The State Department on Monday extended a ban on the use of American passports for travel to Libya but also suggested that recent positive actions by Libya could prompt changes in the 22-year-old policy.
| Oh, damn. And I just got tickets... |
Disclosure of the one-year extension came in the form of a note from Secretary of State Colin Powell that was published Monday in the Federal Register. If Powell had not acted, the prohibition would have lapsed Monday night. The ban was adopted in 1981 and has been renewed annually on grounds the Libya, because of its hostile relations with the United States, is unsafe for travel by Americans. But Powell departed this year from normal practice by saying that the State Department will review the restriction every three months while it is in effect. Asked for an explanation,
| "Yeah! 'Splain yourself, Ricky!" |
department spokesman Richard Boucher noted that Libya earlier this year had fulfilled requirements imposed by the U.N. Security Council after it held Libya responsible for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103.
There’s the carrot, Qaddafi, be a good boy and reach for it.
The Libyan action restored the country’s standing at the United Nations. Boucher said Libya’s more forthcoming attitude ``may be a potentially positive indicator of an improved security situation for American citizens who might wish to travel to Libya.’’ The extension of the ban came four days after the State Department warned Americans against any travel to Libya in defiance of the travel ban. The warning cited ``evidence of hostility to the United States in some segments of the population and some elements of the Libyan Government.’’
"Because they still got some nut-jobs running the place, that’s why!" |