 |
| Volume XV, Spring 2008, Number 1 |
| |
EXCERPT
Libya and the United States: A Faustian Pact?
|
| |
| Anthony H. Cordesman |
| |
Dr. St John has served on the International Advisory Board of The Journal of Libyan Studies and the Atlantic Council Working Group on Libya. His publications include
Libya: From Colony to Independence, The Historical Dictionary of Libya,
Libya and the United States: Two Centuries of Strife, and
Qaddafi's World Design: Libyan Foreign Policy, 1969-1987.
After a promising start, the
rapprochement between the
Socialist People's Libyan Arab
Jamahiriya and the United States may be reaching its limits. The Bush administration's July 2007 nomination of a new ambassador to Libya, the first since 1972, was a positive move, but a congressional block on his confirmation, coupled with a related hold on funds for a new embassy in Tripoli, have stymied real progress. Administration officials argue that both sides have already achieved essentially what they want from the new relationship, blaming the present stalemate on Libya. On the contrary, an assessment of the American-Libyan relationship, as it unfolded over the last decade, would suggest there is plenty of blame on both sides. More important, it highlights how much both states have to gain from a broader, deeper relationship.
|
| |
|
