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A must read... an
interesting analysis of Gadhafi and our “kinetic military action”
against him
Townhall...
Gadhafi -- the Mad
Dog Who Trumped the World
By Debra J. Saunders
Every American should look at Libya through the prism of the 1988 Pan
Am 103 terrorist bombing that left 270 people dead. Moammar Gadhafi --
the man whom Ronald Reagan called the mad dog of the Middle East --
ordered an attack that killed mostly American civilians in a bombing
over British soil. Yet rather than be beaten by more powerful nations,
he lived to crow about it.
It took more than a decade for international investigators to uncover
the crime and the international community to pressure Libya to hand
over two suspects for a Scottish trial -- given America’s death
penalty, Tripoli would never go for a U.S. trial -- conducted in a
Dutch courtroom.
In 2001, three judges acquitted one defendant, but found onetime Libyan
intelligence agent Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi guilty of the bombing
and sentenced him to life -- which made him eligible for parole after
27 years.
In 2003, to the shock and outrage of many, the United Nations named
Libya to chair its Human Rights Commission.
Libya eventually accepted “responsibility for the actions of its
officials” in the bombing and agreed to pay $2.7 billion to victims’
families to end economic sanctions against Tripoli.
Gadhafi also agreed to surrender Libya’s unconventional weapons and
open its nuclear facilities to U.N. inspectors. Many on the right --
including me -- saw the move as proof that the war in Iraq had a
chilling effect on tyrants with weapons of mass destruction. Washington
and London looked at Gadhafi and saw a bully who had been beaten and
cowed.
With these moves, and title to Africa’s largest oil reserves, Gadhafi
won his way into the bosom of international capitalism.
From that perch, Gadhafi then was able to engage in what a report
released by Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., last year called “commercial
warfare” to free his man Megrahi. It used a $900 million oil
exploration deal with BP as leverage to pressure the British government.
As The New York Times reported, in 2009, Libyan officials warned
executives from top energy companies that there would be “serious
consequences” if they didn’t cough up $1.5 billion to defray Tripoli’s
Pan Am 103 payments. In his greed, Gadhafi appealed to the greed in
others, and with some companies, it worked. A State Department cable
described Libya as a “kleptocracy” in which the Gadhafi family and its
allies claimed “a direct stake in anything worth buying, selling or
owning.”
On Aug. 20, 2009, Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill released
Megrahi, who ostensibly had less than three months to live. He is still
alive, and according to news reports, driving a Lamborghini.
MacAskill said that Tripoli had promised to handle Megrahi’s homecoming
in a “low-key and sensitive fashion.” President Obama said that he told
the regime that Megrahi should not be “welcomed ... but instead should
be under house arrest.” Then-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was
gulled in similar fashion.
It is a clear sign of Gadhafi’s scorn for Washington and London that
Megrahi landed on the tarmac to a flag-waving hero’s welcome. Having
won it all back, Gadhafi gave the United States and United Kingdom the
middle finger.
Since Libyan rebel leaders sought international help in overthrowing
Gadhafi, I’ve been torn. Gadhafi is a thug who is holding on to power
by killing his own people. And he’s not afraid to lash out against
enemy powers.
But I listened when Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned that
establishing a no-fly zone would not be as easy as some Beltway swells
seemed to think.
Besides, America already is fighting two wars.
About the only conclusion I have reached so far is that it’s wrong to
think there’s an easy answer as to what Washington should do.
Sure, there’s the hypocrisy angle. A conservative can hit Obama for
sending U.S. troops to fight another unfunded war against a country
that presents no imminent threat without an exit strategy. But none of
that matters.
What matters is what happens next.
America, Great Britain and France have superior firepower, but we just
want to get on with our lives. Gadhafi wants to get even.
He has bags full of cash, an army of nasty henchmen and more resolve
than can be found in all of Washington.
Gadhafi, 68, has proved to be a dangerous man to fight if you don’t
destroy him.
It must be music to Gadhafi’s ears to hear that Obamaland won’t use the
word “war.” Last week, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes
called Operation Odyssey Dawn a “kinetic military action.”
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe added to Western Europe’s
wet-noodle image when he announced that the destruction of Gadhafi’s
machine will take “days or weeks, certainly not months.” These remarks
were delivered during the anti-Gadhafi alliance’s disquieting weeklong
tussle over whether NATO would exercise command control over the
coalition.
It’s the post-Pan Am 103 scenario all over again. The international
community just wants to end the conflict. He wants to win.
Read it at Townhall
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