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U.S. Hopes Rice's Visit to Libya Highlights Potential for Pariah States to Come In from the Cold

[Christian Science Monitor] Howard LaFranchi - When Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits Libya Friday for a sit-down with once-reviled leader Muammar Qaddafi, it will symbolize from the Bush administration perspective the potential for pariah states to come in from the cold, and the U.S. will be hoping that Iran and North Korea, in particular, are taking note. Instead of confronting the U.S. and the international community with a nuclear weapons program, U.S. officials say, Libya is reaping the economic and diplomatic benefits of having renounced its terrorist avocation and weapons-of-mass-destruction ambitions in 2003. But not everyone sees Rice's stop in Libya in such glowing terms. "It's doubtful the Libya example will mean much to Iran, in large part because Iran is in a better position as it faces down the international community than Libya was," says James Phillips, senior research fellow for Middle Eastern affairs at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.
2008-09-05 01:00:00
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