We often think...
 

...that even though we turned a blind eye to the excesses of, say, Saddam Hussein, when politically speaking he was on our side but his human rights record was still just as appalling as it was when we used it as a primary reason for the invasion of Iraq, that we would not do so again as quickly. However the USA has recently reopened full diplomatic relations with Libya, hardly a country with a sparkling human rights record and certainly not one which has improved recently. We even get to hear such total bullshit as the last paragraph in that news report when the assistant secretary of state says libya's human rights record must continue to improve. CONTINUE? Libya's human rights record is no different now from when it was an international pariah. It's always about politics my friends, never freedom :(

Re: We often think...
 

Remind me who you are again?

Re: We often think...
 

The Best Internet User In The World Ever Part II. u?

Re: We often think...
 

I tried to get into the whole political scene, but I realized that there are tons of things more important like, tax free money in Roth IRA accounts, or interest rates on a 15-year mortgage. Or how long my creatine will last if I buy a 160 serving bottle, but I would be using it after 6 workouts per week, instead of the 4 that the instructions recommend. :(
tough

Re: We often think...
 

I'm pretty sure Libya were on the baddies side in RA2 so I mean what is George Bush thinking?

Re: We often think...
 

I think Qadhafi is kind of a cool guy, just like Castro.

Re: We often think...
 

Ah, but Libya has alot oil. It`s crude oil is much sought after, and when refined produces much in the way of "light" gasoline products.

Re: We often think...
 

Bob

But im Carol every second Tuesday.

Re: We often think...
 

I suspect the US wanted to reward Gaddafi for giving up his WMD programs and for acknowledging (some) Libyan involvement in a number of bombings during the 1980s (including the Berlin nightclub bombing, the PanAm plane blown up over Lockerbie, and the UTA plane blown up over Niger) and paying compensation to the victims or their families. Personally, I think sending Gaddafi a nice potted plant would have been sufficient but then what do I know about international diplomacy?

Interestingly, most EU nations normalized diplomatic relations with Libya in 1999 and have been happily doing business with Gaddafi since 2004 when they lifted their economic sanctions (including an arms embargo).

Re: We often think...
 

I think there are worse guys than him out there. At least he uses the oil money to actually do something for the people instead of buying 500 sports cars.

Re: We often think...
 

It wasn't the primary reason for invading Iraq. Officially they (Bush and Blair) kept harping on about WMD's, that was the primary reason. Blair even went so far as to say he'd resign if no WMD's were found.

Good to see he's a man of his word.

Re: We often think...
 

Marvellous, he gives up his WMD programmes so we remove the arms embargoes on him and allow him to buy all the conventional weapons he needs and probably make it staggeringly easier for him to actually build WMDs if he feels like it.

That's not really news though is it? If you want me to add a "yeah sure the EU are hypocritical dicks" there you are.
I said a primary reason. Retroactively it's become very important.

Re: We often think...
 

there are two ways of stopping diplomatic sanctions.

1) end them
2) declare war

I prefer the first.

Re: We often think...
 

I always enjoyed the marvellous situation we met in Iraq. When the sanctions were kept on after the Gulf War we were told that these were there to prevent Saddam Hussein building weapons of mass destruction. In 1998 Madeline Albright told us the price of half a million dead Iraqi children was worth it. In 2003 we invaded Iraq claiming that he had weapons of mass destruction.

Re: We often think...
 

unfortunately the American's had not taken my advanced guide to international diplomacy course which i typed in full above