It's all part of the deal where Libya agreed to give up it's weapons of mass destruction program and allow the U.S. and U.K. to dismantle and remove all facilities and plans.
Judith Miller (jailed for refusing to give up her source in the Valerie Plame phony leak case) writes this in depth two part series describing the behind the scenes moves which made the destruction of Libyan WMD capabilities possible.
Part One
Part Two
If you like long behind the scenes reads of how these major goals get accomplished, you will enjoy this one.
The bottom line is that Libya had what it needed to make one 10 kiloton weapon and was poised to begin production of up to ten per year.
The inspection team returned in December 2003, with even greater access. They were astonished by what they learned during their visits to weapons sites, labs and dual-use and military facilities. Although Libya claimed that it had no biological or germ-weapons-related facilities, and that its chemical capabilities were less than the CIA had feared, U.S. intelligence had underestimated Libya's nuclear progress.The factors which brought Libya to renounce WMD's and allow full western access for their removal was the combination of diplomacy and the very real threat of military force.
The Libyan decision has also borne other fruit by providing a bonanza of intelligence into the workings of the shadowy network of nuclear smuggling and proliferation.
But as far as using the Libyan example as a model for handling Iran, the model weakens. Compared to the messianic lunacy of Iran's leadership, Libyan leader, Moammar al-Gadhafi, is relatively sane. Gadhafi already had a taste of U.S. military power in the raid on Tripoli ordered by President Reagan in 1986 in retaliation for Libya's role in the bombing of a Berlin disco. He learned his lesson the hard way.
(See President Bush inspect the Libyan WMD program equipment at Oak Ridge, Tennessee here).
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