Bush Administration Orchestrating a Thaw With Gadhafi's Libya
Aides Met With Lockerbie 'Kingpin'
U.S. Officials: Courtship Predates Sept. 11 Attacks
By MARC PERELMAN
FORWARD STAFFIn a clear sign of how far the Bush administration is prepared to go in breaking long-held taboos to build its anti-terrorism coalition, the State Department and CIA have launched a series of diplomatic moves aimed at building bridges to Muammar Gadhafi's Libya.
The most dramatic gesture came earlier this month, when an American delegation led by Assistant Secretary of State William Burns met in London with a Libyan spymaster who is thought to have been involved in some of the most notorious terrorist acts of the 1980s, including the December 1988 bombing of Pan American flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.
American and British officials stressed that the October 3 meeting, reported last week in the British press, was part of a series of trilateral meetings initiated a year ago at the United Nations to discuss the lifting of the sanctions against Libya.
But diplomats, experts and families of the victims paint a different picture: a high-level meeting that was wrapped in secrecy because of its content and its participants. In addition to Mr. Burns and the Libyan spymaster, foreign intelligence chief Musa Kusa, attendees included Mr. Burns' counterpart at the British Foreign office and officials from the CIA and MI6, the British foreign intelligence service.
Mr. Kusa was never charged in the Lockerbie bombing, although Libyan agents under his command were indicted and one was convicted. Terrorism experts say he had a hand in the attacks. Moreover, he was expelled from Great Britain 21 years ago for publicly backing the murders of Libyan political opponents.
Libyan participants in the London meeting reportedly provided intelligence on Libyan citizens who are members of the Al Qaeda terror network, the Libyan ambassador to the United Kingdom told reporters. The American and British participants reportedly offered proposals to resolve the main issue preventing the lifting of U.N. sanctions against Libya, namely a Libyan acknowledgment of responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and payment of compensation to the families of the victims.
"It seems like Gadhafi has jumped on the coalition bandwagon," said Vincent Cannistraro, a former CIA counterterrorism chief who headed the Lockerbie investigation. "And they are looking to cut a deal on Lockerbie."
A U.N. trade embargo was imposed on Libya in 1992 to force the surrender of two agents suspected of carrying out the Lockerbie bombing. The sanctions were suspended in 1999 after Libya agreed to hand them over to a tribunal in The Hague, Holland. Last January, the tribunal convicted one of the two Libyan agents. His appeal will be heard next January and a verdict is expected at the end of February.
Mr. Gadhafi, long regarded as one of the Middle East's most violent extremists, has toned down his anti-American and anti-Israel rhetoric significantly in recent years. More important, terrorism experts say his country has not been involved in terrorist acts for several years.
After the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, he
surprised observers by saying America was entitled to retaliate. It was a radical shift for a leader who was himself targeted by U.S. fighter-bombers in 1986, following a terrorist attack on U.S. soldiers in Germany in which Libyan involvement had been suspected. Observers and diplomats said the administration responded to Mr. Gadhafi's initiative by including an anti-Gadhafi Libyan organization, the Islamic Fighting Group (IFG), in the first list of terrorist entities whose assets were frozen. The group has opposed Mr. Gadhafi for years, trying to assassinate him at least once.
In a further indication of how far Libya has fallen off the radar screen, Israeli officials and Jewish groups that voiced concern about the administration's courting of Damascus and Tehran have been mute about the London meeting and the broader Libya thaw.
Mohammed Azwai, the Libyan ambassador in London and a participant in the talks, told British reporters that the Libyan delegation handed over a list of some 20 IFG suspects, some of whom may be linked to Osama bin Laden.
U.S. and British officials refused to comment. But American intelligence officials, who have been criticized for their failure to infiltrate Islamic groups, have an obvious interest in collaborating with Libya. In addition to the presence of IFG on the first list of terrorist entities, a Libyan, Anas Al-Liby, figures on the list of the 22 "most wanted" terrorists released by the White House earlier this month. He is suspected of involvement in the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Progress was also made in London on the Lockerbie issue. The parties discussed the drafting of a statement through which Libya would acknowledge responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing. Although a final decision hinges on the outcome of the appeal of the Libyan agent in The Hague, Tripoli wants an acknowledgment vague enough so that Mr. Gadhafi would not be held responsible for the attacks.
Ray Takeyh, a Libya expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said he heard from Libyan and British sources that Great Britain had already drafted such a statement and that they were waiting for a U.S. response.
No American or British officials would comment. A State Department spokesman said no further meeting had been set but that discussions would continue. A British official said London was a likely venue.
The issue of compensation appears to be thornier. Lawyers involved in the various civil suits filed against Libya in American courts have asked for "billions of dollars" in compensation, according to Lee Krindler, a New York attorney handling several suits.
There is a precedent, however. The victims of a French UTA plane downed over Africa in 1989, allegedly by Libyan agents, were paid some $31 million in compensation by Libya in 1999. France's highest court ruled last March that Mr. Gadhafi was protected by diplomatic immunity and could not be tried in France for the bombing.
U.S. officials claim the London meeting was merely a follow-up to two trilateral encounters held at the U.N. in the past year. A British diplomat added that the London meeting was initially set for September 14 and rescheduled because of the attacks.
The State Department had informed the American families in advance that a U.S. delegation headed by Mr. Burns would meet British and Libyan officials in London. But it did not tell them Mr. Kusa would be there. And while State Department spokesmen claim Washington did not know he would be there, it seems likely that his presence was not a complete surprise. For one thing, British authorities knew because they allowed Mr. Kusa to set foot officially on their territory after a 21-year ban.
"The State Department says the guy just showed up at the meeting, but I don't buy it for a second," said Daniel Cohen, the father of an American Lockerbie victim.
British families of Lockerbie victims, who were not told beforehand, were summoned for a briefing by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on October 11, after reports of the meeting appeared in the British press.
"I understand that they knew before that Mr. Kusa would be there and that it would be better to have him there than not," said Lisa Mosey, the mother of a British victim who participated in the briefing.
"Kusa was there because there are serious talks going on and he can make decisions," said Mr. Takeyh of the Washington Institute. He added that Mr. Kusa was not only a chief spy, but also a veteran negotiator.
In addition to Mr. Kusa and Mr. Azwai, diplomats also noted the presence in the delegation of Abdul-Ati Al-Obeidi, a former Libyan ambassador to Italy who successfully negotiated the settlement two years ago of the so-called Yvonne Fletcher affair. Ms. Fletcher was a police officer killed in 1984 when shots were fired from the Libyan embassy in London on demonstrators outside. After an 11-day standoff, some 30 people from the embassy were expelled and diplomatic relations severed until the settlement was reached with Ms. Fletcher's family.
But U.S.-Libyan diplomatic relations are not likely to be renewed soon. In addition to the thorny issue of compensation, two recent developments could slow down the process. In August, Brian Regan, an employee at the National Reconnaissance office, was charged with spying for Libya. And last week, a German court ruled that Libya was responsible for the 1986 bombing of a discotheque in Germany, which killed two American soldiers and prompted the Reagan administration to bomb Libya.
"I understand there were positive developments at this meeting," said David Mack, vice president of the Middle East Institute in Washington. "It will improve the atmospherics, but I don't think there will be a quid pro quo and that Lockerbie will go away easily."