(Wall Street Journal) - Claudia Rosett In the war on terror, one of the strangest developments has been the step-by-step return to polite society of Libya's terrorist-sponsoring tyrant, Moammar Gadhafi. For a better sense of the real face of Gadhafi, take a closer look inside Libya itself, a country Gadhafi has run for 34 years as his own totalitarian wonderland, and one of the most repressed societies on earth. There are no private newspapers; there is no independent rule of law. Multilayered, pervasive surveillance is routine; so is arbitrary arrest; so is torture in the prisons; so is collective punishment of entire families for the actions of one individual. The true redemption of Libya cannot be achieved by accepting promises and blood money from Gadhafi. Real reform can only begin when he is gone.
2003-11-05 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive