Condoleezza Rice is making historic stop today in the North African loony bin that is Muammar Gaddafi's Libya. The visit, the first by a U.S. secretary of state in over fifty years, is a reward for the Libyan tyrant's recent-but-much-delayed decision to pony up a billion dollars for a "Sorry 'Bout Murderin' Your Loved One" fund that will largely go to family members (and lawyers) of people killed by the Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland.

The visit and the increasingly intimate bilateral relationship it represents is interesting for a plethora of reasons, the most underreported perhaps being recent suggestions that Gaddafi may have been framed for the Lockerbie bombing. As we noted recently, the U.K.'s refusal to release classified documents purportedly detailing the U.S. government's involvement in the investigation was perplexing the very few people who are still interested in knowing the full story behind the bombing. Now, Gaddafi's son and likely heir (no, not the brat who drunk-drove his Porsche the wrong way down the Champs Elysees) has told the BBC that just because Libya officially took responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing "doesn't mean that we did it in fact." He asserts the Libyan government copped to the attack in a diplomatic missive simply to put the Lockerbie accusations behind them: "Without writing that letter we would not be able to get rid of sanctions."

Whether Gaddafi himself will allude to this subversive view during his meeting with Rice is a question State Department bureaucrats have probably been sweating for weeks. Early signs suggest that Gaddafi may be on his best behavior for the U.S.'s top diplomat, as he recently referred to Rice as "my darling black African woman" and noted his deep admiration for the way "she leans back and gives orders to the Arab leaders." Still, we're thinking Condi should probably show a little leg during today's tete-a-tete just to make sure; we need that light, sweet crude.