Lando 
Posted on 03/04/2004 10:36:37 AM PST by Lando Lincoln
In a stunning departure from 35 years of hostility with the West, Colonel Muammar Qaddafi told delegates at the opening of the Libyan People's National Congress in the seaside resort town of Sirte on Tuesday that his government had renounced terrorism and weapons of mass destruction and declared that "a new era has started" of openness and cooperation with the United States.
In an address to the nation's top elected leaders as well as seven members of the United States House of Representatives, the Libyan leader gave the first detailed public account of the reasons behind his surprise announcement on Dec. 19 that Libya was prepared to abandon its previously secret nuclear-weapons program.
He also detailed Libya's extensive support for terrorist groups, including the Irish Republican Army, SWAPO (South West African People's Organization) and the African National Congress, while pledging that the era of that support was now over.
"We have guests from countries that have launched wars against us, and this pleases us," said Qaddafi in a nod to the U.S. congressman who addressed the gathering just minutes before he appeared. "We are grateful to them for coming, but now the Libyan people shall hear the meaning of this."
Qaddafi spent close to 90 minutes telling his story to the People's Congress, many of whom later said they were hearing these things for the first time.
"There were stories in the press and rumors that Libya might have a secret nuclear program," Prime Minister Shokri Ghanem told UPI after the speech, "but no one really knew for sure."
And while "people knew officially that we supported liberation movements" in the past, no Libyan government official had ever come out with such a frank account as the Libyan leader offered Tuesday.
"No one separated Libya from the world community," Qaddafi insisted. "Libya voluntarily separated itself from others" by its actions. "No one has imposed sanctions on us or punished us. We have punished ourselves." The irony, Qaddafi stated repeatedly, was "all these things were done for the sake of others."
In a brutally self-critical account of Libya's past support for radical movements around the world, Qaddafi concluded that Libya had paid a high price for its adventures. "Libya helped African nations" as they were breaking away from former colonial powers, "and we made other countries view Libya as an enemy," he said.
Libya helped the Palestinians, and now "the Palestinian president enters the White House. And we tell [Yasser] Arafat we oppose America because of you? How can [Arafat] enter the White House and we not improve our relations with the United States?"
Because of the changing circumstances in the world, where former enemies have become partners, if not friends, Qaddafi said, "We decided to review our decisions, and concluded that we had isolated ourselves from the rest of the world."
"If the Palestinians can recognize Israel, how can we not recognize that country?" he asked. "We cannot be more Palestinian than the Palestinians themselves." The liberation struggles that Libya had supported "are finished, the battle is finished. ... Now people are shaking hands. So should only we stay enemies?"
Turning to his previously secret nuclear-weapons program, he noted that Libya, like many developing nations, sought to acquire nuclear weapons "without really thinking against whom we would use it. But today ... it becomes a problem to have a nuclear bomb. At the time, it was maybe the fashion to have a nuclear bomb. Today, you have no enemy. Who's the enemy?" he asked.
"Yes, there was such a program," he said of Libya's nuclear-weapons effort. Libya chose to declare it to the United States and Britain and seek their help in dismantling it "because it's in our own interest and security."
When the American teams came secretly last year to Libya to begin verifying the country's declarations, they asked why Libya had not divulged the program before. "Because now there are new realities. We are adapting to the new realities," Qaddafi said. At another point, he said, "We got rid of it. It was a waste of time, it cost too much money." He called on all countries to "get rid of their WMD [weapons of mass destruction]," naming the United States, Russia, China, India and Pakistan but not Israel, which is not a declared weapons state.
Turning to the United States, the Libyan leader said he was hoping for technology to help develop Libya's economy, as well as joint ventures with U.S. firms. "We can be friends because we are not enemies any more," he said.
"We were part of history tonight," Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), who headed the seven-member congressional delegation, told UPI. "Colonel Qaddafi's statements were unequivocal. There were no ifs, ands or buts."
Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-Texas) remarked on Qaddafi's political courage: "I have lots of respect and admiration for a man who publicly admits his mistakes. It takes a lot of guts to say what he said in front of all these people. But now, he must live up to it."
In his colorful presentation, Qaddafi frequently sounded the theme that nuclear weapons and terrorism were no longer a guarantor of security, but a security risk. Having publicly abandoned its weapons and opened its nuclear sites to international inspections, Libya had enhanced its security, not diminished it.
"If there is any aggression against Libya now, the whole world will come to defend Libya," he said. "Yesterday, that was not the case."
The U.S. congressmen applauded Qaddafi when he evoked his desire to build a strong new relationship with the United States, and were upbeat about the prospects for U.S-Libyan cooperation.
"I thought it was very sincere and well thought out and vigorously pleaded," said Rep. Chris Chocola (R-Ind.). The United States "should accept his posture, but trust and verify."
So far, the U.S. government has commended Libya for its cooperation in disclosing and dismantling its ballistic missiles, and chemical and nuclear weapons. "The Libyans are now waiting to see if we are going to come through, or whether we just wanted to get the weapons out," Weldon said.
In recounting his earlier relations with the United States, Qaddafi pointed out that when he asked the United States to abandon its military bases in Libya, the army left "and we were still friends."
"The incredible thing about being here is to hear a former antagonist of our country say, 'What in the world was I thinking when I took on a superpower?'" said Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas). "I thought it was an incredible, historic moment. This could potentially redefine our relations with Africa, and potentially with the most conflicted part of the world, which is the Middle East."
Reyes added, "If I had not been here and had Chairman Weldon or Congressman Ortiz tell me about it, I would not have believed it."
Weldon led the first bipartisan congressional delegation to Libya on Jan. 25-27, and met at that time with the Libyan leader for more than two hours. He told Libyan Prime Minister Ghanem that he intended to return in the near future.
Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), the vice chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had been invited to address the People's Congress along with Weldon, but previously unscheduled floor votes kept him in Washington until late Tuesday evening. He is expected to arrive in Sirte Wednesday morning and to address the Libyan Parliament later in the day.
Lando
Maybe he saw the light....... the light of the medical examiner checking Saddam for lice and such.
Iraq
Afghanistan
Libya
North Korea (some progress)
Haiti
Georgia
Pakistan (somewhat)
Much better than Clinton!
I think we killed him and replaced him with an advanced series T-2000 terminator unit.
It's not the thinking people that are the problem. Heh.
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