Libya to Join US and UK In 'War on Terror'

The Financial Times of London ^ | Friday March 26, 2003 | Christoper Adams

[threat matrix]

Libya on Thursday brought to an end decades of international isolation as a pariah state with a promise to join forces with the United States of America and the United Kingdom to fight the global war against terrorism.

It is to provide intelligence to help root out Al Qaeda and on Thursday secured a gas exploration deal with Shell that could be worth billions of dollars.

Tony Blair, UK Prime Minister, held two hours of talks with Col. Muammer Gadaffi in a bedroom tent a few miles outside of Tripoli, the first time a British leader has set foot in the country since 1943.

He emerged afterwords to declare the Libyan leader an important ally and urged other Arab countries to follow Tripoli's example.

The historic talks sealed a dramatic and rapid transformation of Libya's standing in the international community, a process that started in earnest in December when it unexpectedly renounced its pursuit of weapons of mass destuction.

That decision followed more than a year of secret negoiations with Britain and the US.

[threat matrix]

They finally see the writing on the wall. And it doesn't hurt to sweeten the pot a bit!

[Indy Pendance]

Wow, this is huge news.

[threat matrix]

Should be 2004, not 2003 in the date obviously..

[Dog Gone]

Hey, that Bush Doctrine seems to work. Somebody tell the US media.

[ConservativeMan55]

Its about time Bump!

[Indy Pendance]

I figured that.

[threat matrix]

celebration ping!

[Rome2000]

I hear Arafat is going to replace Tom Ridge as Director of Homeland Security.

Arabs are treacherous evil liars.

The White House doesn't believe or trust Khadaffy.

They are just playing his game because it suits us, for the moment.

[threat matrix]

I'll take the intel if a Shell gas exploration contract will provide it.

Heck, they dont actually have to find anything!

[Paradox]

This is hyooge! I wonder if Kadaffi can survive this. He (and his country) will certainly be set upon by the terrorists.

[Argus]

Libyan sweet crude, 12 bucks a barrel.

[Mr. Mojo]

Hey, that Bush Doctrine seems to work. Somebody tell the US media.

Khaddafi's dramatic change and the Bush Doctrine are completely unrelated, according to the leftist media. They haven't yet come up with an explanation for Moammar's actions, but one presumes they think he just realized the error of his ways on his own.

My own take is that Khaddafi got wind of planned terrorist attacks against the U.S. (probably related to the the nuke material sold to our enemies recently discovered to be tied to a "rogue" Pakistani scientist), and he didn't want to be on our retaliation list if the fit ever hit the shan.

Whatever the reason for Khaddafi's turnabout, he made a smart move. .....and it was a direct result of his realization that the Bush administration isn't playing around in the WOT, and isn't afraid to use resort to using any option.

[StriperSniper]

Peace Mon!

[No Blue States]

Trust, But verify.

Or at least verify.

[Dog Gone]

My wife was living in Libya when Khaddafi staged his coup. Her family, like all foreigners, were expelled shortly thereafter.

She wants to return for a visit now that Libya and Khaddafi have come clean. She tells me the beaches are fabulous.

I marvel at how quickly the world can change. If you had told me in 1984 that in 20 years we'd be buddies with Poland, Romania, and Libya, I would have tried to get you into a psychiatric hospital.

[BJClinton]

He (and his country) will certainly be set upon by the terrorists.

Probably. But nobody could fight terrorists better than a former terrorist.

[ladyinred]

Well, hell has finally frozen over! :-)

[StriperSniper]

But nobody could fight terrorists better than a former terrorist.

That may be true, but wasn't it thinking like that, that stuck us with the Kennedys for all these years? ;-)

[BJClinton]

LOL. Hey, JFK wasn't too bad.