Libya to halt nuke efforts

WASHINGTON -- Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi has admitted that he was trying to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and said he will dismantle the programs under international inspection, President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Friday night.

Libya's action halted an active nuclear weapons program that U.S. intelligence agencies had never said publicly that Libya possessed. It was announced after nine months of consultations with U.S. and British intelligence services that began at Libya's initiation almost simultaneously with the U.S.- and British-led invasion of Iraq.

The White House called Gadhafi's decision to abandon his pursuit of weapons of mass destruction a victory for Bush's strategy of pre- emptive war against potential threats as well as an example of Bush's use of diplomacy to achieve results.

"And another message should be equally clear: Leaders who abandon the pursuit of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and the means to deliver them, will find an open path to better relations with the United States and other free nations," Bush said at a hastily called news conference at the White House. "With today's announcement, Libya has begun the process of rejoining the community of nations."

The two allied leaders announced the agreement after the Libyan news agency Jana Tripoli quoted Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam as saying that Libyan experts had shown U.S. and British officials "substances, equipment and programs that could lead to production of internationally banned weapons."

The items included a "centrifuging machine and equipment to carry chemical substances," Abdel-Rahman Shalqam said, according to the Libyan news agency. Gadhafi later issued a statement confirming the one by his foreign minister.

Bush administration officials said they weren't surprised by the chemical weapons but were caught off-guard by how advanced Libya's nuclear program was.

"On the nuclear side, my understanding is that they did have a much further advanced program, including centrifuges," said a senior administration official, who briefed reporters at the White House on the condition of anonymity. He said Libyan officials showed their U.S. and British counterparts "a significant quantity" of mustard gas and aerial bombs that could be filled with mustard gas. They also displayed a dual-use capacity to produce mustard gas and nerve agents.

"Libya has decided, with its own free will, to get rid of these substances, equipment and programs and would be free from all internationally banned weapons," the Libyan foreign minister was quoted as saying.

Libya agreed to accept international inspectors, the senior Bush administration officials said.

U.S. and British officials visited more than 10 sites in October and again this month. The sites contained different aspects of the program, including high-speed centrifuges -- devices that purify, or enrich, uranium to the point where it can be used in a warhead.

Building a centrifuge "is the long pole in the tent. Once you can do that, you can build a bomb," said another administration official, speaking to Knight Ridder on the condition of anonymity. "They told us that they had this program that was ultimately intended to produce a bomb."

He said he didn't know how much bomb-grade uranium the Libyans had produced. The United States and Britain learned that Libya was trying to put together a team of foreign experts to build the nuclear weapon, he said.

Administration officials learned of Libya's progress after Libyan officials contacted British and U.S. officials in March about coming clean about its weapons program. The U.S.- and British-led invasion of Iraq began March 19.

As part of its agreement, Libya will eliminate all elements of its chemical and nuclear weapons program; declare all nuclear activities to the International Atomic Energy Agency; eliminate all chemical weapons stocks and munitions; eliminate ballistic missiles with a range beyond 300 kilometers and with a payload of 500 kilograms; accept international inspections to ensure that it adheres to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty; and allow immediate inspections and monitoring.

Libya's weapons admission appears to be the latest move by Gadhafi to return his country to the world's good graces after it was slapped with sanctions for its role in the 1988 terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Earlier this year, Libya agreed to pay $2.7 billion to the 270 families of the Lockerbie victims.

A senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the U.S. government informed the families of the Pan Am Flight 103 victims shortly before Bush's announcement Friday.

Friday's developments could help improve Washington's image in the Muslim world, where anger is high over U.S. support for Israel, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and American pressure on Iran and Syria.

"It shows, even beyond the Muslim world, there's two ways to approach the United States," the senior State Department official said.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Libya sent numerous signals that it wanted to avoid a confrontation with the United States. In talks with Assistant Secretary of State William Burns in London several months after the attacks, a top aide to Gadhafi offered to hand over information on a Libyan Islamic group with ties to the al-Qaida network.

Libya is also a major potential source of oil outside the unstable Persian Gulf region. Its oil fields were developed by U.S. firms, led by Occidental Petroleum, and Libya has been preserving tracts for American companies' return since President Reagan ordered them out in 1986.

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