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Libya Sours on U.S. Ties Amid Boom in Economy
The Wall Street Journal (excerpt, subscription) ^ | May 16, 2008 | Jay Solomon

Posted on 05/15/2008 8:25:29 PM PDT by HAL9000

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, Col. Gadhafi is threatening to freeze Libya's rapprochement with the U.S. amid feelings that Washington didn't follow through with the economic and political incentives that were promised. Particularly galling to Tripoli: A new law, passed by Congress in January, that lets American victims of state-sponsored terrorism seize Libyan assets in the U.S., as well as the assets of companies doing business with Tripoli. That law is seen as a new form of economic sanctions.

~ snip ~


(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
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1 posted on 05/15/2008 8:25:30 PM PDT by HAL9000
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To: HAL9000

Libya has a lot of oil (most in Africa, more than Nigeria) that needs little refining and there is probably a lot more of it to find.


2 posted on 05/15/2008 8:28:41 PM PDT by buck jarret
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To: buck jarret

Just wait until that old coot Ghaddafi eats dust. Same with Castro.


3 posted on 05/15/2008 8:32:47 PM PDT by SolidWood (Refusal to vote for McCain is active support for Obama.)
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To: HAL9000
"Where are we going with our relationship?"

The idiot should consider himself ahead of the game to be alive and still boinking his security guards..

4 posted on 05/15/2008 8:33:39 PM PDT by river rat (Semper Fi - You may turn the other cheek, but I prefer to look into my enemy's vacant dead eyes.)
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To: river rat

Then he has more than one thing in common with Patty Hearst


5 posted on 05/15/2008 8:36:47 PM PDT by buck jarret
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To: HAL9000
You clearly left out a few keywords.

I searched for articles on Qaadafi and didn't find this article!

6 posted on 05/15/2008 8:38:33 PM PDT by Alter Kaker (Gravitation is a theory, not a fact. It should be approached with an open mind...)
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To: SolidWood
Just wait until that old coot Ghaddafi eats dust. Same with Castro.

Why, are you under the impression that whatever tinpot dictator replaces Qaadafi will be the Thomas Jefferson of Libya or something?

7 posted on 05/15/2008 8:39:53 PM PDT by Alter Kaker (Gravitation is a theory, not a fact. It should be approached with an open mind...)
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To: river rat; buck jarret

8 posted on 05/15/2008 8:41:49 PM PDT by BBell
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To: HAL9000
Well, he has been behaving himself for the last few years. And ya, he's not exactly the greatest guy in the world, but if he's looking to expand peaceful relations with the U.S., I'm missing the snag here, other than just some old pissed-offness.
9 posted on 05/15/2008 8:55:39 PM PDT by NurdlyPeon (New tag line in progress.)
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To: Alter Kaker

Are you trying to be funny? Where did I suggest that?


10 posted on 05/15/2008 8:58:05 PM PDT by SolidWood (Refusal to vote for McCain is active support for Obama.)
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To: SolidWood
Are you trying to be funny? Where did I suggest that?

You said to wait until he's dead.

Why? What will happen then? I don't get it.

11 posted on 05/15/2008 9:04:42 PM PDT by Alter Kaker (Gravitation is a theory, not a fact. It should be approached with an open mind...)
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To: Alter Kaker

Uhm, change the situation for better or worse? Ol’ Moe is going to die one day (that’s the problem with lifetime rulers, isn’t it?), so his current course doesn’t matter if soon someone else replaces him. Relations could worsen or improve with someone different at top. He recently started to dismantle the interior political structures of Libya. Maybe they’ll plunge into chaos post-Ghadaffi. My point is that Ghadaffi will be largely irrelevant for US-Libyan relations in the long term, so folks here shouldn’t read to much into what he is saying right now... the situation is too volatile.


12 posted on 05/15/2008 9:14:07 PM PDT by SolidWood (Refusal to vote for McCain is active support for Obama.)
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To: Fred Nerks
Col. Gadhafi is threatening to freeze Libya's rapprochement with the U.S. amid feelings that Washington didn't follow through with the economic and political incentives that were promised.
We really need to send some Hellfire incentives while he's eating dinner, or executing another Lebanese imam.
13 posted on 05/15/2008 9:43:59 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______________________Profile updated Monday, April 28, 2008)
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To: AdmSmith; Berosus; Convert from ECUSA; dervish; Ernest_at_the_Beach; george76; KlueLass; LucyT; ...
Ping!
14 posted on 05/15/2008 11:20:27 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______________________Profile updated Monday, April 28, 2008)
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To: HAL9000
was supposed to blaze a path for other rogue states, principally North Korea and Iran.

We need a Hollywood mock 'nuke' that can be dropped over countries such as these as a reminder of the things-to-come if they continue their rougeshness. Parachute dropped and very rotund- a mock 'fatboy' just for snicks.

15 posted on 05/15/2008 11:38:12 PM PDT by budwiesest ('08 election will pull back the curtain to reveal the beast. Be prepared.)
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To: HAL9000

Personally, I’d like to know what we have been doing to improve the situation after Libya turned over their program. Bush gets ZERO credit for disarming another arab nuclear program and he appears to be avoid mentioning it publicly.

Not that I take the word of any news story about Libyan diplomats, but I would be pretty pissed off if we’ve not pushed Libya closer to being an ally and asset so we don’t have to having them on the other side of the fight again.


16 posted on 05/16/2008 3:18:28 AM PDT by bpjam (Drill For Oil or Lose Your Job!! Vote Nov 3, 2008)
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To: SolidWood

He isn’t ancient. Only in his sixties. Also, he has seven sons.


17 posted on 05/16/2008 8:39:28 AM PDT by buck jarret
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