Bush administration opens door to full relations with Libya [View All]

[sabra]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20050822-1116-us-libya.html

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration on Monday suggested Libya could expect long-sought diplomatic recognition from the United States if it cleaned up its record on human rights and terrorism.

U.S. officials gave no indication that an embassy would be opened in Tripoli within days, as Seif Al-Islam Gadhafi, son of the country's leader, Moammar Gadhafi, said in the Libyan capital.

But the trend clearly pointed in that direction. "If they continue to make progress along the pathway that we have laid out, we, again, will meet their acts of good faith in return," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

In March, the administration notified Congress it planned to establish full relations with the once outcast government by the end of the year, despite suspicions in Saudi Arabia that Libyan agents plotted to try to assassinate then-Crown Prince Abdullah in late 2003.