The Bush administration has determined that Libya was playing an
effective role in blocking Al Qaida operations. Officials said Libya was
slowing the movement of Al Qaida volunteers recruited in North Africa to
fight the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.
"Quite frankly I never thought I would be visiting Libya and so it is
quite something," Ms. Rice said in a news conference after meeting Libyan
leader Moammar Gadhafi. "This trip is acknowledging how far the U.S.-Libyan
relationship has come. But it is the beginning and not the end of the
story."
"They've been good team members and partners on that," State Department
counter-terrorism coordinator Dell Dailey said. "They've additionally been
good team members on looking inside their own borders for potential foreign
fighters that have gone across northern Africa into Iraq. And now, we see a
little bit of a shift possibly even into Afghanistan."
At a Sept. 3 briefing, Dailey said Libya has cooperated with the United
States in monitoring the Al Qaida flow from North Africa to Syria. Syria has
been the key route for Al Qaida fighters sent to Iraq.
"There are other countries there, foreign fighters that have moved from
Libya into Syria that have been stopped by the Syrians have gone back to
Libya," Dailey said. "So there is a level of cooperation that's increased
dramatically in this time frame, too."
In 2006, Libya was removed from the State Department's list of terrorist
sponsors. Since then, officials said, Tripoli has expanded security
cooperation with the United States against Al Qaida.
"There's been some very close cooperation in virtually all the areas of
counterterrorism across the national aspect: diplomatic, military,
intelligence services, economics," Dailey said. "So it's been a good move."
