The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2006

The May 15 decision ends more than 25 years of hostility between the U.S. and Libya. Ties were formally cut in 1979, when an angry mob chanting pro-Iran slogans set fire to Embassy Tripoli. Relations deterio- rated further over the next decade as Libya was implicated in the 1986 bombing of La Belle discothèque in Berlin, the French UTA Flight 772 disaster in 1989 and the 1988 downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Locker- bie, Scotland, in which 270 people died. In 2003, Muammar Qadhafi an- nounced that Libya would abandon its WMD program and allow interna- tional weapons inspectors into the country ( http://fpc.state.gov/docu ments/organization/32007.pdf ). Since then, relations have warmed considerably. The process was helped by Libya’s cooperation in tracking the illegal proliferation network run by A.Q. Khan, Pakistan’s top nuclear sci- entist ( http://www.globalsecurity . org/wmd/world/libya/khan-libya. htm ). What is expected from this new era in U.S.-Libyan relations? The Bush administration looks forward to capi- talizing on economic benefits. Libya’s oil reserves total 39 billion barrels, the largest in Africa. As Foreign Policy In Focus analyst Ronald Bruce St. John states: “The United States has never been a major importer of Libyan oil and is not expected to be one in the future, [but] Libya’s oil and gas reserves are increasingly important to America’s European allies. Additional Libyan output will contribute to global supplies to the mutual benefit of both sides of the Atlantic” ( http://www.fpif.org/fpi ftxt/3286 ). Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs C. David Welch reaffirmed this focus on economic ties at a recent State Department briefing ( http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/ rm/2006/66268.htm ). The Bush administration also looks forward to a more open discussion with Tripoli on other issues of impor- tance to the U.S., including human rights and political reform. Recently, the United States Liaison Office insti- tuted the Libyan Fulbright Foreign Student Program to provide scholar- ships for Libyans to pursue post-grad- uate-level study in the U.S. ( http:// tripoli.usmission.gov/ ). Some also believe that Tripoli’s restoration of relations with the U.S. may serve as a model for North Korea or Iran. Kurt Achin, a Seoul- based correspondent and Bureau Chief for Voice of America, believes the Libyan model can be applied to North Korea, especially with South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki- Moon already championing it ( http:// www.voanews.com/english/2006- 05-25-voa35.cfm ). U.S. Ambassa- dor to the United Nations John Bol- ton hinted in May, however, that it is “unlikely” that the same can be said for Iran ( http://www.nuclearno. com/text.asp?10856 ). Meanwhile, the Bush administra- tion continues to face criticism from families of the victims of Pan Am Flight 103. These families are frus- trated that the U.S. government has not urged the Libyan government to honor a settlement made with the families in 2003 giving them full com- pensation once Libya was taken off the list of state sponsors of terror ( http://www.victimsofpanamflight 103.org ). To follow unfolding developments, see the World News Network’s Libya Daily ( http://www.libyadaily.com ) . For a quick and easy timeline of U.S.- Libyan relations since 1979, visit Aljazeera.net ( http://english.aljaze era.net/NR/exeres/9375DF75- 28FB-4D18-96C591E55DB5B 976.htm ). For background, see the Council on Foreign Relations Web site ( http: / /www.cfr.org/publication/10863/ taming_of_a_pariah.html ). See Congressional Research Service Re- ports for Libya’s economic and politi- cal history ( http://digital.library. unt.edu/govdocs/crs//data/2006/u pl-meta-crs-8361/RL33142_2006 Jan25.pdf ). — Eirene Busa, Editorial Intern 14 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 6 C Y B E R N O T E S Site of the Month: www.craigslist.com Getting ready for your next post? Whether it’s your first or sixth tour, you may want to check out www.craigslist.com , the world’s most popular online classifieds section. Craigslist currently provides services in 35 countries in addition to all 50 U.S. states, and can help users find anything from a new piano to a new pet or car. Craigslist was created in 1995 by Craig Newmark, a Web-oriented software engineer in San Francisco. In just over a decade, it has become the seventh most popular English-language site — after Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft, Google, Ebay and Newscorp — with more than nine million classified ads and more than 400,000 new job listings each month. And the service, which is free, is still expanding at an astounding rate. For new users, the Web site’s homepage may seem overwhelming, with list after list of information to choose from. But the no-nonsense layout is surpris- ingly easy to navigate, even for the most Internet-challenged users. — Eirene Busa, Editorial Intern