Policy Or Ploy?

LIBYA'S TAME PARLIAMENT, THE 631-MEMBER GENeral People's Congress, concluded 11 days of reportedly heated debate with the announcement that it would not object to handing over two suspects in the Pan Am 103 bombing to the U.N. or the Arab League for trial. The session was accompanied by a series of articles in the government press critical of the policy line of the country's leader, Muammar Gaddafi.

Since the Libyan press is at least as tightly controlled as the parliament, experts suggest Gaddafi himself might be orchestrating the change in policy. If he is, the suggested offer still falls short of...