Visit marks historic turn for U.S., Libya

Rice meets Kadafi at Tripoli compound hit by U.S. in 1986

Associated Press

September 6, 2008

Libyan leader Muammar el Kadafi (right) meets with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Tripoli. (AP photo / September 5, 2008)

TRIPOLI, Libya - The United States and Libya sealed a historic turnaround after decades of terrorist killings, American retaliation, suspicions and insults with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's peacemaking visit yesterday with Col. Muammar el Kadafi, Libya's mercurial strongman.

In a room redolent of incense, a white-robed Kadafi greeted Rice - the highest-ranking American official to visit Libya in more than a half-century - at his official Bab el-Azizia residence. It is the same compound hit by U.S. airstrikes in 1986 in retaliation for a deadly Libyan-linked terrorist attack in Germany. The attack killed Kadafi's baby daughter.

The United States considers Kadafi rehabilitated since the days when President Ronald Reagan called him the "mad dog of the Middle East." The change comes after of the Libyan's surprise decision in 2003 to renounce terrorism and give up weapons of mass destruction. His government has also agreed to resolve legal claims from the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 and other alleged terror attacks that bore Libyan fingerprints.

Wearing his trademark fez and a green pin of Africa, Kadafi bowed slightly and put his right hand over his heart in a traditional Arab greeting to welcome Rice. The two did not shake hands, but Kadafi did shake the hands of Rice's male aides.

They then exchanged pleasantries, with Rice offering Kadafi greetings from President Bush and Kadafi asking about the hurricanes that have hit or are headed to the U.S. mainland, before dozens of reporters, photographers and television cameramen were ushered out.

Their small talk belied almost 30 years of dismal U.S.-Libyan relations that hit their low point in the 1980s when Reagan ordered the retaliatory airstrike and Kadafi swore revenge.

The United States withdrew its ambassador from Libya in 1972 after Kadafi renounced agreements with the West and vilified the United States in speeches and public statements. Washington cut off diplomatic relations with Libya after a mob sacked and burned the American Embassy in 1979.

The notoriously secretive Kadafi was to host Rice at a traditional Muslim dinner - the evening meal that breaks the day's fast observed during the holy month of Ramadan - but the venue remained mysterious and U.S. officials could say only that they expected it to be in a tent.

Kadafi is known for often unpredictable behavior and has cultivated images as both an Arab potentate and African monarch since taking power in a 1969 coup. In a televised address to the nation this week he said he considers the United States neither a friend nor an enemy.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera television last year, Kadafi spoke of Rice in most unusual terms, calling her "Leezza" and suggesting that she actually runs the Arab world with which he has had severe differences in the past.

"I support my darling black African woman," he said. "I admire and am very proud of the way she leans back and gives orders to the Arab leaders. ... Leezza, Leezza, Leezza. ... I love her very much. I admire her, and I'm proud of her, because she's a black woman of African origin."

Rice is the first secretary of state to visit Libya since John Foster Dulles in 1953 and the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit since Vice President Richard M. Nixon in 1957.

"It demonstrates that when countries are prepared to make strategic changes in direction the United States is prepared to respond," Rice said. "It's a beginning, it's an opening. It's not, I think, the end of the story."

Libya has agreed to pay compensation to the families of victims of the 1988 Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, and those of a 1986 attack on a disco in Berlin. The disco attack killed two U.S. servicemen and drew Reagan's order to attack Libyan targets, including Kadafi's residence.

Rice was spending only a few hours in Tripoli, an ancient city fronting the Mediterranean Sea and backing to the North African desert but took time to visit the offices that serve as the U.S. Embassy in Libya.

Plans to send a full-fledged ambassador and build a new embassy are hung up in Congress over concern that Libya has not fulfilled its promises to compensate terror victims.

Rice's visit comes amid a surge in interest from U.S. companies, particularly in the energy sector, to do business in Libya, where European companies have had much greater access in recent years. Libya's proven oil reserves are the ninth-largest in the world, close to 39 billion barrels, and vast areas remain unexplored for new deposits.

Rice said she was eager to promote commercial ties and an agreement on cultural and educational exchanges was expected to be signed during her visit.