Under Muammar Qaddafi, Libya bombed a West German discotheque and blew up a Pan Am jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland and killed 270 people. In March, the United States included Libya on the list of nations that are state sponsors of terrorism.

Now, suddenly, all that has changed.

The Bush Administration has taken Libya off the list of terrorist nations and we’re re-establishing full diplomatic ties with Tripoli. The State Department says Libya has “destroyed its chemical weapons stockpiles and dismantled a secret nuclear weapons program.” (International Herald Tribune, 5/16/06). Which sounds impressive.

But consider this.

Mustapha Zaidi, one of Colonel Qaddafi’s spokesmen, greeted the State Department’s announcement by saying, “We encourage America on the path of cooperation and we hope we will cooperate together through cultural debate to spread democracy around the world together.”

Now, does anyone really think Colonel Qaddafi is serious when he says he wants to spread democracy?

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