Even as the Democratic presidential contenders are suggesting they ‘d favor diplomacy rather than force in dealing with America’s enemies, the evidence is mounting of backsliding in Libya, where the Bush administration did a diplomatic deal rather than pursuing a policy of regime change. Libya recently sent the American government a letter declaring that on June 14 it will back out of a contract it had signed with America to destroy 25 tons of chemical weapons and 1,433 tons of precursor materials, Reuters reported. And yesterday in Sofia, President Bush was reduced to pleading publicly with Colonel Gadhafi for the release of five Bulgarian nurses who have been held captive by Libya since 1999 and were sentenced to death after a show trial on trumped-up charges of infecting Libyan children with the virus that causes AIDS.

“We strongly support the release of the Bulgarian nurses in Libya. That’s the position of the United States. They should be released, and they should be allowed to be returned to their families. We will continue to make clear to Libya that the release of these nurses is a high priority for our country,” Mr. Bush said. The limits of a deal that left Colonel Gadhafi in power become clearer by the day. It’s going to be difficult even for the Bush State Department to portray as a diplomatic success a deal that leaves the Bulgarian nurses in jail, and Colonel Gadhafi with 25 tons of deadly chemical weapons. All the more reason to look with extreme skepticism at proposals for a similar “grand bargain” with North Korea or Iran.