Rice primed for historic visit to Libya (AP)
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer 5 minutes ago
LISBON, Portugal - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she is excited about her landmark trip to Libya, when she will become the highest-ranking American official to visit the North African country in more than a half-century.
Rice told reporters in Portugal before leaving for Libya later Friday that it was a "historic moment" in long-difficult relations between Washington and Tripoli. She noted that those ties have been marked by the suffering of many people, especially Americans, who were killed and wounded in Libyan-linked terror attacks in the 1980s.
But, she stressed that Libyan leader Moammer Gadhafi had changed his country's course in 2003 by abandoning weapons of mass destruction, renouncing terrorism and agreeing to compensate the families of terror victims.
Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)" class="newsimage" />