NOW KHADAFY CLOSING IN ON NUKE CAPABILITY: SHARON

New York Post ^ | 9/08/02 | URI DAN

[kattracks]

LIBYA'S Colonel Moammar Khadafy has been secretly developing nuclear-weapons capability and may acquire it before Iraq.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon disclosed this less-than-heartwarming news in interviews before last week's Rosh Hashanah holiday weekend.

But he added, "Israel may be the best-prepared country in the world against the danger of a chemical or biological offensive."

[Cincinatus' Wife]

July 2001 - Gadaffi bids to be leader of Africa*** THE new African Union (AU), launched at a summit of the Organisation of African Unity in Lusaka last week, is to have its own parliament. Indeed, the parliament building has already been built - in Tripoli. For the idea of the AU is being driven by Colonel Muammar Gadaffi, the Libyan president. Now that his long-standing ambitions for an Arab Union have come to nothing, he is hoping to play a central role in a union of African states instead. The organisation promises to respect democracy and good governance more than the OAU ever did. The snag is that its new parliament will sit in a country that allows no opposition, no free elections, free speech or free press.

In March, Gadaffi announced plans for single a African identity and a union under which the boundaries between states would be scrapped, national armies merged and a single passport introduced. Amazingly, this vision seems to have been largely accepted by African leaders. It has also been decided that, besides the parliament, there will be a pan-African court of justice, a central bank and a common currency. Clearly with the aim of flattering Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, Gadaffi has proposed that the first AU summit should be held in Pretoria next year and should elect a president - presumably Mbeki. ***

11-07-01 - It looks like Gadaafi already has his foot in the door*** Harare: Zimbabwe- Libya's President Muammar Gadaafi has bought up 20 houses in Zimbabwe which seem likely to be used as safe-houses for death squads supplied by the Libyan dictator as part of his plan to assist the man he sees as his embattled comrade in arms, President Robert Mugabe. In addition Gadaafi has bought Gracelands, the gigantic Harare mansion belonging to Grace Mugabe, the President's young wife. The house is now to become the Libyan Embassy, making it by far the biggest embassy building in Zimbabwe, dwarfing the British and American missions.

In effect Gadaafi seems to be making a bid to save Mugabe which, if successful, would create a virtual Libyan client state at the far end of Africa. Already there is evidence of direct Libyan involvement in the violence which racked Zimbabwean farms in the last ten days. Relations between Mugabe and Gadaafi have been warm for some time but it is only in the last year, as Zimbabwe's shortage of foreign exchange has caused repeated fuel cut-offs that Mugabe has several times flown to Tripoli to plead with Gadaafi for deliveries on credit.

Gadaafi, who has despaired of his efforts to play a leadership role in the Arab world, has begun to use his financial muscle to make interventions right across black Africa where he has made Zimbabwe a special case, advancing Mugabe a loan of $100 million.

……. More sinister is the fact that Gadaafi insisted on calling into conclave Harare's small community of Indian Muslims, telling them that they must assist Mugabe's plans by declaring a jihad (holy war) to throw the whites out. If they did not do this, he told the Muslim elders, he would bring in strong arm men from the Pagad movement in Cape Town with which he had close links. There has long been speculation that Gadaafi might have links to Pagad, an extremist Muslim vigilante movement often linked to bombings and murders in the Cape, including bomb attacks on US-linked enterprises such as the Planet Hollywood restaurant on the Cape waterfront, but this is the first open confirmation of the fact.

The bulk of Harare's Muslim community, consisting largely of merchants and professionals, was aghast at this demand and has failed to declare a jihad ,a failure which they believe lies behind the sudden spate of attacks on Muslim shops by Zanu-PF youths in the last ten days. For heaven's sake, said one Muslim merchant, we all do business with whites all the time. We rely on them and most of us are appalled by what Mugabe's doing. It's obvious that those youths who were sent to attack white and Muslim shops were meant to be punishing us for not complying. ***

April 2002 - -- Libya threatens to cut fuel supplies over debt*** Mugabe has been increasingly isolated by the world in the wake of his controversial victory in last month's presidential election amid reports that Zimbabwe is virtually mortgaged to Libya in exchange for oil and money. The Libyans are said to have been allocated farms by the government. No official comment could be obtained from the Libyan ambassador, Mahmoud Azabi, who was said by his office to be out of the country. Reports in the State-controlled Herald yesterday said Libya was now providing 70 percent of Zimbabwe fuel imports. A 12-month US$330 million (Z$18,15 billion) oil deal signed by Mugabe and Gaddafi last year for Libya to supply Zimbabwe with oil expires in two months' time and Mugabe was reportedly anxious to secure an extension to avert another crisis in the tense period after the presidential poll.

"The bottom line is that Libya has been unable to get the products promised by Mugabe when the deal was sealed," another source said. "That is why Mugabe had to go and plead with Gaddafi." The deal, under which Gaddafi supplied oil in exchange for land, agricultural produce and stakes in key enterprises in the tourism sector, helped Mugabe reduce the magnitude of the crippling fuel crisis which started in October 1999. With the exception of Gaddafi, the rest of the world's suppliers had stopped oil supplies to Zimbabwe due to non-payment. ***

May 2002 - Libya pulls Zimbabwe's fuel plug***Libyan demands that the Mugabe regime hand over valuable farms as part of the deal have yet to be met, prompting fears from fuel-hungry consumers that the north African country will soon grow impatient with Zimbabwe. It is understood that groups of Libyan businessmen have been to Zimbabwe and visited vast commercial farms around the country. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi also toured some big commercial farms and identified some for his country's expropriation last year.

However, the mechanics of delivering this land to the Libyans seem to have been delayed, prompting cries of impatience from the Libyans. Zimbabwe is now so heavily reliant on the Libyans that the country will cease to function if Gaddafi puts brakes on oil supplies. Mugabe has paid a dozen visits to Libya in the past year to maintain Gaddafi's patronage. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says Zimbabwe has virtually become a "colony of Libya". Libya's cut supplies have only been resumed after interventions at the highest level.***

_____________________________________________________________

Now look at who's the latest beneficiary of Gaadafi's largess ***Source: Central Bank of Venezuela -Caracas proposed an emergency fiscal adjustment package May 30 that was designed to cut government spending and raise revenues. So far, this package has been a dismal failure. Proposed tax hikes are languishing, and multilateral agencies have refused to lend, forcing Chavez to seek a $5 billion bridge loan from Libya, sources say. Attempts to refinance Venezuela's debt have been equally unsuccessful, primarily because domestic and foreign investors are wary of the risk. Caracas was able to raise only around $4 million, or 10 percent of its goal, in a late-June auction of two-month treasury bills.***

[Cincinatus' Wife]

June 15, 2002 - Gaddafi 'aims to hijack' African Union organization***Mr Mbeki fears Colonel Gaddafi's bid to control the AU will derail the New Partnership for African Development (Nepad), which is backed by Tony Blair and other G8 leaders and is due to be an AU project. Under Nepad, countries adhering to democracy and good governance will receive aid from richer countries in addition to other concessions. The Libyan leader has deployed several diplomats to lobby African countries to delay the Durban ceremony because he wants the AU to be launched in Sirte, Libya. That would automatically give him the chairmanship of the AU.

Colonel Gaddafi wants the Durban meeting downgraded to an annual summit of OAU leaders pending the launch of the AU in Libya at a later stage. But diplomats attending an OAU-Civil Society summit here say his ambitions will sabotage any programmes intended to help Africa's recovery. "Mbeki knows that any move to put the AU under Gaddafi will immediately kill both the AU and Nepad because no Western country will pour aid into a programme or institution run by Gaddafi," said one diplomat.***

August 9, 2002 - Group Faults Libya's Nomination to Head U.N. Commission on Human Rights***UNITED NATIONS, Aug 8 (IPS) - A leading human rights organization has appealed to African nations to reverse their decision to nominate Libya as the next chairman of the Geneva-based U.N. Commission on Human Rights. "Countries with dreadful rights records should never be in charge of chairing the Commission on Human Rights," Rory Mungoven, global advocacy director for New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), said Thursday.

"Libya's long record of human rights abuses clearly does not merit such a reward," he added. But a spokesman for the Libyan Mission to the United Nations refuted the charges made by HRW. "They are entitled to their opinion," he told IPS. "Ours is an open society. We have nothing to hide and we are not in violation of human rights," he added. Moreover, he said, Libya's nomination had been endorsed at the highest levels of government - at a summit meeting of more than 50 African leaders in Durban, South Africa last month.

The original decision to nominate Libya was taken by the U.N.'s African regional group, comprising all 54 African members. It was reaffirmed by heads of state attending the recently concluded inaugural summit of the new African Union (AU), the successor to the now-defunct Organisation of African Unity (OAU). ***

[Savage Beast]

"LIBYA'S Colonel Moammar Khadafy has been secretly developing nuclear-weapons capability and may acquire it before Iraq."

Anyone who fails to take these warnings VERY SERIOUSLY is a FOOL!

"Israel may be the best-prepared country in the world against the danger of a chemical or biological offensive."

Yes, and her greatest defense is her RESOLVE!

"After being forced, by U.S.-led sanctions, to indirectly admit complicity in the Lockerbie airliner sabotage, the dictator in Tripoli denounced terrorism."

I. e., he retreated to mecca-mode. Make no mistake: he'll reassume medina-mode once he gets nuclear weapons.

"Sharon said a secret weapons effort 'is taking place in Iraq, and a similar process is going on in Libya - which probably will turn out to be the first Arab state with weapons of mass destruction.'"

Not to stop these madmen NOW, as President Bush insists we must, is to lay the groundwork for World War III.

The voices of Churchill and Neville Chamberlain are echoing across the decades. Unless the world heeds the warnings of Churchill, history will repeat itself--and the outcome could be quite different this time!

[backhoe]

Here's some fundamental information:

IRAQ- some links to terror

[wretchard]

The spread of nuclear technology is inevitable. The science is 60 years old. Even the most backward Islamic country will soon have the capability to deploy smuggled nuclear weapons into the West and begin to extort money or a special status for Muslims in order to speed up their colonization of the world.

A regime change in Baghdad may slow the process, but it will only postpone the inevitable: a nuclear September 11-type attack with no name on it. Nor will this type of threat be confined to states. The Russian Mafia, South American drug lords, radical environmental groups, or an Al-Qaeda like organization will eventually obtain the same capability.

Perhaps the only long-term response to this threat will be for the United States to spread itself to other planets. The escape strategy. The only other response in the short and medium term is to mercilessly track down and destroy terrorist states and organizations. To successfully do this, the US must involve the entire civilized world. This will probably happen only after Europe or Japan is attacked with weapons of mass destruction. Until that day, most people will prefer to blind themselves to the threat, however logically inevitable it may be.

Like most people, I looked forward to the 21st century as a new golden age, illuminated by the lights of science and technology. I forgot that the very same technological engine would spawn dark, nightmare shapes more horrible than anything heretofore imagined. Francis Fukuyama wrote hopefully about the "End of History". Let us hope it is not the "End of Days".

[Edmund Burke]

Japan has already been attacked with WMD. Twice, as I recall.

[wretchard]

The Japanese began their efforts to build an atomic bomb in 1940. The principal facility was at the Riken lab in Tokyo. The German efforts, of course, were the original reason the US began the Manhattan project, which was not even conceived until October, 1939 when Leo Szilard and Albert Einstein sent Roosevelt a letter warning that the Nazis were working on an Atomic device.

Recent articles have suggested that the Japanese were "nearly" finished with their design by August 1945, although the mainstream assessment is that they were some years away from actually building a weapon, due to shortages in money and raw materials.

The United States simply won the race, but there were always 3 entrants. Despite the lack of nuclear weapons, the Japanese were busy deploying biological and chemical agents against the Chinese. As early as 1936, Unit 731 was using pathogens in Ningpo. Poison gas was used just a little later, at Wusung in 1937. They were working on three modes of WMD and using two.

I will not bore you with a recitation of the horrors of the Nanking massacre, which by the way, killed more people (300,000) than both Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. Suffice it to say, that by 1945, some 50,000 Chinese civilians were being killed per month by the Japanese Army. The number of Chinese civilians who would have been killed between Fat Man and the proposed 'Olympic' would have been greater than half a million.

I guess you are right. Weapons of mass destruction have been used before: against the Chinese; by a country which still hasn't acknowledged it.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Libya wins Central African resource deal*** The Central African Republic (CAR) has signed a 99-year treaty giving Libya the right to exploit its oil, uranium and other mineral resources.***

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Nations adopt plan to join global fight against terrorism*** During the conference, four countries - Ghana, South Africa, Sudan, and Comoros - announced they would ratify the Algiers Convention. That brought the number of ratifications to 17, which means the convention will come into force. The union needed 15 for the convention to be adopted.

The conference was at pains to present a plan of action that would not contain language offensive to the Western powers. For example, it resisted Libya's urging to take a swipe at Zionism.

South Africa insisted on the inclusion of a number of sophisticated antiterror measures in the plan of action that have huge financial and logistic implications for the majority of African countries. These include compiling a population register and issuing forgery-proof passports and other identification.

The Algiers Convention has prompted some objections among Western countries by excluding from its definition of terrorism those liberation movements fighting to regain occupied territory. The convention was also silent on the issue of state terrorism.

The conference took up Algeria's offer to host an African Center for the Research and Study of Terrorism, but opted to examine the financial implications before making this facility a permanent part of the nascent African Union, which recently replaced the Organization of African Unity.***

[Cincinatus' Wife]

New scenario: a virtual partition of the Americas*** Asked how the Bush administration would react to a wave of anti-American populism in Latin America, Reich said: ``A lot depends on how these governments do two things: handle their foreign relations, primarily with us, because we can only speak for us, and how they treat their own people, because we do care about human rights and democracy.''

``If they are friendly to the United States and they respect the rights of their citizens, we will do whatever we can to help them. If they align themselves with the enemies of the United States, if they go visit Saddam Hussein, or Moammar Gadhafi or Fidel Castro, we will have to presume that they find something in those regimes that they like. And that worries us, because those are terrorists and they are failed countries.''***

[piasa]

Taking a hint from the lefty playbook, maybe we should put this under the topic or keywords "libyan imperialsm"