Thirty—six years ago to this day a son of a Bedouin farmer became the premier of Libya.  Muammar al—Qaddafi, a captain in the Libyan army, had wrested control of the country from King Idris the previous year.  The anti—Western dictatorship which ensued closed US and British military bases and expelled Italian and Jewish Libyans.  In 1973, Mr. al—Qaddafi nationalized the foreign—owned oil fields.

It appears that the renowned financier of Muslim terrorist organizations in Palestine and the Philippines has now been forgiven by Western governments for his past transgressions:  

'...the US will be in the process of upgrading its embassy in Libya to one of full ambassadorship—since the removal of sanctions in 2004, the US embassy in Tripoli has been manned by a charge d'affaire. While several Congressional delegations have visited Libya since then, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is also expected to visit Libya next month, perhaps to coincide with the upgrading of the embassy status.'

And with the lifting of sanctions the Libyan government has allowed US oil firms ConocoPhillips, Marathon Corporation and Amerada Hess to 

'...reclaim their exploration and production interests on payment of $1.3 billion, and on terms similar to the ones when their contract was first suspended in 1986, when sanctions were first imposed on Libya—while the concession on these discovered fields, which produce a whopping 350,000 barrels of oil per day, has been extended by 25 years.'

The United States is not the only Western power to reopen ties with the Libyan government. The leaders of Italy, France, Germany and Great Britain have made several visits in the past two years with Great Britain securing a billion dollar gas exploration contract for the Shell Corporation.

What's next from the Libyan leader who sought to build an anti—Western state based on a blend of Islamic orthodoxy, revolutionary socialism and Arab nationalism?

Eric Schwappach  1 15 06