The Libyan strongman has given up terror. Some of his answers to questions from American reporters were, to say the least, intriguing. From UPI, :
Question: What impact did the Iraq war have on your decision to give up weapons of mass destructions?
Answer: We made our own decision and our analysis on the current world situation, and we came to the conclusion … that we can’t … go ahead with having these programs.
Q: So Iraq was no factor at all, then?
A: We are part of the world. This is the reality of the world. This is the policy of the world.
How’s that again, Colonel?
Q: As part of internal reforms, will Islamic organizations be permitted to operate?
A: I would say that there isn’t any justification or reason for that. The people themselves actually assume power and have the power to decide for themselves. Each one who has a word or a say or an opinion is free to do so in the People’s Congress. Furthermore, we don’t want to involve Allah in material affairs like infrastructure and sewage. He has nothing to do with that. We are talking about material things; we need policy for that. We need technology for infrastructure. We’re talking about infrastructure “” sewage, water. This is policy. God is another thing. How can we involve Allah in [such things] of daily life? We’re talking about houses and electricity.
Q: The Bush administration has praised your cooperation regarding al Qaeda. Can you give us one example of what your government has done, or your intelligence agencies have done, that led to an al Qaeda arrest or foiled an al Qaeda plot?
A: Terrorism is the enemy of all of us, not the enemy of America. When we fight terrorism, we do that for ourselves.