Blair to Meet Qaddafi

From NY Times: bq. Prime Minister Tony Blair will meet the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, "as soon as convenient," a British official said after the first formal visit here today by a Libyan foreign minister since 1969. bq. The foreign minister, Muhammad Abdul Rahman Shalgam, met Mr. Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw for private talks this morning that centered on the "good progress" that Mr. Straw said had been made since Colonel Qaddafi announced on Dec. 19 that he was ridding his country of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs. bq. No weapons-related materials have been destroyed, but Western officials said that extensive surveys and plans were under way with help from American and British intelligence officials, plus experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, in The Hague. This is very cool - we had at the outset said that diplomatic relations would depend on Libya's efforts to remove their weapons program. They have shown a real effort on this and we are rewarding them with recognition. Meeting with Blair, Bush is probably being talked about in backchannels now and the article said that: bq. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy today became the first Western leader to travel to Tripoli, Libya's capital, since Colonel Qaddafi's December declaration on weapons. A very strong show to the other nations that we mean what we say but also, that we play fair.