This is because Libya was pulled off the terrorist supporter list when GWB was president and GWB openly praised Libya for the monetary concessions sent to France which prompted the removal from the list. Since Libya has oil, that paved the way for Bush-supporting companies like Halliburton, Koch, Tyco, etc. and the high level executives that used to bounce between the boards of those corporations and the WH to work on fluffing up Libya. Young people don't know (until now) how much of a lunatic Quaddafi is, but in the 1980s it was crystal clear. But the only advantage to having Quaddafi in power is that he was all talk and no action. When Reagon bombed the sh** out of him he didn't get any support from his arab neighbors and he quit being a thorn in the USA's ass.