LIBYA has welcomed a decision by the United States government to cease classifying Libya and six other countries as “rogue states”. The United States earlier this week dropped the use of the term “rogue state” from its foreign policy lexicon in favor of the broader categorization “state of concern”. US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Monday this would allow the USA greater flexibility in its dealings with those nations. The new phrase is “a better description or a different description, because a single description — one size fits all — doesn’t really fit anymore,” Boucher said. In addition to Libya, the term was applied to Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, Cuba and Iraq. It was reserved for countries that support terrorism.
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