news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7601519.stm

Man they've got some cheek.

They bombed Libya in retaliation for Lockerbie (another miscarriage of justice in which we Brits are complicit) which everyone knew at the time had been carried out at the behest of Iran in response to the shooting down of an Iranian Airbus by a trigger happy US warship in the Gulf. (the captain of said ship, the USS Vincenes, got a medal for his actions).

And now they're welcoming Libya back into the International community as if the Libyans were the guilty party. Pompous, self-righteous, hypocritical bar stewards.

And the ever impartial Beeb gives us its usual high standard unbiased coverage of the events.

Bananaman commented: Man they've got some cheek. No change there then regarding double standards! To me the most telling quote from Aljazeera Magazine (which gives a less sanitised version of events) is: Muammar Gaddafi may have reflected this when he said this week that his country did not want to be friends with the U.S., it just wanted to be left alone. http://aljazeera.com/news/newsfull.php?newid=158112

Banaman

They bombed Libya in retaliation for Lockerbie

Which was only the excuse. Just like the attack on the twin towers was an excuse to attack Iraq. As you say, the yanks are trigger happy and have no respect for innocent people.

I spent 10 days working in Tripoli and the company drivers never failed to point out the site of the house that was bombed (now a small, commemorative play park). It is in the middle of a residential area. It was lucky that only 1 child was killed. It could have been many more.

And the US bombers left from a UK base. It should be the UK apologising to Libya. Not the other way around.

B'man I think that you are wrong with the dates.

Libya was attacked by the US on April 15th 1986.
Pan-Am flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie Dec 1988.
You are probably correct when you said that Lockerbie was in retaliation for the Iran-Air flight that was shot down over the Gulf in July 1988

Never the less he Libyan government formally accepted responsibility for Lockerbie in May 2002 and 2.7 billion was awarded to families of the 270 victims.

What is not well publicised, is that Libya retaliated to the US bombing by arranging the high-jacking Pan-Am flight 073 in Pakistan in Sept 1986 which left 20 killed and over 120 wounded. This attack was carried out by the Abu Nidal group funded by Gaddafi.
Abu Nidal who was said to be outraged by the attack on Libya, subsequently hanged all the western hostages that were being held by his organization, that is the same time as a British journalist McCarthy(?) was taken hostage. (He was lucky)

Libya also accepted responsibility for blowing up the French UTA flight over Chad in Sept 1989 and recently awarded the families of the 170 victims the sum of $170 million.

Libya was also responsible for the attacks on Rome and Vienna airports, which left many dead.

Libya is also responsible for the murder of the young police woman Yvonne Fletcher shot dead by someone in the Libyan embassy in London.

Libya now wants to come in from the cold. Frankly I don’t trust them one bit. And yes they are the guilty party.

It's the oil, stupid.

As of May 2006, the U.S. has removed Libya from its list of states that sponsor terrorism and has normalised ties and removed sanctions. This clears the road for U.S. oil companies to exploit Libyan oil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Libya

Yes Robin,you are right, even I know that its all about oil.
But after two years since taking Libya off the "most undesireable country" list, the US still hasn't managed to get a foothold in Libya, hence Connies visit.
I believe that Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria have been operating there for some time now, and Australian and Canadian exploration teams are presently in the Gulf of Sirte.
To think that in the 70's and early 80's most of the oil companies operating there were American, and now they are knocking at the door begging to get back in.
The way that I see it is that the US are saying, lets forget about the past and bury our differences, shake hands and start again. Incidently Ghaddafi never did shake her hand during her visit.
I have a feeling that he will never forgive the US for what they did, just as I would never trust Ghaddafi as far as I could throw him.
But there again who knows? Its a funny old world.

Jamrie

Thank you for the correction on dates. Obviously my mind is hazy after all these years of claims and counter-claims.

I would point out that Libya agreed to pay the victim's families under duress. They have always denied responsibility for Lockerbie. The Scottish authorities are desperate to avoid an appeal for Al Megrahi as the evidence is mounting that the verdict was wrong. If that happens, I wonder if Libya can reclaim the money paid to relatives from Scotland?