Libye-Lockerbie

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/SIPA PRESS Wearing a sport shirt decorated with maps of Africa, curiously similar to the "chocolate chip" camouflage fatigues worn by U.S. forces in both Gulf wars, the Libyan ruler Moammar Gaddafi gave his interview with Time magazine 9 August 2003 in a tent pitched outside his hometown of Sirte (Surt) on the Mediterranean coast, 400 kilometers (250 miles) southeast of Tripoli, the capital. In a somewhat ambiguous statement, the Libyan ruler Moammar Gaddafi said in an interview 9 August 2003 with Time magazine (issue of 18-25 August 2003) that he will accept responsibility under international law for the 21 December 21988 terrorist bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people??all 259 aboard the plane plus 11 villagers on the ground. But while accepting "responsibility," Gaddafi shied away from taking the "blame," saying, "Is it not unbelievable that a responsible country, a member of the UN, would do such an act? Libya was a leading country to condemn such acts." Gaddafi said that in exchange for Libya's accepting responsibility and paying out $2.7 billion to families of the victims, the UN sanctions that have blocked most of the world from doing business with Libya would be lifted, and eventually the United States would end its own sanctions and remove Libya from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. Western diplomats indicate that there is no deal yet. U.S. officials are even less impressed. "Libya knows what it needs to do," said State Department spokesman Philip Reeker. "There are no shortcuts and no lowering of the bar." Libya is desperate to end UN and U.S. sanctions that have cost the Libyan economy $30 billion. Gaddafi gave his interview in a tent pitched outside his hometown of Sirte (Surt) on the Mediterranean coast, 400 kilometers (250 miles) southeast of Tripoli, the capital. (alh-pss)/0308121432 00478506