Photo Essay: How Qaddafi Got His Groove Back

tauringhuang.

Photo Essay: How Qaddafi Got His Groove Back

Page 1 of 18


Posted September 2008  

Long before anyone had ever heard the name Osama bin Laden, Lt. Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi was the West’s public enemy No. 1. Now, after a historic visit from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the world wonders if the bizarre Libyan strongman is truly a changed man.

tauringhuang.

Mad dog no more? In front of Qaddafi’s Libyan mansion, a rusted sculpture still reminds the leader of nearly four decades of his perilous, anti-American past. Journalists and visitors still warn that Libya is a difficult and often unfriendly place to visit, where surveillance is the rule rather than the exception. In a speech in Tripoli on Sept. 1, Qaddafi laid out some of his new, capitalist economic ideas—quite a stretch from his Soviet and Green Book days. “When we apply this system [capitalism],” he said, “we will not worry about anything else. But if we do not establish it, it would be dangerous and would leave things in the hands of the ruler.” Only time will tell if Qaddafi is serious.

tauringhuang.

In from the cold: Today, Libya is seen as a cooperative player in the war on terror, officially off the United States’ list of sponsors since 2006. Incredibly, the country has also been elected to a seat on the U.N. Security Council for 2008 and 2009. Many hope Qaddafi will see his new role as a different kind of statesman—bringing terrorism to an end and pushing his continent of Africa toward development and progress. Above, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch (L), and Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmad Fitouri (R) sign a compensation agreement for U.S. .victims of Libyan attacks in Tripoli on Aug. 14.

tauringhuang.

Everyone wants a piece: Current French leader Nicolas Sarkozy eagerly picked up where his predecessor Chirac left off, playing power broker between the European Union and Qaddafi during negotiations that brought the Bulgarian nurses back home in 2007. Sarkozy took the opportunity to sign further agreements with Libya, including a controversial cooperation in nuclear power—just part of a total of $15 billion in contracts. Qaddafi visited Paris, including the Palace of Versailles and the Louvre museum, just days afterward.

tauringhuang.

Oily rewards: Qaddafi has always been an oil man; one of his first moves in power was to nationalize and renegotiate international contracts to take in a better share of the wealth. Exports hit a roadblock during Qaddafi’s darker days, but when U.S. President George W. Bush began easing sanctions on Libya in April 2004, Libya sent its first shipment to the United States in 20 years. More recent years have seen an explosion of interest in the sector, which accounts for 95 percent of Libya’s exports. Libya’s return to the international stage has increased opportunities for bidding, and the country says it hopes to double production in the next seven years. Seen in 2004, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder helps inaugurate drilling by a German firm in the Libyan desert.

tauringhuang.

Out of exile: France has been among the most ready to accept the post-pariah leader of Libya. In 2004, President Jacques Chirac took a controversial trip to the country. Here, Qaddafi shows him the remains of his palace, which was destroyed during the U.S. bombardment in 1986.

tauringhuang.

The explainer: Throughout his rogue years, it has often been Qaddafi’s son, Seif al-Islam, who has answered to the world for the actions of his sometimes unanswering father. Seif al-Islam is the founder of Qaddafi International Foundation for Charity Associations, an organization that works against terrorism and facilitated negotiations and release of six Bulgarian medics held in Libya for nine years for allegedly infecting 400 children with HIV. Seif al-Islam told New Yorker writer Andrew Solomon in 2006 that in the 1980s, Libya was “expecting America to attack us anytime—our whole defensive strategy was how to deal with the Americans. We used terrorism and violence because these are the weapons of the weak against the strong. … Now that we have peace with America, there is no need for terrorism, no need for nuclear bombs.”

tauringhuang.

A changed man? Qaddafi, it seemed, had begun a walk to a different tune after accepting responsibility for the downing of Pan Am Flight 103, and the United States seized the opportunity. Secret diplomatic meetings between U.S. and Libyan officials began in early 2003, culminating in the leader’s renouncement of terrorism and all weapons of mass destruction on December 19 of that year.

tauringhuang.

A country’s acquittal: Negotiations at last broke through, and the Lockerbie subjects were tried in The Hague in 1999 under Scottish law. U.N. sanctions were lifted shortly thereafter, and Qaddafi emerged from international exile, trying desperately to reconstruct relationships in Europe. Above, Qaddafi embraces a Lockerbie suspect after he was acquitted. Another suspect was convicted, and in 2003, Qaddafi promised to pay compensation to the victims’ families to the tune of $10 million a piece, or $2.7 billion in total.

tauringhuang.

Mandela’s second peace: As Qaddafi refused to hand over Lockerbie suspects to the international community, intervention came from an unexpected source in 1997: South African President Nelson Mandela, whose own African Congress movement received funding from Qaddafi prior to the end of apartheid. Presenting the Libyan strongman with South Africa’s highest honor, the Order of Good Hope medal, during a visit to Tripoli, Mandela used his personal relationship and “track two” diplomacy with the United States and Britain to convince Qaddafi to hand over the suspects.

tauringhuang.

Revenge on a plane: It was in 1988 that Qaddafi took on his most notorious intervention. On December 21, Pan American Flight 103 went down after an in-air bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. Almost immediately, the United Nations imposed sanctions on Libya, even as Qaddafi denied responsibility, refusing to turn over the suspects indicted in British and U.S. courts. Above, a piece of the explosive device that brought down the plane.