There’s Reason to Rush

The chief United Nations weapons inspector’s announcement Monday that he will lead a team to Libya as early as next week to start dismantling the desert nation’s chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs reflects the proper urgency in stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Libyan leader Col. Moammar Kadafi’s surprise offer to voluntarily give up the weapons was a welcome tribute to diplomacy of many years and the threat of force magnified by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Still, Kadafi will never be trustworthy. Libyans set the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. Kadafi’s regime has sheltered terrorists.

Dictators who meddle in other nations’ affairs invite retaliation. International sanctions imposed after the Pan Am bombing ravaged Libya’s economy and led Kadafi to reduce his sponsorship of terrorists in the 1990s; after 9/11, he offered intelligence to the United States and its allies. In September, Libya accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and the U.N. lifted its sanctions. Washington rightly has not followed suit, keeping the stick ready if carrots do not succeed in Tripoli.

Last week produced another potential victory in nonproliferation. Iran formally agreed to let U.N. nuclear inspectors make unannounced visits. Like Libya, Iran for years hid its development of atomic weapons, and close scrutiny will be needed to ensure it lives up to its promises.

Libyan and Iranian acceptance of international inspections should awaken Syria to the benefits of giving up the chemical weapons that most analysts believe it possesses and scrapping its suspected program to develop biological weapons. Syria shelters groups like Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad that seek to destroy Israel. If terrorists obtain chemical or biological weapons, they could cause havoc.

The CIA reported this year that Libya was continuing to develop its nuclear program. But officials said when U.S. and British inspectors accepted Libya’s invitation to see its weapons facilities this fall they were surprised by how far the program had advanced. If confirmed, that would be another troubling signal of the difficulty in obtaining intelligence about weapons programs. U.S. and U.N. officials were surprised by the strides made by Iraq’s nuclear weapons program before the 1991 Persian Gulf War; despite the Bush administration’s claims, no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq since the end of this year’s war.

Inspectors should require Libya to detail where it obtained the equipment to produce its weapons. Stopping suppliers could be a major tool in preventing the spread of weapons that, as President Bush said in announcing Libya’s change of heart, “bring isolation and otherwise unwelcome consequences” rather than influence.