| A Non-Confession |
18 August 2003
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Libya Signs Lockerbie Settlement
The government of Libya has agreed to pay compensation to the victims of the Lockerbie murders. While not admitting any wrong doing, the Libyan regime is putting a line under this affair with its payment. And it is calling into question the concept of needful regime change, since it appears that this leopard has changed its spots. It is an uncomfortable case where an evil government has become more benign and is no longer worth destroying.
Back in the 1980s, when the Cold War made Arab terrorism a tool of Soviet foreign policy, Colonel Khadafi [spelled anyway one chooses] was so obvious about his activities that Ronald Reagan's bombers crossed into Libyan airspace and bombed the Colonel's house/tent. The Soviets hardly grumbled because unlike other puppets, the Colonel was too aggressive and too transparent.
Since then, Libya has labored under UN and US sanctions, and the deal just signed is targeted at lifting those. The payments are in phases, more being giving to the murder victims' families as one set of sanctions is lifts, more after others, and a final payment when Libya is off the US State Department's list of terrorist nations. It is a quid pro quo in normalizing relations. But it would not be possible had the Colonel not started cleaning up his act. The Colonel didn't merit inclusion in the Axis of Evil.
Part of that change can be attributed to age. Libya lives under one-man-one-vote in the sense than Colonel Khadafi is the one man, and he possesses the one vote. Men often grow into behaving responsibly, and perhaps he has. But sanctions have also gone on longer against Libya than against Saddam's Iraq. They have worked. In the end, though, there will be people dissatisfied with the settlement because Khadafi remains in power. In this case, it might be a case that the cost of removing him is too high, and he isn't worth blowing away anymore.
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