Shameless deal with Libya

The age-old advice that, "If you sup with the devil, use a long spoon," should be strictly observed when full diplomatic relations between the United States and Libya are restored. The signing Thursday of an agreement finally settling compensation for American victims of terrorism means that the U.S. will upgrade relations with the nefarious dictatorship of Moammar Gadhafi, open an embassy in Tripoli, appoint a U.S. ambassador and send Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Libya to make nice.

As well as packing a long spoon, Ms. Rice should take something to settle her stomach. Nothing could be more nauseating than dealing with Gadhafi, a ruthless dictator who has brutally oppressed his own people for four decades. The only good that can be said for him is that he claims he is no longer a sponsor of international terrorism and that programs to manufacture chemical weapons have been closed down. But when it comes to dealing with Gadhafi, nothing can be taken on trust.

Thanks to Libya's oil wealth, Gadhafi has been able to buy international recognition. Libya paid the 268 families of victims who died in the 1988 terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, $8 million each. But the wily Gadhafi withheld an additional $2 million owed to each of the families because the United States initially refused to compensate Libyan victims of U.S. air strikes on the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and Benghazi in 1986, in which an adopted daughter of the dictator was killed. The U.S. attacks were retaliation for the bombing of a Berlin disco frequented by American servicemen, which killed three and wounded 200. The Libyans claim that at least 40 people were killed by the American bombs.

Commenting on the agreement, Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said, "The agreement provides some justice and closure for the victims of Libyan terrorism and their families. But it is small consolation and will not bring back the lives that have been lost, nor undo the suffering endured by survivors."

Susan Cohen put the feelings of those who lost their loved ones to Gadhafi's terrorists into words. "This is a triumph for terrorism," she said. "All this does, it says, 'We swept the families away. We pretend that Gadhafi never blew up an American plane.' "

Of course, the agreement also opens the way to oil and trade deals with Libya, regardless of the blood on Gadhafi's hands and his unchanged contempt for human rights and his own lack of humanity.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch, who signed the deal with Ahmed al-Fatouri, head of America affairs in Libya's Foreign Ministry, called it a "historic agreement."

As an example of shameless diplomacy, it may be deemed historic. Rarely have our diplomats stooped so low for the sake of tawdry pragmatism.