ElBaradei: Libya in Early Nuclear Stages

[underpants]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=14&u=/ap/20031229/ap_on_re_mi_ea/libya_nuclear

TRIPOLI, Libya - The U.N. nuclear chief said Monday that his visits to four once-secret nuclear sites proved that Libya had been in the early stages of a weapons program before it dismantled its efforts.

Mohammed ElBaradei said the equipment and technology had come from a number of countries.

"What we have seen is a program in the very initial stages of development," ElBaradei told reporters. "We haven't seen any industrial-scale facility to produce highly enriched uranium; we haven't seen any enriched uranium" — the material needed for developing nuclear weapons.

ElBaradei had said earlier that Libya received its weapons equipment "through the black market and middle people."

According to ElBaradei's spokesman, Mark Gwozdecky, the sites visited Sunday were new facilities that "have never been mentioned in the media before."

Gadhafi's pledge to scrap its weapons programs is the latest in a series of moves to end his country's international isolation and shed its image as a rogue nation. It followed eight months of covert negotiations and inspections by British and U.S. intelligence officials.

[demdave]

1. This entire Libya episode might finally be coming to an end.

It is nice to see some good news coming out of the region.