Since he cracked down on protesters last week, Qaddafi has been under fire from the international community – as well as his own country’s diplomats, who've deserted him en masse. He doesn’t seem to be bending right now, but he has ceded to international pressure in the past.
In 1988, PanAm flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, in an incident known as the Lockerbie Bombing. The US and Scotland charged two Libyan men in the attack, but Qaddafi denied Libyan involvement, earning the country United Nations sanctions and international pariah status. Qaddafi formally admitted responsibility in 2003 and said Libya would compensate the families of those who died in the incident – a promise fulfilled in 2008.
That same year, Qaddafi agreed to give up Libya’s nuclear weapons program, a move that ended his isolation from the US. Former President George W. Bush formally ended the US trade embargo on Libya in 2004, allowing the country’s economy – particularly the oil sector – to flourish.
