Free Republic

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, when asked if he believes the Middle East would be better today if Moammar Gadhafi of Libya and Saddam Hussein of Iraq were still in power, responded, "It's not even a contest." He related the situations in both of those countries with what is currently happening in Syria and seemed to endorse a stronger President Bashar Assad, even while admitting that he is "probably a bad guy." "You can make the case, if you look at Libya, look at what we did there — it's a mess — if you look at Saddam Hussein with...

<p>An email has emerged suggesting a connection between the prisoner transfer deal negotiated between Libya and the last Labour government, that could have allowed the release of the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, and a £400m arms deal.</p> <p>The document, which shows that Sir Vincent Fean, the then British ambassador to Libya, wrote to Tony Blair in June 2008 saying that the prisoner transfer agreement was "ready for signature in London" as soon as Libya went ahead with the purchase of an air defence system, was obtained by the Sunday Telegraph.</p>

Khalil Ibrahim, the leader of the main group of rebels in the Darfur area, was killed Saturday by the Sudanese army, reports said. An army statement quoted in the reports said that Ibrahim was killed in a battle about 700 miles west of the capital Khartoum. Ibrahim's group, the Justice and Equality Movement, could not be reached for comment. Ibrahim was said to have been in Libya until recently. His movement was supported by former Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi.

CNN in a news flash is reporting that several Libian towns have "fallen" to protesters, in a wave moving west to east, and that there are now reports of govt/protester clashes coming from Tripoli...

WASHINGTON -- It's amazing how simple moral clarity slices through the toxic drivel that has come to define the United Nations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strode into the world's billion-dollar debating society yesterday and, in calm, deliberate tones, reminded us all of the real purpose for the UN's existence -- so long forgotten. The day before, the UN hosted the leech from Libya, Moammar Khadafy. His rambling rant would have made him a laughingstock, except that he remains one of the world's greatest terror enthusiasts. Then came Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- the Iranian leader's second marquee speech at the UN in...

Part Pimp, Part Rockstar, All Scum bag. 13 pics from Libya's dress-me-up dictator paperdoll.

Italy agreed to pay Libya $5 billion as compensation for its 30-year occupation of the country during the 20th century. The money will be invested by Italy over a 25-year period. For VOA, Sabina Castelfranco reports from Rome. The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday signed a "friendship pact" with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Under the pact, Italy agreed to compensate Libya for abuses it committed during its colonial rule of the North African country. Italy will invest $5 billion in Libya in a deal that effectively turns the page on colonial-era disputes that have long...

Excerpt - Libya has taken "worryingly retaliatory measures" against Switzerland following the recent arrest of leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's son in Geneva, according to the Swiss Foreign Ministry. Col Gaddafi's government has recalled some of its diplomats from Switzerland, reduced flights between the countries, stopped processing visa requests from Swiss citizens, demanded the closure of Swiss firms in Libya and detained two Swiss citizens. Swiss foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey has formally complained about the moves to her Libyan counterpart and has advised citizens not to travel to Libya. ~ snip ~

(AGI) - Geneva, 17 July - The detention of Hannibal Gheddafi, son of the Libyan President, and his wife lasted just one night. The Gheddafis, arrested yesterday evening accused of mistreating two staff of the hotel in Geneva where they were staying, were released after the payment of bail of 309,000 euro. The most serious charges were made against Colonel Gheddafi's daughter-in-law, 9 months' pregnant and admitted today to the University of Geneva hospital. The two employees of the Hotel Presidente Wilson, a Moroccan man and a Tunisian woman showed the injuries to the judge but the Gheddafis' lawyers...

Following are excerpts from a public address delivered by Libyan Leader Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi marking the anniversary of the U.S. air raid on Libya. The address aired on Al-Jazeera TV on June 11, 2008: Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi: It has been proven that there is no democracy in [the U.S.]. Rather, it is a dictatorship no different than the dictatorships of Hitler, Napoleon, Mussolini, Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, and the rest of the tyrants. In the days of crazy Reagan, the American president issued a presidential order to launch a war against Libya, for example, a presidential order to besiege Libya, a...

Excerpt - TRIPOLI, Libya -- Recently, Libyan strongman Col. Moammar Gadhafi wrote a letter to President Bush, asking: Where are we going with our relationship? Five years ago, the Bush administration helped persuade Libya -- for decades one of the world's leading sponsors of terrorism -- to scrap its nuclear ambitions and dismantle its terror infrastructure. It ranks as one of the president's signature foreign-policy successes and was supposed to blaze a path for other rogue states, principally North Korea and Iran. Now, these ties are fraying. According to Libyan diplomats who have seen the letter, sent in early March,...

Madrid (18 December) - At the close of a five-day visit to Spain, Libyan leader Muammar Khadafi has said that his country wants to cooperate with Europe in the fight against terrorism. Until recently many European countries accused Libya of funding terrorism. However, the extradition of Libyan suspects in the 1988 bomb attack on a PanAm passenger plane over the Scottish town of Lockerbie and the scrapping of the Libyan nuclear programme have led to international rehabilitation. Last week, mr Khadafi was received with all honours by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, while this week Libya and Spain have concluded various...

Excerpt - Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi arrives in Paris Monday for a high-profile visit set to usher in multi-billion-euro nuclear and aviation contracts, even as critics lashed President Nicolas Sarkozy for welcoming the former pariah. Staying in a heated Bedouin tent pitched near the Elysee presidential palace, Kadhafi is expected during the five-day visit to approve the purchase of three billion euros (4.4 billion dollars) of Airbus planes, a nuclear reactor and possibly Rafale fighter jets. ~ snip ~

TRIPOLI (AFP) - Libya said it is heading toward allowing private newspapers, radio and television news in what has been a state-controlled media environment for more than 30 years. Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam, who also runs the Kadhafi Goodwill Foundation, was given the green light by his father to spearhead the plan though a new company. "The first experimental program on one of the radio stations will take place in March," said Abdel Salam al-Mushri, an official at the company, which is called "1/9" in reference to the September 1 date of the 1969 Libyan revolution. "Preparations...

In the Iraq war so far, the U.S. military has deposed a dictator who had already used weapons of mass destruction and would have used them again. As we now know, Saddam Hussein was working with al-Qaida and was trying to acquire long-range missiles from North Korea and enriched uranium from Niger. Saddam is on trial. His psychopath sons are dead. We've captured or killed scores of foreign terrorists in Baghdad. Rape rooms and torture chambers are back in R. Kelly's Miami Beach mansion where they belong.

On the surface there would seem to be little to unite the Aryan racialists of the neo-Nazi movement with the terrorists of radical Islam. To the neo-Nazis, Muslims are almost all members of ``inferior`` races; and to the Islamic terrorists, the neo-Nazis are almost without exception either atheists or members of fringe quasi-Christian sects. But the reality is that there has been close cooperation between Muslim extremists and Fascists ever since the founding of the Nazi movement in the 1920`s. For all of their differences, Muslim extremists and Nazis have always been united by a common group of beliefs and...

Turkey will be an Islamic "Trojan horse" inside the European Union if it is allowed to join the bloc, to the advantage of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi warned in comments published Thursday during interview with Italian radio. "The Islamic world, including Islamic extremists up to bin Laden, is rejoicing at Turkey's entry. It is their Trojan horse," Kadhafi was quoted as saying in the RAI interview. Kadhafi said he was not against Ankara's EU entry but warned of its possible consequences. "I say only that there will be consequences from the entry of this Trojan...

In 2002, the spokesman for FBI director Robert Mueller memorably described the American Muslim Council (AMC) as the "the most mainstream Muslim group in the United States." A year later, the Catholic bishops called the AMC "the premier, mainstream Muslim group in Washington." Its founder and long-time chief, Abdurahman Alamoudi, was a Washington fixture. He had many meetings with both Clintons in the White House and once joined George W. Bush at a prayer service dedicated to victims of the 9/11 attacks. Alamoudi arranged a Ramadan fast-breaking dinner for congressional leaders. He six times lectured abroad for the State Department...

So "brave" Muammar Gadafy has agreed on the importance of combating terrorism. A handshake with Tony Blair has sealed his re-entry into the international community, with contracts worth several hundred million pounds for Shell and BAE to follow. His compliance in opening up Libya to nuclear weapons inspectors has been spun as a major triumph in the "war on terror". The motives, however, are rather more cynical. Negotiations for a rehabilitated public image for Colonel Gadafy, linked to improved western access to Libyan oil, began to surface in August 2002 with the visit by the Foreign Office minister, Mike O'Brien,...