The Implications Of Libya

Here's Javier Solana, talking about Libya giving up its WMD programs:

"It clearly proves that diplomacy can win over proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons," added Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy representative.

Clearly. Or it at least it was clear to me, until I heard Gadhafi's take on things:

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, in an exclusive interview with CNN, acknowledged Monday that the war in Iraq may have played a role in his decision to dismantle his country's weapons of mass destruction programs.

And poor France:

France mixed its praise of British and American diplomacy with an appeal for Tripoli to rapidly conclude negotiations on compensation for the 1989 bombing of a French UTA airliner over Niger that killed 170 people.

Diplomacy is useless unless it is backed by a clear willingness to use force. Bismarck said it best: war is diplomacy by other means.

- posted by total @ 12/23/2003 12:24:00 PM .