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| Africa: North | |||
| Bush set to visit Libya in first half of 2004 | |||
| 2003-12-30 | |||
| We knew this... Libya is preparing for defense cooperation talks with the United States, leading to a visit by President Bush early next year. Be a good kickoff for the 2004 campaign. Libyan officials said the United States has agreed to review Tripoli’s defense requirements in wake of an agreement by Col. Muammar Khaddafy to eliminate his nation’s medium-range missile and weapons of mass destruction arsenal. The officials said the two countries plan to begin formal talks on Libya’s defense and security requirements over the next few months. The officials said Britain and the United States will lift sanctions from Libya by April 2004. They said this would pave the way for a visit by U.S. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to Tripoli during the first half of next year. So far this talk all seems to be coming from the Libyan side. "The United States has promised to protect us from any attack," Khaddafy’s son, Seif Al Islam, said in an interview with the London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat daily on Dec. 24. Aside from your internal terrorist groups, who are we defending you against?
Boy, wouldn’t those exercises spin up a few turbans. In the interview, Al Islam said Libya will end the development program of a medium-range missile that can fly 800 kilometers. He said that in 1986 Tripoli canceled a plan to attack a U.S. military base in an island off Greece. That would have been either Iraklion or Souda Bay, Crete.
If they had attacked Crete, we would have added about three zeros to that number. U.S. industry sources said Libya has discussed a range of projects with at least one American defense contractor. The sources said Tripoli has expressed interest in upgrading and replacing many of the aging U.S. military platforms procured in the 1970s. They include aircraft, helicopters and artillery. They still have some of those?
I guess Fred can begin plans for that reunion at Wheelus. | |||
| Posted by:Steve |
| #13 NMM Figures that post was yours. You talked about sucking, something you liberals are good at. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-1-12 3:17:43 AM |
| #12 sorry last post was mine |
| Posted by: NotMike Moore 2003-12-31 9:01:32 PM |
| #11 So Khaddafy gets to remain a dictator, because it's in the US interest--whatever happened to a new, democratic Middle East we were promised by Condi & co? Oh I forgot--any despot that sucks up to the Bushies gets a pass.... |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-12-31 8:53:12 PM |
| #10 Give us Zimbabwe. Oh, that was a really nasty comment I was going to write. And it's not "From the Halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli." |
| Posted by: Anonymous2u 2003-12-30 8:40:37 PM |
| #9 Well, Fred, it is your site and I don't mean to be contentious, but I've yet to see a World Tribune story be true, even though Drudge will happily post them,too. As for Al-Jazeera, well...we shan't speak of them. But as I said, it is your blog and I defer to your judgement here, Oh Great One! |
| Posted by: Jennie Taliaferro 2003-12-30 5:39:47 PM |
| #8 Jennie They got it from al-Jizzers, just like we did originally. |
| Posted by: Fred 2003-12-30 3:11:24 PM |
| #7 Aside from your internal terrorist groups, who are we defending you against? Egypt! 800 km range for a missile means you can hit Cairo from Libya. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2003-12-30 2:56:58 PM |
| #6 Boys, before you get all excited about this story, I have 2 words for you: World Tribune. They make DEBKAfile look like the Voice of America. |
| Posted by: Jennie Taliaferro 2003-12-30 2:55:16 PM |
| #5 Wonder if he got the second opinion back from the doctors, knows he isn't gonna last long. He's been trying to set up his son Seif to take over, but there were reports of family in-fighting over that. If he gets rid of the weapons himself, he can take the blame from the islamic fundies for doing that to his grave. Gets a promise from the US to rebuild a kinder, gentler Libyan military under his son. Notice all the nice words coming from Seif. He gets the throne, we get another partner along the lines of Jordan. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-12-30 2:14:34 PM |
| #4 Pleez, pleez, pleez, let Air Force One land at Wheelus. Actually the President is going to Libya to lay claim to the whole mess and make sure it starts out as a Republican (oil) state. I figure its good for 2 Senators and 1 Rep. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-12-30 2:06:57 PM |
| #3 Jesus... Qaddafy isn't just singing a new song, he's working out of a whole new songbook. Obviously we've offered him a king-sized carrot of some sort; but we must have let him get a glimpse of an awfully BIG stick, too. I wonder what we threatened him with? |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2003-12-30 1:26:44 PM |
| #2 The Libyans used to buy Soviet Hardware but the quality is a bit lacking. After the fall and coupled with the sanctions, it has been hard for the them to buy more equipment. The PRC has offered to sell them stuff, but NOBODY wants to buy that stuff. If we 'guarantee' security, look for us to reopen Wheelus or some other base there. I can't wait for the first Sixth Fleet ship to visit Tripoli. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2003-12-30 1:18:20 PM |
| #1 Bet the Secret Service detail's looking forward to it. They'll get to checkout Mo's all-girl bodyguard unit. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-12-30 1:12:46 PM |