This is not really a surprise.
If you remember a year or two ago we had some Americans and others taken hostage in the Phillipines by the Abu Sayyaf group.

They asked for somthing like $20 million in cash for the release of the prisoners.

Mohammar Qadaffi sent them $20 million. Everyone thought it was all a scam to funnel money to the terrorists. They figured it was all planned out from the beginning. The terrorists get their money, Qadaffi looks like a humanitarian, and the hostages go free.

Only one problem. The money was all counterfeit.
Ole' Mohammar fucked them over.

I think he realized a few years ago that being our enemy is not a good thing.

"It's behind us now. It's dead with the Cold War."

No. It will be over when the murdering terrorist swine Moammar Gadhaffi drops dead, with or without outside help.

This filthy dog, just to name a few things, bombed a dicso in Berlin targetting US troops there, gave semtex and arms to the IRA to attack British civilians, the attacks on the El Al counters at the Rome and Vienna airports, the '89 destrution of a French airliner over the Sahara, supported Palestinian terrorists, used Libyan embassies worldwide to ship weapons thru the diplomatic pouch and was behind Pan Am 103 and still has the nerve to lie about it.

The terrorist "negotion" services that Libya has been offering is nothing but a sham as Penosity points out.

Now hes trying to portary himself as a new Muslim leader for the pan-African world... runing around the continent in convoys throwing out millions of dollars in cash like an evil drug lord pretending to be the savior of the poor and fuel an islamic revival.

That man should have been wiped out in 86. Its a waste of oxygen allowing a man like him to live. He may have learned his lesson, but he still needs to pay the price for his deeds. Gadhaffi, may you rot in hell in the putrid juices of decaying swine.

I think a pig skin wrapper would fit him just fine. A nice, fat sow. I'm sure our good American friend Bubba can line one up for you...

I haven't been a big fan of Ghaddafi..
but if he is trying to 'appease' us, then I am in favor of accepting that.
He's making a lot of the right noises.
If he follows through with opening up the economy of Libya, I think there's a high probability of the right things happening there in the long run.
I would count this as a win.

I wouldn't count it at all. The only reason a mad dog like Qadhaffi becomes tame is either to camouflage some skullduggery he's up to or lull us into a false sense of security where he's concerned so he can sucker punch us in some way.
Remember, when we bombed Tripoli & Benghazi back in what? 1986? his kid was killed, and people like that don't ever forgive, no matter what they had done to deserve what they got.
(In his case, the last straw had been the bombing of the Berlin disco USF mentioned above).

Dishman... would you say that if Ghadaffi killed someone you cared about? Im sure the majority of the families and friends of the victims of Pan Am 103 will disagree with you.

"He's making a lot of the right noises."
The only noise I want to hear from Ghadaffi is him exhaling his last breath. My gripe with this particlar asshole is personal.

Sending out the mesage that you will accept terrorists back into the global community sets a bad precedent and sends a message that groups or individuals can use terrorism and randomly kill innocent people when it suits them and then claim to "renounce it" after they have achieved their short term goals and get back to "business as usual" and not being held responsible for the lives they have taken. Arafat is a shining example of this... and we do not need to encourage any more terrorists to follow in their footsteps thinking that one day they will be able to stop looking over their shoulders...

The title of the post is "Libya is learning," not "Libya has learned."

These are the right noises. IMO, the US should acknowledge these noises, and pursue diplomatic relations.

At some point in these relations, we must demand some recompense for his crimes. As tempting as Godawful's head on a pike might be, we have to be prepared to accept "merely" insanely large fines and reparations to th families of the victims, combined with peaceful governmental reform.

If Godawful refuses, well, he's outed himself, and if he accepts, he's dug himself too deep to quickly return to terrorism and despotry -- we should have enough notice of any reversal to prepare an appropriate response.

I think TBox probably said it better than I did.

My comments were something along the lines of "What would Machiavelli do?"
I very much remember the Libya raid. I wagered 10-1 that he would not show his face in public for several days afterwards, and happily collected. If you recall the tone of the time, that bet was outrageous. My reasoning, which appears to have been proven, was that it scared the piss out of him.
Now, nearly 20 years later, America is far angrier than it was then. The FB-111 has been replaced with the Tomahawk, JDAM and Abrams. Where Reagan used measured force, Bush's approach leaves no chance for survival.

Do you think he might be experiencing some trepidation?

OK Dishman.. Im starting to hear you now. Yes, the likes of the 'daffy and Assad clan are feeling the heat and this is paying off. One look at the regime change that a pissed off US president has achieved in iraq does wonders for their IQs. Brains are staring to grow all over the place.

Im still laughing my ass off about Syria turning Uday around at their border and telling him to go back to Iraq.

Personally, I'd like to see a few stray JDAMs hit 'daffis tent in Tripoli to finish off the '86 mission and I have my own reasons for this that I wont go into. Im also well aware that Ghaddafi has kept a low profile so hes been out of most peoples sights and many would argue that we have more pressing concerns. However, I still harbor a lasting revulsion for the man.

I was reading an interview with Qadhaffi a few months ago.
He said he had turned day- to- day control of his government over to others, always made a point of letting women get ahead in his country and was trying very hard to come across as a mellow, highly reasonable "elder statesman" type.
The interview was conducted outdoors, under the shade of palm trees, I think, sitting at a small table with a tent in the background, drinking lemonade.
Throughout the interview, my biggest recurring question was: "Okay, Muammar, what are you up to now?"

This is where the Gov't's ability to do two things at once comes in useful, Seth.

One part of the gov't should be quietly assigned to figuring out what Muammar is up to, while the other part pretends its all in good faith and encourages further improvements.

Seth... Yes Ive heard the same too. The guys lives in that tent on a regular basis. Trying to get back to his bedouin roots or some kind of thing. Did you see the all female personal protection squad he has? Its a riot! LOL.

Ghaddafi is trying hard to promote that elder statesman image.. its all part of his attempt to become one of the major players in the pan-african sphere. Buying influence is a part of it and he wants the Pan Am incident to go away without admitting guilt, and Libya off the list of terror states and sanctions lifted so hes free to pump away at his countries oil so he has more funds to grease palms and buy influnce. Of all the people I want to see playing a greater role in the future of N. Africa, Ghaddafi is at the bottom of the list.

Sadly, cutting deals with so called former terrorists has become a habit with the leaders of the Western World. In my country we have allowed convicted and unrepentant IRA terrorists to become MPs, we have effectively pardonned their crimes. Perhaps we never learnt that "Danegeld" doesn't work.

yeah crazy q did some sick stuff back in the day. I wouldnt wipe him off your hit list so soon.

Amen......you kill my kid.....I will stalk you... portray a beaten man......until the time is right...then you WILL die....slowly...and I will watch....patiently....twisting the knife.....and eye to eye.....talk to you through your last breath....

Better keep a close eye on this guy and his offspring.

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