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CNN Live At Daybreak

Can the U.S. Trust Libya?

Aired January 16, 2002 - 06:25   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You know among the nation's on the State Department's list of terrorist countries is Libya, but Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has been taking steps that seem to indicate he wants redemption, he wants Libya back in the mainstream. Things that make you go hmm.

CNN's David Ensor tells us what's going on here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a question that until recently few thought would ever arise, can Washington take yes for an answer from this man?

MUAMMAR GADDAFI, LIBYAN LEADER (through translator): And now I believe there isn't anything that hinders the resumement (ph) and normalization of relations between the two respective countries.

ENSOR: For some years now, the Libyan leader has been trying to rehabilitate himself in the West and restore relations with the U.S. Gaddafi kicked the Abu Nidal group and other Palestinian terrorists out of Libya. He paid $25 million in compensation to victims of the French UTA airliner downed over Africa in 1989 by Libyan agents, according to a French court.

Most importantly to the U.S., Libya turned over for trial by a Scottish court in Holland the two suspects in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. At a meeting last week with Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, a senior Libyan intelligence official even discussed paying massive compensation to families of Pan Am 103 victims. Moves on that are expected, U.S. officials say, within the next year.

PHIL REEKER, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT: There are no shortcuts around this and they need to fully comply with that. That's what we'll be looking for.

ENSOR: Once that compensation is paid, some argue the Bush administration should give Gaddafi a second chance.

RAY TAKEYH, INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: But the signal that the United States will send through this particular process is that, yes, actually if you meet the preconditions that we set forth, you have anti-terrorism as an instrument of your policy, you can come off the terrorism list. ENSOR: That move would lift sanctions and allow U.S. oil companies back into profitable Libyan fields, but experts say the oil companies are not pushing.

TAKEYH: I don't think the politics of oil are driving this thing as much as people seem to think.

ENSOR: Even if Gaddafi does everything the U.S. asks, given his checkered history, the Bush administration may have a hard time deciding to reestablish relations.

TAKEYH: I don't think he's crazy, but I think he's suspicious of the West and he's rhetorically entempered (ph), always, and will always be so.

ENSOR (on camera): Still, lifting sanctions against Gaddafi could send a message to other nations accused of supporting terrorism, Syria, Iran, Cuba, that redemption is possible, and the rewards can be sweet.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: So you decide.

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