Gadhafi, Terrorism, Sanctions, and Karl Rove

[Lefty48197]

Just last week, the Bush administration announced (with great fanfare) that world tyrant Mohammar Gadhafi had agreed to permanently cease manufacturing 'weapons of mass destruction', to destroy his stockpiles of said weapons, and to allow inspectors to verify both of the above.
In exchange for Ghadafi's cooperation, the US agreed to drop our Libyan economic trade embargo.
Karl Rove and Bush's other handlers, are hoping that the American public will connect Gadhafi's capitulation with the capture of Saddam Hussein.
Meanwhile, the administration's many media friends are doing the best they can to help Team Bush convince the American public. They want us to believe that Saddam's capture had left Gadhafi shaking in his boots. Many of the conservative writers are explicitly making that claim. The Charles Krauthammer opinion comes to mind:

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/charleskrauthammer/ck20031226.shtml

As usual, the right wing media pundits won't let the facts get in the way of their spin. One fact they choose to ignore, is that Great Britain had already dropped their Libyan sanctions last fall. Apparently the Brits had been convinced BEFORE Saddam's capture, that Gadhafi was out of the terrorism business.
Libya had recently settled with the families of Pam Am flight 103, which was blown up by Libyan agents over Lockerbie Scotland in 1988.
Last week, Karl Rove propped Bush up in front of the TV cameras and had him announce that Gadhafi was SUDDENLY agreeing to do things the Cowboy-in-Chief's way.
The truth is that Libya has been making overtures to the west for years.
Another curious omission from the President's speech, was an admission that sanctions had brought the tyrant to the negotiating table. Our Libyan sanctions have been in place for years. The Libyan economy has suffered, it's people have suffered, and Gadhafi has been isolated.
Former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix agrees that sanctions WORKED:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=475929

In desperation, Gadhafi has agreed to allow inspectors to verify that he no longer had WMD's, in exchange for the lifting of the sanctions.
Here is a very important point: Libya has gone from being a rogue nation, to it's present incarnation, without a single US soldier setting foot on Libyan soil. Unlike Iraq, no US soldier had to give their life in Libya.
Don't tell this to the Bush apologists. They want us to believe that Bush scared Gadhafi so much that he caved-in, and that sanctions had NOTHING to do with it. "It was the capture of Saddam Hussein", they say. Yeah right. Spin on right wing media warrior.
Again, they expect us to ignore the fact that Great Britain dropped their Libyan sanctions months BEFORE the capture of Saddam Hussein.
If Team Bush wants us to believe that Gadhafi's capitulation is related to the capture of Saddam, then they should explain why the Brits dropped their sanctions several months prior.
Here's what the British press had to say about the settlement with the Lockerbie victim's families:

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/09/01/libya.uta.facts.reut/

"Under the deal an initial 4 million dollars would be paid for each victim once UN sanctions are ended. That would be followed by another 4 million IF the US lifts it's sanctions, and by another 2 million if it drops Libya from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. IF WASHINGTON DOES NOT TAKE THESE STEPS WITHIN EIGHT MONTHS the families would receive only 1 million more, bringing the total to 5 million per victim. (The settlement was reached on April 30, 2003 - The eight month deadline would be December 30, 2003. Bush beat Gadhafi's deadline by one week.)
Others feel that American corporate interests probably had a hand in the removal of the sanctions. Since the oil industry seems to be running the country these days, it's quite conceivable that they were in on it:

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/sanction/libya/2003/0821press.htm

August 21, 2003 - "Business press for US to lift Libya sanctions. US Business groups, led by oil companies that hold concessions in Libya met this week to gear up efforts to persuade the administration of George W. Bush to erase a trade ban that was inposed on Libya in 1986."
"The commercial stakes for the US are substantial. Four US oil companies - Occidental, Amerada Hess, Conoco Phillips, and Marathon - hold concessions that could be revoked by Libya if the sanctions are not lifted. More importantly, Libya is considered one of the world's most promising sites for further oil exploration, with non-US companies now pursuing more than 100 exploration licenses."

Yeah right. It's just a COINCIDENCE that the oil companies stand to make huge profits from the dropping of the sanctions.
Just a coincidence.

[kalian]

1. Oh yes, purely coincidental that major oil companies will benefit the most

but then again, "terrorists" appear to sit right on top of those
oil reserves. Strange, isn't it? :eyes:

Thanks for all the links and info...well researched! :toast:

[BJ]

2. Here's what the CIA Factbook says of Lybia

(-snip-)
The socialist-oriented economy depends primarily upon revenues from the oil sector, which contribute practically all export earnings and about one-quarter of GDP. These oil revenues and a small population give Libya one of the highest per capita GDPs in Africa, but little of this income flows down to the lower orders of society.
(-snip-)
Higher oil prices in the last three years led to an increase in export revenues, which has improved macroeconomic balances but has done little to stimulate broad-based economic growth. Libya is making slow progress toward economic liberalization and the upgrading of economic infrastructure, but truly market-based reforms will be slow in coming.
(-snip-)
Link

The big But in this equation is, will Gadhafi privatize the Lybian petroleum industry?

[kalian]

3. I'm sure that Gadhafi....

would like to retire, so to speak. He heard that Noriega and
Saddam got excellent deals and now he wants to go. I wager that
he'll be "gone" in no time flat...he'll step down and call for
"democratic elections"... :eyes:

[peacetalksforall]

6. He'll be gone for sure...our friends always

become our enemies when the same players in this cabal are involved as is evidenced by Hussein, the Shah, Noriega and all over all six continents. The only one we were ever truly loyal to were the Taiwanese anti-communist leaders - the Changs(? can't remember the spelling). They never did anything wrong that I remember. Our cabal just loved them.

Even Putin with the 'readable and seeable soul' has become our enemy. He went from enemy to Bush's soulful friend to maybe an enemy again.

[Lefty48197]

4. Libya has oil, but not an oil industry

without the western corporate interests and markets. I think his only choice is between the status quo and an oil driven economic boom.

[BJ]

5. So Khaddafi will sell out to the highest bidder?

There are other motivations than greed, self-preservation being one.

The Lybians already export most of their oil production to Europe:
Exports - commodities: crude oil, refined petroleum products
Exports - partners: Italy 33%, Germany 24%, Spain 10%, France 5%, Turkey 4%, Tunisia 4% (1999)
Link

I don't think Gaddhafi needs U.S. petroleum companies as much as they want him.

[Lefty48197]

7. I'm sure he would love to have the American oil companies money

If the US market were opened up to Libyan oil, I would expect that we would import a great deal of their oil. Maybe not as much as Italy or Germany, but enough to be a boon to their economy. I think Gadhafi and the oil companies would love each other like whores love johns.