HE'LL HAVE TO LIBERALIZE FOR THEM TO BE TRULY NORMAL:

Firms beat path to ... Libya:
A Libyan official said this week he expected oil firms to help normalize US ties. (Simon Martelli, 1/27/06, The Christian Science Monitor)

"With the end of the Lockerbie issue, relations returned to normal and there were many delegations of Congress who visited Libya. I think all efforts are heading towards ending animosity," Colonel Qaddafi said in an interview with the United States-funded Arabic TV channel Al-Hurra last week.

Now, the companies that helped create Libya's oil industry in the 1970s are returning as Qaddafi rebuilds bridges to the West that he burned long ago, and this may help to precipitate political, as well as economic, change.