Seeing as they’re still alive, seems like they already got their reward. But some folks are never satisfied.
Libya’s prime minister said his country wants to be rewarded for opening up to nuclear inspections, and stressed that the United States must lift sanctions by May 12 or his government won’t have to pay $6 million to each family of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing victims, according to an interview published Friday.
Prime Minister Shukri Ghanim told The New York Times that Libya wants to be paid for turning over nuclear materials. Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi pledged in mid-December to give up his unconventional weapons programs and to open weapons sites to inspectors. Ghanim told the Times that the North African country wants to ``accelerate to the maximum’’ the dismantling of its unconventional weapons programs so that Libya could be declared free of the weapons in the next few months.
Why do I smell a con here? We should take our time and do a thorough job.
At the same time, Ghanim reiterated that his country won’t have to pay the remaining $6 million to each family of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing victims unless Washington lifts the sanctions that it imposed in 1986 by May 12. In August, Libya agreed to accept responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and has paid the families of the 270 victims $4 million each so far. That led the United Nations to lift sanctions on Sept. 12. Libya promised to pay another $4 million if the United States lifts its own sanctions against Libya and another $2 million if Libya is removed from the State Department’s list of countries sponsoring terrorism within eight months. ``The agreement says that eight months after the signing, if American sanctions are not removed, then the additional $6 million for each family of victims will not be paid,’’ Ghanim said. ``This would be for the good of the families of the victims, but we will leave this to the decision of the Americans.’’
Comes rather close to extortion, doesn’t it? |