“This looks”:http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/2006/infcirc679.pdf kind of interesting. Libya and the UK signed a joint letter of Peace and Security in June.
My colleague Michael Nguyen wrote about it in “this month’s _ACT_”:http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2006_09/uklibya.asp.
He wrote:
bq. On June 26 in Tripoli, British Junior Foreign Minister Kim Howells signed a “Joint Letter of Peace and Security” with his counterpart, Libyan Secretary for European Affairs Abdullati Obidi. The letter pledges that the United Kingdom will seek UN Security Council action if another state attacks Libya with chemical or biological weapons. The United Kingdom also pledged to aid Libya in strengthening its defense capabilities, and both states pledged to work jointly to combat the proliferation of “weapons of mass destruction” (WMD).
The US apparently has no plans to follow suit anytime soon.
Nice to know that if we, the US, ever tarry a bit in rushing to arm the latest rehabilitated-in-name-only dictator, our trusty friends the Brits will be there to cover our asses and pick up the slack. And if they should ever fail, there’s always the French, the Germans, the Russians, and, if worst comes to worst and you’re a terrorist group desperately in need of a third-party supply of anti-shipping missiles, the Chinese.
Sorry, didn’t mean to leave the Israelis off that list. I’m nothing if not an equal-opportunity crank, of course.
Christ. Did Howells just give us a nuclear commitment to defend Libya?