Libya as demonstration effect in the GWOT
Friday, May 14, 2004 at 11:20AM "Libya Halts Military Trade With North Korea, Syria and Iran," by Judith Miller, New York Times, 14 May, p. A4.
Bit by bit the old collection of "rogues" is getting smaller. No more Iraq, and Cuba is just plain pathetic. Libya's been turned with promises of a dÈtente of sorts, leaving us working just Syria, Iran and North Koreaóunless you want to count Pakistan as I do.
Yes, Qaddafi has been moving in this direction for years, but no real progress until we dropped Saddam's regimeóthen presto! Logjam of negotiations seems to break just like that.
Anyone who tells you that the list of bad regimes is never-ending throughout the Gap is just plain wrong. The numbers of true rogues is not growing, it's actually shrinking. Failed states are another issue, because they attract the transnational terrorist networks like a dirty apartment attracts roaches.
But overall, you have to be happy with Qaddafi rolling over on a host of security issues. Yes, he's still a complete jerk who needs to go, but he's becoming an increasingly irrelevant jerk who needs to goómuch like Fidel Castro.
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