Does Barack Obama have a clue?

Barack Obama's campaign website - The Problem: The United States is trapped by the Bush-Cheney approach to diplomacy that refuses to talk to leaders we don't like.

Bush Administration's Secretary of State Rice arrived in Libya where she was the first US secretary of state to visit in 55 years.

image source: afp.com

Department of State timeline:
1972 - February 5: The United States terminated agreements with Libya regarding military assistance, economic aid, technical cooperation, duty-free entry of relief supplies, and development assistance.

1996 - January 23: Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan visited Libya, and Colonel Qadhafi offered him $1 billion to fund political activities by U.S. Muslims. During a second visit (August 31-September 1), Farrakhan received the $250,000 Qadhafi International Human Rights Prize. On August 28, the Treasury Department said that U.S. sanctions prevented Farrakhan from accepting either sum. Farrakhan visited Libya again on January 5, 1997.

1996 - August 5: President William J. Clinton signed into law the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act, which imposed sanctions on foreign companies that invested over $40 million a year in Libya’s petroleum industry, or sold weapons, aviation or oil equipment to Libya.

2004 - September 20: President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13357, terminating economic sanctions against Libya, releasing $1 billion in frozen Libyan assets, and authorizing the resumption of airline service between the two countries. The national emergency regarding Libya was terminated.

2006 - May 15: Secretary of State Rice announced that the United States was restoring relations with Libya and planned to remove Libya from the list of states sponsoring terrorism.