by Tina Grazier
On May 15th of this year the State Department announced that the US would restore full diplomatic relations with Libya following full cooperation by Muamar Quadaffi in disclosing and dismantling his WMD programs. The incredible possibility of a democratic Libya and the example it would set for the region and in the world has gone relatively unnoticed by the press. There has been more good news out of Libya in past weeks but this too has not merited a mention. Perhaps the news is too encouraging to imagine, or as Dr. Wheeler said, “So far, there has not been a single word of this in the Western press. Probably because the democra-tization of a radical Islamic state would be seen as a triumph for George Bush.”
On August 29th Mohammed Buisier arrived by plane in Benghazi Libya. He was greeted with great fanfare and escorted to his hotel where he formally called for the peaceful removal of Libya’s totalitarian form of government to be replaced with democracy. Mr. Buisier, a former political prisoner and exiled dissident, has been advocating for
democracy in Libya for years. His presence was requested by Qadaffi himself. He came to speak at a conference, Transformation from Revolution to State, hosted by Qadaffi’s son, Saif al-Islam. Al-Islam has studied at the London School of Economics and at the University of Vienna where he discovered and embraced the teachings of Ludvick von
Mises and Friedrich Hayek. Saif al-Islam has been quoted as calling for freedom in Libya, freedom of speech, press, religion and assembly.
This is amazing news. Free countries prosper and, at least so far, do not make war on one another. Now, if people in the US and around the world would develop a little backbone and get on board with the “out of the box” idea that freedom works for everyone maybe we’d begin to see a domino effect in the region. If you’re one of those who pasted that “imagine” bumper sticker on your car do us all a favor…try to imagine this…democracy in the Middle East!
Reference: DEMOCRACY IN LIBYA?
Written by Dr. Jack Wheeler To The Point Newsletter