Secret trips by American intelligence officers, late night meetings with Muammar Qaddafi and disclosures that the US knew about Libya's arms programs led to Tripoli's pledge to give up its unconventional weapons, senior intelligence officials said on Saturday.
A team of American and British intelligence officers flew to Libya clandestinely in October and this month for stretches of about two weeks, visiting sites where they were shown parts of the country's chemical, nuclear and missile programs.
Qaddafi appears to have been the driving force behind the process, and his motivation may have ranged from concerns about the US-led war against Iraq and a desire to join the international community to concerns about extremism inside Libya, the officials said.
"The Libyans are very focused on extremism and have made some contributions to the war on terrorism," one of the intelligence officials said.
US officials are optimistic about working with Libya on fighting terrorism, he said. "We're hopeful that we can indeed do some collaborative work against some of the extremist groups who are threatening all sorts of people," he said.
The intelligence officers were accompanied at all times by Libyan intelligence, drivers changed cars along the way and the Westerners were ushered into office buildings for meetings with Qaddafi that started after 11pm.
"Operationally, we did conduct this entire business as secretly as we possibly could so it indeed was the result of a series of secret meetings in Europe and then of course trips clandestinely to Libya," a US intelligence official who was on the visits told reporters on condition of anonymity.
Qaddafi's representatives initiated the process in mid-March by asking Britain to broker talks with the US on its programs to develop weapons of mass destruction.
"During the meetings with Colonel Qaddafi, he was consistent throughout in his intentions to proceed with admission and elimination of their WMD programs," said one of the American intelligence officers who attended the meetings.
In each meeting Qaddafi sent a message to London and Washington.
"It usually was late at night, but on each case he had done his homework and was ready for us and was quite generous with his time," he said.
When Libya learned how much the US already knew about its weapons programs, it appeared to give Tripoli the final push to give up its banned weapons.
The American and British team was taken to dozens of sites, where they saw centrifuges and parts for centrifuges that appeared to be in working order. They also saw tonnes of sulfur mustard produced about a decade ago.
While the intelligence officials believe Libya had an active nuclear program, they declined to comment on how close the country was to having a nuclear weapon.
"Suffice it to say the Libyans were substantially farther along on uranium enrichment programs than had been publicly disclosed before," said an official involved in analysis of weapons proliferation.
"And by far the most significant revelation they made to us was their disclosure of centrifuges. That was quite a milestone in their admission," he said.
The Libyans also showed the team advanced missiles delivered by North Korea in the late 1990s.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique