Libya Reforms Exceed Expectations

[Gloria]

From the World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com



4/The Daily Star, Lebanon Friday, August 05, 2005

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=17362



LIBYA REFORMS EXCEED EXPECTATIONS

By Daniel Epps
Special to The Daily Star

For nearly 36 years, Libya's fate has been inextricably linked with that of its enigmatic leader, Colonel Moammar Gadhafi. While for much of that time that fate has been isolation from the rest of the world and domination by socialism, something new is brewing in Tripoli. After decades opposing the West and maintaining a policy of nonalignment as part of his "Third Universal Theory," Gadhafi has recently worked to restore Libya's standing in the international community and modernize his nation's outdated economy. While the self-styled "leader of the revolution" is anything but predictable, his stunning about-face could mark the beginning of a Libyan renaissance.



(SNIP)



But suddenly things are looking up. Gadhafi has gone out of his way to make amends for Lockerbie and other incidents. Libya formally accepted responsibility for the killings and provided compensation for victims in 2003. Later that year, Gadhafi publicly abandoned all weapons of mass destruction programs. By 2004, all sanctions had been lifted and Libya had restored diplomatic ties with the U.S. The change in fortunes could not have been more dramatic or swift. In 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush added Libya to his "axis of evil"; this year he praised the country, calling on North Korea's Kim Jong Il to emulate Gadhafi.



While turning a rogue nation into a lauded paragon of international cooperation quickly was an extraordinary feat, Gadhafi's ambitions are greater. Despite his long allegiance to socialism, Gadhafi is now moving his country toward a Western-style free market system. Libya recently announced it would lift virtually all tariffs on imports later this year and is preparing a bid for membership in the World Trade Organization. Other barriers to foreign investment have been or will be eased, and there are plans to privatize many state-owned concerns soon - an unthinkable suggestion a decade ago.

MORE

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. Right, Gadhafi is gone?

Gadhafi turned in some old water heaters and bicycle parts as "elements of a WMD project" - condi, cheney and the whole fucking CIA wouldn't know the difference anyway, and all of a sudden the whole place has been transformed.

[wli]

2. WTO/IMF crap? he's sunk his country

So much for that.

[madeline_con]

3. "BIG OIL LINING UP TO DO BUSINESS IN LIBYA, ...

REPORTS FORTUNE"

(this from last year)

Libyan oil minister's appointment book "reads like a Who's Who of Big Oil"

New York, June 21, 2004—Since the Bush administration eased the 18-year-old embargo against Libya last April, American oil executives have flocked there to meet the gatekeeper to its energy industry, Abdullah Salem El-Badri, chairman of the National Oil Corporation. Leading the way was Occidental Petroleum, whose CEO, Ray Irani, flew to Tripoli in May. Others have followed: in recent weeks, the CEOs of Marathon, ConocoPhillips, and Amerada Hess have also been to Tripoli. In addition, El-Badri tells FORTUNE that Chevron Texaco has sent a team and that he expects Exxon Mobil shortly.

http://www.fortune.com/fortune/information/Presscenter/0,,06212004_libya.html

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From www.AmericanProgress.org


FOREIGN POLICY – Cozying Up to Libya, After Urging by Halliburton: The Administration has moved to normalize relations with Libya – a move long pushed for by Halliburton. As CEO of Halliburton, Cheney lobbied to lift sanctions on Libya. In May of 1997, Oil and Gas Journal reported, "Cheney said oil and gas companies must explore where the reserves are, and that means doing business in countries that may have policies that the U.S. does not like." Cheney said, "The long-term horizon of the oil industry is at odds with the short term nature of politics." The next year, Cheney ratcheted up his campaign, once again criticizing the U.S. security policy on foreign soil. According the Malaysian News Agency reported, "Cheney hit out as his government for imposing economic sanctions like the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act." He told the state news agency on a visit there that U.S. sanctions on Libya are "ineffective, did not provide the desire results and are a bad policy."

http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=22211