Yesterday, a state that has long refused to cooperate with the West finally caved. Libya, believed by many to have been working toward acquiring WMD and blocking the access of international inspectors for quite some time, finally acquiesced and vowed to not only destroy the nation’s WMD but to also unconditionally allow inspectors to check up on their promise.
Britain said Libya had been close to making a nuclear bomb and U.S. officials said Libya’s nuclear program was “much further advanced” than believed, and it had acknowledged cooperating with North Korea to develop Scud missiles.
Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi said the “wise decision” showed Libya was committed to “building a world free of weapons of mass destruction and all sorts of terrorism.”
And the timing should not be overlooked. Coming days after the capture of Saddam, and months after the fall of Hussein’s government, American and coalition forces surely have inspired fear in the once indifferent nation. If only Saddam had acted in the same manner we wouldn’t have had to wage war in Iraq in the first place. Then again, his fall has inspired the fear that might be the opening of a Middle Eastern watershed.