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

[tallyho]

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=10794199267

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.

[readmylips]

1. Don't they learn, supporting criminals

always backfires. I forget, we have the bush criminal family running our country.

[Career Prole]

2. Libya joins Great Britain, England, the U.K., the British, Britain,

Bogusonia, Wefugovia, imaginaryfriendovakia, and Freepland in supporting bush* in his War on Terror.

[kitkatrose]

47. ROTFLMAO!!!! n/t

[smirkymonkey]

50. Thanks for my first belly laugh of the week!!

Sometimes I think that with out humour we would all go insane over all this.

But Libya joining the fight against TERRA??? Does anyone else see the irony in this?? :wtf:

[Career Prole]

55. I see it in the same light as a paroled thief

becoming a highly sought-after security consultant. They bring a certain expertise to the table. Only value I could imagine.
"No, no, NO! What kind of idiot would put a bomb there? Here , my friend, always here! You see?"
<murmurs of approval>

While bushco views Libya's apparent capitulation as a triumph for the bush* doctrine, I'm left wondering. I remember only a bit more than a year ago Hussein busting up some missiles that could fly a little farther than they were supposed to in a vain attempt to stay a war that had been inevitable since the Supremes installed bush* in 2000.
Bush* said tersely about that effort "Too little, too late."
Now Libya throws some packing crates of bomb parts (return-addressed ironically "U.S. Terra Ally Pakistan")out on the sand and bush* asks, "Is that everything?".
The ever-trustworthy Khaddafy says, "You betcha!" and is then promptly named the newest "U.S. Terra Ally".
Strange times.

[msanthrope]

58. Funniest post I have ever read...

...in all my lurking.

"There is a time,when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all." Mario Savio

[Career Prole]

59. Why thank you kindly!

I was going to say "Welcome!" too, but you've been here much longer than I thought! So hi! :hi:

[swag]

3. great, I'm sure we'll finally win it now. n/t

[Jack Rabbit]

4. We lost the Spanish people and gained Khadaffy

That's not exactly a bargain.

[tallyho]

5. We'll need to wait for Kerry to win before...

The USA embraces Spanish socialism rule. It will be a glorious day when we have a socialist supporting Democrat in the White House. I can't wait...

[sadiesworld]

40. A tad obvious there, tallyho.

[daleo]

42. I would be ok with it

But I will admit that I don't have a pathological fear of social democrats.

[tabasco]

51. We never had the Spanish people with us in this bogus war.

Just their corrupt and soon to be extinct Aznar government.

[Steven_S]

6. I think if Uncle Sam killed one of my kids....

I would not have forgotten it by now. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

I also think the Colonel is smart enough to pull off a double-cross, along the lines of bush's old business partner, Osama.

[Muddleoftheroad]

7. Qadaffi

More than any other figure in the Arab or Muslim world, Qadaffi seemed to sense his time was up after 9/11. He has done more to move his nation back into the mainstream and end his past history of terror than any other leader since then.

While I naturally suspect him, actions speak louder than words and he has done a lot.

[Desperadoe]

10. I agree

He's a murderer and a known terrorist so he'll fit right in with this bunch.

But, I forgot, he's been born-again murderer and terrorist.

[Muddleoftheroad]

14. He is a murderer and terrorist

I don't disagree. However, he does appear to be trying to change. What would you have us do?

[Minstrel Boy]

19. Britain attempted to assassinate Qaddafi in 1996

with aid of al Qaeda assets in Libya. And Libya was the first nation to issue an international arrest warrant for bin Laden, in 1998.

If Qaddafi is a "murderer and terrorist," then he keeps respectable company.

[Guaranteed]

20. Well...yeah...he's a murderer.

And Blair and Bush are no better than him.

[beanball]

26. We deal

with murderers and terrorists all the time,we deal with Sharon,Blair,why not Libya's leader?.

[keithyboy]

13. These moves with Lybia started well before 9/11

In fact, 9/11 side-tracked them.

http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=Lybia+clinton&page=1&offset=0&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3Ddcac84c3abbe5877%26clickedItemRank%3D1%26userQuery%3DLybia%2Bclinton%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.la.utexas.edu%252Fchenry%252Fmena%252Fmedia%252Foil%252F1996%252F0064.html%26invocationType%3D-%26fromPage%3DNSCPIndex2%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.la.utexas.edu%2Fchenry%2Fmena%2Fmedia%2Foil%2F1996%2F0064.html

[Muddleoftheroad]

15. While they may have begun earlier

I didsagree that 9/11 sidetracked them. I think they have speeded them up.

[chenGOD]

36. It's "Libya" btw...eom

[teryang]

8. The dark side of power

Keep your enemies close.

[Beetwasher]

9. Well, Will You Look at That. Sanctions Backed by Force and Diplomacy

work in the long run.

[Voltaire99]

18. Yes. The biggest terrorist always wins.

In the long run, that is.

[0007]

11. I'm get warm and fuzzy all over with all these volunteers, 'eh?

[Guaranteed]

12. Yeah, here's why Khadafi's no longer a terrorist:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x445084

[Voltaire99]

17. Exactly right. This "war on terror" line is the height of phoniness.

Libya's on board for petro-dollars and, you might say, to keep Khadafy's Green Book in print.

[Guaranteed]

16. Kick nt

[5thGenDemocrat]

21. What's Gadaffi going to do for his part in this "War of Terror"?

Not shoot down any more airliners? Not have any more British policewomen killed?
In a related development, I noted that the first two contracts awarded in the wake of all this British/Libyan HappyHappyJoyJoy are one with BAE (a death merchant) and Shell Oil (renowned multinational enviro-rapists).
Excuse me if I'm less than thrilled about this new alliance, though I will admit that Dopey, Poodle Boy and Gadaffi deserve each other.
John
And I'm sure the photos will go over swell in the upcoming elections, both here and in the UK.

[Guaranteed]

22. He's going to provide the cheap oil and the political

coverage for Bush in seeming like a war on terror "success story."

[5thGenDemocrat]

23. Well, maybe

My guess is that the vast majority of common folk in the US and the UK hate Gadaffi's guts and think Ronald Reagan and the US Air Force had the right idea all those years ago. Gadaffi's a scumbag, a madman and an international pariah and our sucking up to him shows exactly how fucked up this supposed "war" really is.
I wonder how the folks in Lockerbie feel about the Poodle's latest photo op. Actually, I don't think I need wonder at all.
John
Fuck Gadaffi. Fuck everybody who deals with Gadaffi.

[Guaranteed]

25. EXACTLY.

FUCK him.

[GermanDJ]

27. There is *no* proof that Libya was responsible for Lockerbie

I mean, gosh, I have posted about a million times links which indicate that the Libyan government was NOT responsible for Lockerbie, but that it was a Palestinian terror group, instructed by the former Iranian regime.
The most likely explanation for what happened above Scotland is, that Iran ordered the bombing of the Pan Am plane - a HORRIBLE, horrible act of terrorism - in retaliation for (what might have been a deliberate) shoot down of an Iranian civil airliner by the US. About 290 people, all of them civilians, mostly Iranians, were killed in the attack.

For further reference see:

http://www.countercurrents.org/chomsky3.htm

http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/MiddleEast/TerrorInUSA/faq/Libya.asp#lockerbie

[5thGenDemocrat]

28. Sure. That's why Libya just paid beau coup bucks to settle the matter

Unlike many here, who are entitled to own their opinions, I think Noah Chomsky, as an interpreter of current events, makes a damned fine linguist.
He has every right to conclude whatever he wishes and I have every right to dismiss his conclusions out of hand. I personally think Chomsky is nuttier than a squirrel's breakfast.
Also, I believe the shoot down of the airliner by the USS Vincennes was a horrible tragedy and a terrible mistake. I have a harder time (though Chomsky doesn't seem to) believing there was anything intentional about it. The airliner was on the wrong vector at the wrong time, the Vincennes thought it was a threat and fired. Like I said, a horrible tragedy and a terrible mistake.
Maybe I'm just a red-white-and-blue flag-waver (could be -- I'm a former altar boy, boy scout and army veteran), but I'd submit that Chomsky has a lot more to gain from spouting his contrarian views than I do from spouting mine. He has his audience and he has to keep them riveted.
Me? I'm just a beer-swilling jerk on a message board.
But, for there supposedly being "no proof" that Libya was responsible for Pan Am 103, an awful lot of people seem to think it was -- and I don't know what we'd have to gain from blaming the Libyans rather than Iranians for it.
I mean, I've lived in this country for all of my 47 years -- long enough to know that the lunatics in Washington don't much care if we bomb one country or the other one. So I have to figure that said lunatics honestly, truly believed, in their maniacal little minds, that it was the Colonel, not the Ayatollah, behind that particular mass murder.
Sometimes, as Occam pointed out, the simplest explanation is the correct one and sometimes the accused is really, truly guilty.
Maybe I'm completely wrong and Gadaffi really is a swell, if sadly misunderstood, guy. And maybe Chomsky is a true visionary -- a shining light illuminating a dark world of ignorance. Lord knows no one can be more ignorant than me.
I can live with that either way. So pay no attention to me -- you believe what you want to and I'll do the same. Fair enough?
John
My best wishes to Germany, by the way. One side of my family came from Munich and the other from a little town near Breslau. Someday, I hope to visit both places.

[GermanDJ]

29. I really don't mean to offend

You know, it's just that I'm sick and tired of being fed propaganda. Be it from the State Department of your country or the 'Verteidigungsminister' of my own country.

If you would read some of Chomsky's books, like 'Manufacturing Consent' or 'Media Control' you won't find unfounded allegations or superficial accusations, but a scientific and quite convincing theory about how the media work in Western societies. And quite a lot of what is being presented as alleged 'facts' to us via television or newspapers is propaganda:

- Regimes, regardless how brutal and murderous they might be, are often being presented as 'allies' or 'hopeful new democracies', when they happen to serve the interests of the US.

- (Oil-rich) countries, which commit the crime of following the interests of their own people (like Iran ca. 1953, Nicaragua ca. 1980's, Haiti during the first term of Aristide) are often presented as brutal dictatorships or a threat, regardless of how ridiculous the accusations might be.

Now, I don't believe that Qaddafi is an innocent man. No, I believe he has committed crimes. And I condemn that. But my own country has also committed crimes in the recent past, like bombing Serbian civilians *without* legitimation of the United Nations. And while every single victim of terrorism is exactly one victim too much and every single death of innocent people is a terrible crime: Our media fails completely, when it comes to crimes against humanity committed by Western societies.

For example: If it wouldn't have been a deliberate attack on the Iranian Airbus, why was the Commander in charge and his weapons Officer awarded with a merit from George Bush I. for "exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service" and the "calm and professional atmosphere" under his command during the period when the airliner was shot down?
And why were only non-Iranian relatives of the victims of the shoot down compensated for their grief and loss?
These are facts which are hardly reported in our media, let alone in the USA ...

So, what I'm trying to say is that I don't believe that Libya was involved in the bombing of Lockerbie and no one who criticizes me for this notion was able to offer some contrary facts.
Personally I believe that the only way out of isolation for Libya was to compensate the relatives of the Lockerbie-victims.
Of course I could be wrong, but it seems to me that our media 'did their job' in this case to convince us, that Libya was responsible.

For further reference about the attack on the Iranian airbus you might want to have a look at this link:

http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/chris.holt/home.informal/bar/politics/vincennes.3

[Media_Lies_Daily]

32. Good post...thanks. I would also add that no connection has ever been...

...found linking the alleged hijackers to the actual events of 911. Yet the media had photos and bios on the 19 individuals within 48 hours in much the same way as information about Lee Harvey Oswald's background was published back in November 1963.

Additionally, just as nobody wants to admit that Lee Harvey Oswald had a CIA 201 personnel file and had once been a USMC radar operator responsible for tracking the U-2 flights into and out of the airbase at Atsugi, Japan, nobody wants to admit that at LEAST five of the 19 alleged hijackers had attended U. S. military schools in the past.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

34. Yep, you're correct. Anybody can believe whatever they want to...

...in this country, even if it's published by the U. S. mainstream media using U. S. government "unnamed sources" as their primary source of information.

Sometimes the accused is guilty in this country, but we don't have a very good track record to back up that claim. Just ask the 100+ individuals that have been freed from various death rows around the country based on DNA testing. I bet the DA's and the police who put them behind bars were also big fans of Occam's Razor.

[TrueStory]

24. Conclusion: not every oil-rich country is terrorist country

if Saddam gave oil concessions to Shell for dollars instead of giving it to TotalFinaElf and Lukoil for Euros, than he would be the biggest Anti-Terrorist Hero of our days.

[Postman]

30. Libyans troops in Iraq?

Bush nazi's need an arab ally willing to send lots of occupiers to Iraq.

[TrueStory]

31. Related links:

Britain to help rebuild Gaddafi's military
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=343422004

Blair Invites Libya to Join War on Terror
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040325/ap_on_re_af/britain_libya_6

Oil giant Shell signs Libya deal
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3567175.stm

[Spring]

33. Did You see the Masonic Handshake

On the front of 2 British Newspapers

Blair and Khadafi there were closeups of
a clearly Masonic Handshake. It should be noted that
Libya is on the 33rd parallel.

[muriel_volestrangler]

35. Not the 33rd Parallel???

My God, will those evil geniuses stop at nothing? They obviously cynically set up the ancient Babylonian system of 360 degrees in a circle, just so one of their high ranking members could rule a country on the 33rd parallel several thousand years later.

What chance do we stand against such long range planners?

[TrueStory]

37. Quite a few number of countries involved in this, even US

should we consider the countries on the Southern hemisphere as well?
and what about the Longitues?

[smirkymonkey]

52. Welcome to DU Spring!!

:hi:

[D-Notice]

38. His name...

Does anyone know how you actually spell his surname?

I've seen: Gadiffi, Ghaddiffi, Khadiffi, Gadafy, Kadafi & who knows how many others

Is it so hard to get a proper spelling of it?

[goforit]

39. And meanwhile the true story of Pam Am flight 103 stays burried!!!

It amazes me what people do when a gun is pointed at their heads.

[Minstrel Boy]

46. The truth about Lockerbie

"The Truth about Lockerbie, and Pan Am 103, and Drugs"
http://www.welfarestate.com/panam103/

"Lockerbie, the Syrian Connection"
The narcotics trafficking, gun-running and money-laundering cover-up of Pan Am flight 103
http://www.deepblacklies.co.uk/lockerbie-the_syrian_connection.htm

[daleo]

41. Gadaffi and Saddam have changed musical chairs

In Reagan/Thatcher times Saddam was ok, and Gadaffi was a loony-toon, if I recall correctly. Now, Saddam is in jail, and Gadaffi is brushing elbows with Blair and Bush. Guess who is being more cooperative with western oil companies then and now.

[pinniped]

43. Gimme a break...they gonna join NATO next?

n/t

[TroglodyteScholar]

44. In other news....

....Kenneth Lay joins the battle against corporate fraud and corruption...

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

45. Libya good, Spain bad. Makes sense. NOT! (nt)

[leesa]

48. WooHoo. Three of the biggest terrorists join forces!

[bearfan454]

49. I guess they got an advance on the check.

.

[AJ BENDER]

53. Hey Blair ... are you High !

or just fucking stupid !


:+

[Tommy_Douglas]

54. This shit blows my mind...

Even if you don't believe in tinfoil conspiracies... You have to find it odd that those who trumpet U.S. policy are friends, allies, and purveyor's of freedom and human rights, and those that don't are brutal dictators and terrorists.

1980's Saddam = Good Kadaffi = Bad

2004 Saddam = Bad, Kadaffi = Good

Boggles my mind...

[Snellius]

56. So let's give Iraq back to Saddam

Good thing Gadaffi didn't have any oil.

[durutti]

57. Just like Saddam in the '80s

Deja vu.

[Darranar]

60. Great news!

Another dictator we're supporting...

We are making great progress is spreading democracy in the Middle East!

[BonjourUSA]

61. How many oil for a Blair's and Bush's hand-shake ? ?