Word: ghaddafi
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Dates: during 1998-1998
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...first step for U.S. and British officials is to figure out if the Libyan gesture is genuine. "One would assume that Libyan leader Muammar Ghaddafi approves," says TIME U.N. correspondent William Dowell, "but sometimes he plays one part of his government against the other." Even if Ghaddafi does approve, lots of procedural questions must still be answered, including where the suspects would be jailed, if convicted. And the biggest hurdle remains: "In the past there have been informed reports that Ghaddafi wanted guarantees that the trial would not implicate any higher-ups," says Dowell. Resolving that issue could easily take...
UNITED NATIONS: For Muammar Ghaddafi, that was a poker face. The Libyan leader's rambling, repetitive and occasionally defiant interview on CNN Thursday afternoon -- "They are not pieces of fruit," Ghaddafi said more than once, referring to the suspects in the Pan Am 103 bombing -- left observers first chuckling and then wondering: How sincere...
...TIME reporter Stu Stogel says from the U.N. that Western diplomats think Ghaddafi may finally be ready to do a deal, and are ready to extend a friendly hand. "The British and Americans are discussing a temporary suspension of the sanctions on Libya as a show of good faith," he says, "and that would probably be enough to satisfy Ghaddafi." But the ever-elusive Muammar has left himself an out. "So far, he's only promised that he would let the Libyan courts rule on the extradition," says Stogel. "And we all know which way that would come...
...bother bargaining? As Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Monday, the proposal is "a way to call the Libyan government's bluff," whether or not it results in a trial. "The U.S. is being pragmatic," says Waller. "If Ghaddafi accepts, then this is the best justice the U.S. -- and the victims' families -- are going to get. If not, the U.S. will use his refusal as fodder to convince the U.N. Security Council to keep the sanctions...
WASHINGTON: The U.S. has offered Muammar Ghaddafi nearly everything he asked for: The two suspects in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Scotland, if handed over by Libya, would be tried in a third-party country -- the Netherlands -- and by Scottish judges. But the U.S. isn't expecting Ghaddafi to accept. "This all may be for show," says TIME Washington correspondent Douglas Waller. "Ghaddafi must have ordered the bombings -- there are no rogue agents in Libya -- and it's hardly likely that he'll turn over two of his lieutenants...