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Updated 2:05 p.m. ET

President Obama said the hero's welcome given to convicted Lockerbie bomber in Libya was "highly objectionable."

Mr. Obama made the comment on Friday afternoon, following a statement on the White House lawn about Thursday's elections in Afghanistan, when prompted by CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante.

Earlier, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs called the images "outrageous and disgusting."

"I think the images that we saw in Libya yesterday were outrageous and disgusting. We continue to express our condolences to the families that lost a loved one as a result of this terrorist murder," Gibbs said his daily briefing.

Gibbs' remarks come in the face of continued outrage from the families of victims of Pam Am 103 to Abdel Baset al-Megrahi's release from a Scotish prison on Thursday. Al-Megrahi, who is suffering from terminal prostate cancer, was released on what they called humanitarian grounds -- despite only serving eight years of a life sentence.

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It was more handshake diplomacy by President Obama as he became the first US president to exchange a face-to-face greeting with Libyan leader Moammar Qadhafi.

As Chairman of the African Union, Qadhafi was invited to attend the G8 Summit Leaders dinner tonight in L’Aquila, Italy.

As the chiefs of state and heads of government gathered for a class photo, Qadhafi approached President Obama and they shook hands. It was a polite encounter, conducted according to protocol. Qadhafi smiled, Mr. Obama not so much.

Back in the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan would sooner have cut off his arm than shake hands with Qadhafi.

"We do not underestimate the brutality of this evil man," said Mr. Reagan of the Libyan leader in 1986, who was deemed by the U.S. to be world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism.

President Reagan regarded Qadhafi as a "madman," a ruler of an "outlaw regime," and "an enemy of the United States."

Qadhafi took power in a 1969 coup, after which U.S. relations with the North African nation became increasingly strained to the point of military action.

In 1986, Mr. Reagan ordered air strikes on military targets in Libya after evidence linking it to a bombing incident in Berlin which claimed the lives of two American servicemen.

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