American desire to military cooperation with Libya

Deputy commander of the European leadership in the American army Gen. Richard Wald said on Thursday in Washington that the American forces want to establish official relations with the Libyan armed forces, under the precondition that Tripoli will convince the administration of the US President George W. Bush that it had given up terrorism.

Wald explained that this issue is under study by the US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He said "I think this matter will be taking place," adding that Libya and almost every country from North Africa is concerned with establishing close relations with the USA, and this is because partially to the common concern of the dissemination of Islamic extremism.

Wald added "it is clear that there are discussions underway: what we do with Libya, How we want to have the participation from our side, should we be part of this process, should we include them in the group?" Wald stressed that if Libya abides by its obligations to quit mass destruction weapons and give up terrorism, then the USA should establish military relations with it. He said "I think this will be very useful" for the American interests in north Africa.

Military cooperation between the two countries might include direct talks between senior military officials and the possibility of conducting joint exercises between the American and Libyan forces or the possibility of the American access to the Libyan military installations.

Prior to the accession of col. Mu'ammar al-Qathafi to power in 1969, the American army had three military bases in Libya, one of them was near Tripoli, in which Washington in the 1950s deployed long-range missiles. It was also for a period of time the headquarters of the 17th American forces positioned in Europe, as well a spy center for the American intelligence agency to monitor the activities of the Soviet armed forces.