From: Karen Rand Smigrodzki (Karen@smigrodzki.org)
Date: Sun Apr 13 2003 - 17:32:09 MDT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lee Corbin" <lcorbin@tsoft.com>
> Here, you evidently mean, in context, that they
> turn out not to be friends of the U.S. The
> decision about Libra's Qadhdhafi had to have
> been made during the cold war; therefore it
> becomes interesting to ponder why he turned
> against his benefactor.
^^^^^^^ I apologize for my ignorance, but help me out. Why would it be
interesting that he turned against the US? Qaddafi took power from King
Idris in a coup carried out on Sept. 1, 1969.
> This (if I'm correct
> so far) could imply that there exists genuine
> and strong anti-U.S. elements of the population,
> one of whose main motives is to be simply anti-
> U.S.
^^^^^^I think there are such groups everywhere, even here in the USA.
Qaddafi had done a good job of breeding such ideas in the young. He was very
anti-western, and pro-Communist. Just like little Polish kids, the Libyans
had to learn Russian in grade school. However, Qaddafi is/was also very
anti-technology; anti-modernization. His goal was to turn society back into
a desert living nomadic tribal civilization, and to that end he destroyed a
lot of buildings and roads when he took power. Now it is 15 years since I
have had any dealings with the issues, and I don't know much about what
people there feel now towards Americans.
> >
> > ^^^^Attributes of a "good" choice. Hm. Very
> > hard question. Very hard. It is hard for me
> > to imagine.
>
> Well, then, this certainly weakens your criticism
> of the Rumsfeld choice (I've forgotten his name,
> and don't really know anything about the situation).
>
^^^^^I don't think it does. I added that I can say what would be a bad
choice, and it was my view that Khoei would be a bad choice. I think that if
one suggested Qaddafi for leader of Iraq then almost anyone would say that
that is a bad choice, regardless of whether that person can name a good
choice. A specific person or group which would be a good choice does not
come to mind simply because I also haven't been too deeply interested in the
topic.
>
> Well, hasn't Libya shown some progress? I admit
> that all I'm thinking of is that Qadhdhafi has
> (internationally) seemed very reasonable lately.
> He's denounced terrorism, and has taken
> responsibility for the downed airliner over
> Scotland, and has recompensated the survivors.
^^^^^^^^^ I wouldn't call it progress. Qaddafi sees that he can profit best
by his current moves. He is still a leader that the people do not want.
--karen
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