May  06 Newsletter

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 Trying To Make Some Sense Of American Foreign Policy
Hassen elsawaf

Since he rose to power in a 1969 military coup Mr. Muammar Gaddafi has been the role model for a global pest. Between his extravagant funding of any wayward organization he could find with a law-defying message and his anti-western histrionics over the last thirty six years, he stands out obtrusively as a man whose demise few will regret.

            After firmly and brutally suppressing any semblance of domestic opposition, the colonel turned his attention to the international arena, where his ability to make a nuisance of himself knew no boundary, funded by an inexhaustible supply of oil in a lightly populated country. Terrorist organizations, in particular, had a special place in his heart. In the seventies the IRA was on the receiving end of much Libyan generosity. So were many other movements whose primary concern was to wreak as much global havoc as possible. In 1986, Ronald Reagan had had enough of Gaddafi and launched a pre-emptive military strike on Libya that left many observers feeling Gaddafi had learned his lesson and would behave better. Result: Lockerbie in 1988.

            All along, Gaddafi was spending the Libyan people’s money quite lavishly on a clandestine nuclear programme that he only came clean on a few days after the ignominious apprehension of Mr. Saddam Hussein; smart survival move, he must have calculated. Actually, he was not far off the mark. In its immense relief over having eliminated a potential nuclear threat, the international  community now appears to be determined to reward Libya and its co-operative strongman. Sanctions are being lifted and the country is inching its way back to full international recognition with nothing significant happening on the domestic front.

            Overlooked conveniently in this international commotion is the plight of the Libyan people and the perpetual terror they live under, of which an ominous ramification is the exporting to nearby Europe of potential extremists with many axes to grind. Adding insult to injury, the regime is plundering its country and most Libyans have little to show how rich their country is. Few European or American foreign policy makers are unaware of the tyranny of Gaddafi and his family.  In the Arab world the most feared members of society are usually the offspring of the dictators and Libya is no exception, with the eldest son in the category of an unguided missile.   The Libyan picture is not pretty!

            Of late we have all been hearing encouraging noises from Washington. America has purportedly turned over a new leaf and has openly admitted that serious foreign policy mistakes were made in the past, especially in connection with blind support for despots and lack of concern for the spread of democracy and the protection of human rights. Consequently, one imagined the new approach to deal with despots as adversaries and to show some respect to the beleaguered masses. In this light it is hard to fathom the decision to re-establish diplomatic relations with Libya with not a single declared condition linked to easing the suffering of the Libyan people.

            There has been no shortage of diplomatic nice talk to justify this bizarre decision from Washington; American interests, the need to work with the despots in order to spread democracy, the improvement Libya has made in its international image and plenty more similar nonsense.

            Unfortunately, there is nothing to indicate that Washington is in the least bit serious about its professed noble goals for the poor Arab masses and it is abundantly clear that old habits die hard.
        What will it take, I wonder, to make the Americans get serious: thousands of deaths on the streets of Tripoli, or thousands more in New York?