Once a pariah, Muammar Gaddafi has become an ally against terrorism

From The Times
July 23, 2009
Philip Pank

His rehabilitation will sicken families whose loved ones were killed at Lockerbie and in Northern Ireland by bombs supplied by Libyan agents. Muammar Gaddafi is today, though, a close ally in the fight against international terrorism.
As one observer told me on a recent visit to Libya: “If there is one thing that keeps Gaddafi up at night, it is probably the threat of Islamic fundamentalism.” The eyes and ears of his pervasive police state work closely with Western agencies in the fight against global jihad.
His return to the top table of international politics began in 2003 when he surrendered his weapons of mass destruction programmes. He delivered the Lockerbie bombing suspects for trial. And in November 2008 he agreed to a $1.8 billion compensation package for bomb victims. His relationship with the West was revived at a stroke and the pariah state opened its doors to foreign trade.
“Libya is, in terms of international relations and influence, very much back in the mainstream of international affairs,” the British Ambassador to Libya, Sir Vincent Fean, said. “The UK relationship with Libya today is, I think, stronger than it has been, without ignoring the fact of past pain in that relationship." Trade delegations are lining up to do business in Libya. British oil companies are among the 40 or so international energy groups already operating in the country, which boasts Africa’s biggest oil reserves.

There are 3,000 Libyan students at British universities and more Libyan postgraduates here than from any other Arab state. Public sector managers are waiting in the wings to snap up training contracts should a debate about privatising Libyan hospitals and universities be settled.

However, no businessman or politician could second-guess Gaddafi. The man who once denounced Margaret Thatcher as a “prostitute” now craves respect as a statesman.
His rehabilitation has been as swift as it has been dramatic. The path from pariah to compensation may yet be the one offered to leaders of other rogue states.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6723895.ece

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