A TERRORIST BY ANY OTHER NAME

Frederick Meekins
Jan. 30, 2002

In response to the September 11th Attack upon America, the U.S. government has vowed to wipe terrorism from the face of the earth. To some officials, this noble struggle might become nothing more than a word game of shuffled papers and fluctuating definitions.

Before the advent of Osama Bin Ladin, Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi spent several decades atop terrorism's hit parade. However, if some within the State Department have their way, transgressions against the United States such as the Lockerbie Bombing will become little more than an unfortunate misunderstanding --- provided Qaddafi coughs up $6 billion in compensation.

These terms are being offered, it is argued, because Libya has supposedly not sponsored anti-American terrorism in over ten years and has cooperated in the campaign against Osama Bin Ladin.

Little Muammar might be putting up a better front; but evidence indicates he has merely altered tactics, not his underlying modus operandi.

In his effort to establish an African version of the European Common Market, Qaddafi has called for the expulsion of all Whites from the Dark Continent. This is more than idol rhetoric. Whites in countries such as Zimbabwe and South Africa have been attacked by marauding hooligans with little protection from their respective governments.

Intelligence reports also indicate Libya has built a massive underground complex in all likelihood dedicated to the development of weapons of mass destruction. Of course, this could be just another aspirin factory.

Just because Qaddafi operatives aren't currently flying airplanes into skyscrapers does not make him any less dangerous than Osama Bin Ladin. Perhaps he is even more so as officials charged with protecting America from the kind of threat the Colonel represents seem once again content to ignore the warning signals emanating from that tumultuous part of the world.