Overthrowing Qadhafi

Overthrowing Qadhafi 

 

From © Globalsecurity 

 

             Since he took power in a 1969 military coup, Col. Muammar Abu Minyar al-QADHAFI has espoused his 

own political system - a combination of socialism and Islam - which he calls the Third International Theory. 

Viewing himself as a revolutionary leader, he used oil funds during the 1970s and 1980s to promote

his ideology outside Libya, even supporting subversives and terrorists abroad to hasten the end of Marxism 

and capitalism. Libyan military adventures failed, e.g., the prolonged foray of Libyan troops into the Aozou 

Strip in northern Chad was finally repulsed in 1987. Libyan support for terrorism decreased after UN sanctions

were imposed in 1992. Those sanctions were suspended in April 1999. Since 1969, Qadhafi has d

etermined Libya's foreign policy. His principal foreign policy goals have been Arab unity, elimination of

Israel, advancement of Islam, support for Palestinians, elimination of outside--particularly Western-- 

influence in the Middle East and Africa, and support for a range of "revolutionary" causes. After the

1969 coup, Qadhaficlosed American and British bases on Libyan territory and partially nationalized

all foreign oil and commercial interests in Libya. He also played a key role in promoting the use of oil 

embargoes as a political weapon for challenging the West, hoping that an oil price rise and embargo in

1973 would persuade the West--especially the United States--to end support for Israel. Qadhafi 

rejected both Soviet communism and Western capitalism and claimed he was charting a middle course

. In August 1981, two Libyan jets fired on U.S. aircraft participating in a routine naval exercise over international 

waters of the Mediterranean claimed by Libya. The US planes returned fire and shot down the attacking

Libyan aircraft. On 7 December 1981 President Ronald Reagan claimed that US has evidence that 

Libyan leader has sent assassination

teams to murder top US officials. Immediately after that the Reagan administration called on 1,500

Americans residing in Libya to leave "as soon as possible," citing "the danger, which the Libyan regime

poses to American citizens." In December 1981, the State Department invalidated U.S. passports

for travel to Libya. In March 1982, the U.S. Government prohibited imports of Libyan crude oil into

the United States and expanded the controls on U.S.-origin goods intended for export to Libya. Licenses

were required for all transactions, except food and medicine. In March 1984, U.S. export controls were 

expanded to prohibit future exports to the Ras al-Enf petrochemical complex. In April 1985, all

Export-Import Bank financing was prohibited. Libya's relationship with the former Soviet Union

involved massive Libyan arms purchases from the Soviet bloc and the presence of thousands of east

bloc advisers. Libya's use--and heavy loss-- of Soviet-supplied weaponry in its war with Chad was 

a notable breach of an apparent Soviet-Libyan understanding not to use the weapons for activities

inconsistent with Soviet objectives. As a result, Soviet-Libyan relations reached a nadir in mid-1987. 

After the fall of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union, Libya concentrated on expanding diplomatic

ties with Third World countries and increasing its commercial links with Europe and East Asia. 

Following the imposition of UN sanctions in 1992, these ties significantly diminished. Following a 

1998 Arab League meeting in which fellow Arab states decided not to challenge UN sanctions, 

Qadhafi announced that he was turning his back on pan-Arab ideas, one of the fundamental tenets 

of his philosophy. Instead, Libya pursued closer bilateral ties, particularly with North African neighbors

Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco. It also has sought to develop its relations with Sub-Saharan Africa,

leading toLibyan involvement in several internal African disputes in the Democratic Republic of Congo,

Sudan, Somalia, Central African Republic, Eritrea, and Ethiopia. Libya also has sought to expand its

influence in Africa through financial assistance, ranging from aid donations to impoverished neighbors 

such as Niger to oil subsidies to Zimbabwe. Qadhafi has proposed a borderless "United States 

of Africa" to transform the continent into a single nation-state ruled by a single government. This plan has

been moderately well received, although more powerful would-be participants such as Nigeria and 

South Africa are skeptical. In 1988, Libya was found to be in the process of constructing a chemical 

weapons plant at Rabta, a plant which is now the largest such facility in the Third World. Libya is 

currently constructing another chemical weapons production facility at Tarhunah. Libya's support for 

terrorism and its past regional aggressions made this development a matter of major concern to the 

United States. In cooperation with like-minded countries, the United States 

has since sought to bring a halt to the foreign technical assistance deemed essential to the completion 

of this facility. On December 21, 1988, a bomb exploded aboard Pan American flight 103, 31,000 

feet above the quiet Scottish village of Lockerbie. Two-hundred seventy men, women, and children, 

from 30 nations, were murdered. Authorities in the United States and Britain obtained evidence 

linking Abd al-Basit al-Maqrahi a senior Libyan intelligence officer and Lamin Fhimah, former manager 

of the Libyan Arab airlines office in Malta, to the suitcase bomb that destroyed Pan Am flight 103. 

Libyan agents were also sought by the French government in connection with the bombing of UTA flight 772 in 

1989

-- a savage act of terrorism that cost the lives of 171 one people. In 1991, two Libyan intelligence agents were

indicted by federal prosecutors in the U.S. and Scotland for their involvement in the December 1988 bombing

of Pan Am flight 103. In January 1992, the UN Security Council approved Resolution 731 demanding that 

Libya surrender the suspects, cooperate with the Pan Am 103 and UTA 772 investigations, pay compensation 

to the victims' families, and cease all support for terrorism. Libya's refusal to comply led to the approval of 

UNSC Resolution 748 on March 31, 1992, imposing sanctions designed to bring about Libyan compliance. 

Continued Libyan defiance led to passage of UNSC Resolution 883--a limited assets freeze and an embargo 

on selected oil equipment--in November 1993. Promulgated in 1996, the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA) 

sought to penalize non-U.S. companies which invest more than $40 million in Libya's oil and gas sector in any 

one year. ILSA was renewed in 2001, and the investment cap lowered to $20 million.

There have been no credible reports of Libyan involvement in terrorism since 1994, and Libya has taken significantsteps to mend its international image. In 1999, the Libyan Government surrendered two Libyans suspected ofinvolvement in the Pan Am 103 bombing, leading to the suspension of UN sanctions. On January 31, 2001, a Scottish.

 

court seated in Netherlands found one of the suspects, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, guilty of murder in connection with the 

bombing, and acquitted the second suspect, Al-Amin Kalifa Fhima. Megrahi has appealed his conviction; the appeal began

on January 23, 2002. Full lifting of UN sanctions is contingent on Libyan compliance with its remaining UNSCR 

requirements on Pan Am 103, including acceptance of responsibility for the actions of its officials and payment of 

appropriate compensation. Libya did pay compensation in 1999 for the death of British policewoman Yvonne Fletcher,

a move that preceded the reopening of the British Embassy in Tripoli, and paid damages to the families of the victims 

in the bombing of UTA Flight 772. On November 13, 2001, a German court found four persons, including a former  

employee of the Libyan Embassy in East Berlin, guilty in connection with the 1986 La Belle disco bombing, in which

two U.S. servicemen were killed. The court also established a connection to the Libyan Government. The German

Government has demanded that Libya accept responsibility for the La Belle bombing and pay appropriate compensation.

  Libya accepted responsibility for the bombing and has agreed to set up a $2.7 billion fund to compensate the families of

  the bombing's 270 victims, say reports. In June 2002 a group of New York lawyers announced that they had struck a deal

with Libya and Libyan strongman Moammar Gaddafi. Under terms of the deal, the United States and United Nations would

lift their sanctions against the terrorist state in return for $2.7 billion payable to the families of the 270 innocent victims

murdered on Pan Am Flight 103 and the on ground. As recently as January 12, 2003, Libyan leader, Moammar Gaddafi,

in an

interview with Newsweek-Washington Post reporter, Lally Weymouth, failed to accept responsibility for the attack and

had the audacity of calling for the United States to share the burden of compensation. On 18 August 2003 The White 

House announced that US sanctions against Libya for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, 

will remain in place because "there are still a number of serious concerns we have with regard to Libya. ...

  Libya has met the requirements of accepting responsibility for the Pan Am 103 bombing, and that was important that 

they accept that responsibility," said White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. "They have sent a letter to the United 

Nations to that effect." McClellan said that he expects the United Nations to move forward soon on a resolution to 

end U.N. sanctions against Libya. The United States had already sent a letter saying that it is not opposed to lifting the

U.N. sanctions. "United States sanctions will remain in place because we still have a number of serious concerns when

it comes to Libya, most notably, their continued pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and their continued participation 

in regional conflicts in Africa that have been very destructive and unhelpful," said McClellan. "Libya continues to have a 

poor human rights record. So there are a number of concerns we still have." In August 2003 London and Washington 

began to push the Security Council to lift all UN sanctions against Tripoli. As a permanent member with veto power,

France agreed in principle to lift the sanctions, but urged a delay so that it could negotiate increased Libyan indemnity 

payments to its own citizens in connection with the 1989 bombing of a French UTA airliner over Niger. France 

dropped its opposition to the resolution after Tripoli agreed to increase payments to families of the 170 passengers

who died when the French airliner exploded over the Niger desert. Libya remains on the Department of State’s list of state-

sponsors of terrorism. Continued US concerns include involvement with West African strongmen in Burkina Faso andLiberia to seize diamond fields in Sierra Leone, along with efforts to acquire nuclear weapons and desists in its pursuit toproduce and deliver nuclear weapons. US Ambassador James Cunningham told UN delegates that Washington continued to have "serious concerns about other aspects of Libyan behaviour, including its poor human rights record, rejection of democratic norms and standards, its irresponsible behaviour in Africa, its history of involvement in terrorism -- and most important - its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their means of delivery." Many experts consider Gaddafi's political position to be highly stable. Visitors to Libya cannot fail to notice the ubiquitous large portraits of the leader on buildings, in squares etc., both in cities and the rural areas. The reproduction of the human face on posters, graffiti and bill boards is limited to two figures: Colonel Muammar Qaddafi and to a less extent national hero Omar al-Muktar that distinguished himself in his resistance fight against the Italian occupation forces. On 19 December 2003 Libya agreed to destroy all of its chemical, nuclear, and biological weapons. The surprise announcement followed nine months of secret talks between Libyan, American, and British officials. Libya agreed to abide by the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and to allow for immediate inspections and monitoring. Experts and analysts say a number of factors were behind Libya's decision. Hans Blix, the UN's former chief weapons inspector, speculated that Libyan leader Colonel Moammar Gadhafi might have feared the same fate as deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. "I can only speculate, but I would imagine that Gadhafi could have been scared by what he saw happen in Iraq. While the Americans would have difficulty in doing the same in Iran and in North Korea as they have done in Iraq, Libya would be more exposed, so maybe he will have reasons to be worried," Blix said