Libya and the United States: A Faustian Pact?

In congressional testimony in July 1999, Ambassador Ronald E. Neumann, deputy assistant secretary for Near East and South Asian Affairs, emphasized that the United States expected Libya to fulfill all of its UN security Council requirements, including an end to support for terrorist activities, acknowledgment of its responsibility for the actions of Libyan officials, cooperation with the [Lockerbie] trial, and payment of appropriate compensation. Over time, Ambassador Neumann and other American officials added weapons of mass destruction and Libyan regional policies to the list of U.S. concerns, but there was no indication throughout this period that the United States placed any priority on issues like democratic reform and the promotion of human rights, later assigned importance.\n40 PERMANENT INTERESTS Throughout the Bush administration, ambivalence more that anything else has characterized American policy toward Libya, with good faith often in short supply on both sides.