a military response would have been more effective...
...demands, Washington leaves the Libyans in a stronger position than ever to chip away at whatever sanctions remain in place...
...But even if this is so, it can hardly excuse the current retreat...
...One can certainly argue that the Bush administration’s reliance on U.N...
...A third consequence of the administration’s shift is the fresh wound to its own credibility...
...The lesson to derive from the administration’s failing Pan Am 103 policy is a warning applicable not only in Libya and Iraq but in a host of other places as well...
...There is no reason to think that the Clinton team will do better in the case of Libya...
...Certainly not the Libyans...
...QADDAFI’S VICTORY by John R. Bolton THE COLLAPSE OF AMERICA’S LIBYA POLICY— nearly lost in the recent crush of news—should not be allowed to pass unnoticed, for the Clinton administration’s reversal of almost seven years of consistent policy on the Pan Am 103 bombing is highly damaging...
...After the Security Council voted unanimously on August 27 to suspend sanctions upon delivery of the defendants, the presidents of four African neighbors violated the sanctions by flying to Libya to celebrate the 29th anniversary of Qaddafi’s accession to power...
...Here is where the administration’s gambit is doomed...
...It presented the new policy to Libya as a “take it or leave it” proposition...
...First, the possibility of the suspects’ receiving the death penalty if convicted has been eliminated, since Scottish law, unlike U.S...
...sanctions against Iraq, and by its incompetent diplomacy it has already effectively abandoned the U.N...
...Heretofore, the United States has insisted that the two men suspected of destroying Pan Am 103 be surrendered for trial either here or in Scotland—here because 189 of those who died in the explosion were Americans...
...As is so often the case, the Clinton administration cannot explain...
...law, does not provide for capital punishment...
...More Americans died in the destruction of Pan Am 103 than in the embassy bombings, yet our policy in the former is legal maneuvering, while in the latter it is cruise missiles...
...Now, secretary of state Madeleine Albright proposes that the accused be tried before a Scottish court in the Netherlands...
...John R. Bolton is senior vice president of the American Enterprise Institute...
...We can be certain foreign allies and foes alike are wondering which policy is serious...
...After only a momentary hesitation, they began demanding further negotiations and concessions, just as they have done, ceaselessly, since they first faced the prospect of economic sanctions in 1991...
...Not only does the administration’s surrender of our long-standing position undercut its own “war on terrorism,” it also heightens the concurrent crisis in our Iraq policy...
...The administration is on the verge of abandoning the U.N...
...Like Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi is on the verge of escaping United Nations sanctions, a goal the two have been pursuing since the Gulf War...
...This is already happening...
...While the administration has never been a strong death-penalty proponent and thus may not feel it has given much away, the Libyans have eagerly pocketed the concession and are beginning to bargain for others...
...What is the justification for pursuing two utterly contradictory approaches simultaneously...
...Enormous uncertainties remain about how the proposal would be implemented if the Libyans accepted...
...weapons-inspection system...
...Although the next step is far from clear, several consequences of the administration’s retreat have already emerged...
...Even apart from the unceasing Lewinsky scandal, President Clinton’s foreign policy is disintegrating before our eyes...
...Scotland because 11 people on the ground were killed when the plane crashed near Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988...
...The hard men leading dangerous countries, from Beijing to Belgrade, undoubtedly see this—and understand better than we our increasing vulnerability...
...Since the original Bush-Clinton demand that the trial take place in the United States or Scotland was already “take it or leave it,” one wonders who will be gullible enough to think this latest version not subject to still further revision...
...Secretary Albright argues that if Libya fails to produce the defendants for trial in the Netherlands, increased sanctions will be justified, but she is surely blustering...
...During the Bush administration, he served as assistant secretary of state for international organizations...
...On the contrary, by ratcheting down U.S...
...Leaks to the effect that Washington would accept trial of the Pan Am 103 suspects in a third country originally appeared in July, before the bombing of our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania...
Vol. 4 • September 1998 • No. 3
