Everything's comin' up Dubya.  The Nine Dwarves should just pack it up and wait until 2008

Bush set to visit Libya
in first half of 2004

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Tuesday, December 30, 2003

LONDON – Libya is preparing for defense cooperation talks with the United States, leading to a visit by President Bush early next year.

Libyan officials said the United States has agreed to review Tripoli's defense requirements in wake of an agreement by Col. Moammar Khaddafy to eliminate his nation's medium-range missile and weapons of mass destruction arsenal. The officials said the two countries plan to begin formal talks on Libya's defense and security requirements over the next few months.

The officials said Britain and the United States will lift sanctions from Libya by April 2004. They said this would pave the way for a visit by U.S. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to Tripoli during the first half of next year.

"The United States has promised to protect us from any attack," Khaddafy's son, Seif Al Islam, said in an interview with the London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat daily on Dec. 24.
Al Islam, who is being groomed to succeed his father as Libya's ruler, said Tripoli and Washington have held defense cooperation talks, including the prospect of joint exercises, Middle East Newsline reported. But he denied immediate plans to renew such efforts.

In the interview, Al Islam said Libya will end the development program of a medium-range missile that can fly 800 kilometers. He said that in 1986 Tripoli canceled a plan to attack a U.S. military base in an island off Greece. The plan was to retaliate for a U.S. air strike earlier that year that he said killed more than 200 Libyans.

U.S. industry sources said Libya has discussed a range of projects with at least one American defense contractor. The sources said Tripoli has expressed interest in upgrading and replacing many of the aging U.S. military platforms procured in the 1970s. They include aircraft, helicopters and artillery.

Libyan officials, in an assertion echoed by Al Islam, said the Bush administration planned to send a U.S. military team to Tripoli to review Libya's defense needs. Al Islam said such a visit would take place soon.

"There will be a joint military and security cooperation agreement with the United States," Al Islam said.

Saddam must have really sung like a bird to get Khaddafy to make these kind of changes (either that or MK is just having flashbacks to Eldorado Canyon after seeing Iraq go down [lol])

So much for the cries from the left that SH/Iraq didn’t have any connection with terrorism in the world.  It would seem that we pulled a pretty big thread out of their sweater.

I wonder how the Dwarves are going to spin this whole thing?  Should be fun to watch their heads explode.   [}:D]

Hey Syria.. ya'll watch'n this ?

[X]

Dont stop there, I can think of a few other raghead countries and a couple in europe that could stand to listen up too.

Let's get FRANCE next. [pissed]

He will be killed if he goes there. World War Three will ensue, mankind will be thrown back into the stone age if it survives at all.

It came to me in a dream, it's a gift.

Exactly, boys.

As many of us on this forum have been saying, these people do not understand diplomacy.  They don't understand being nice.  They have no respect for kind words.

What you need to do is to kick the ever-loving [s]sh[/s] manure out of one of them, and the rest will see the light.

"We have killed him and we will kill you next if you don't get in line", is the only thing they understand or respect.

Well done, Mr. President.

Unfuckingbelievable ! The world is indeed a changing place.

Whats that old saying about keeping your friends close, but your enemies closer....at arms reach no less.

Wouldn't it be weird if Khaddafy won the Noble Peace prize for this? Or shared it with Bush and Blair?

Yeah, just ask Taiwan how good that promise is.......

Which attack on Taiwan happened?  You really are pathetic, any excuse to slam W.

Y'all got it all wrong.  Didn't you hear Clark give credit for Libya's folding to Clinton?

Libya can and should defend themselves. I don't see why my tax dollars should go to another nation's defense (the exception is obviously interim defense, i.e. iraq). If Libya wants to dismantle it's arms program, great. Now republicans are doing the demo's proud with world-wide welfare.

Taiwan was attacked by China back in the 1950's. In recent years the US seems to have some sort of understated security arangement with Taiwan, which Bush recently disavowed when a ChiCom leader visited the US a few weeks ago.

How nice somebody gave you a crack pipe for Christmas.

when's the last time the chi-commies invaded taiwan? [rolleyes]

Libya has lots of oil. Their military needs a makeover. It was just meant to be...

Wow, I haven't watched TV today...has Taiwan been invaded?  [rolleyes]

Goddam, what the heck did Khaddafey tell us! What did he fork over that was worth this? Simply abandoning WMD, while worth lifting sanctions is not worth a defense arangement? Who does he think he is going to attack him for talking to us?

I gotta call BULLSHIT on this one.

Anyone want to bet what a picture of GW shaking hands with Khadaffy-duck will be worth at election time?  Isn't Libya currently on the list of state-sponsored terrorists?  Didn't Libya just admit to blowing up Pan-Am 103 in 1988?

NO FUCKING WAY!

You guys ever look at a map? Notice who's on Libya's border? Notice how much more coastline and convenient ports there are than Kuwait/Iraq has?

CW

My guess is NO. Since by April of next year the sanctions are supposed to be lifted.

The Pan Am bombers are now all in prison and Lybia is paying the families off.

Libya is doing everything we said they had to to reform their ass and more by squeeling on whoever helped them get WMD technology.

So we are normalizing relations, just like we said we would to states who changed their behavior.

Sorry to deprive you of getting to watch more "towelheads" being blown up.

That'll happen the day the French all go Muslim......



..........which does seem to be happening anyway...[%|]

Won't be long now.....

[url]http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2003-12-09-us-china_x.htm[/url]

Posted 12/9/2003 9:12 AM    

Bush opposes Taiwan bid for independence
By Bill Nichols, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — President Bush, in at least a subtle shift of U.S. policy, voiced strong opposition Tuesday to a referendum that could move Taiwan toward independence as he hosted Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

 Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and President Bush review the ceremonial Old Guard.  
By Alex Wong, Getty Images

Wen and Bush discussed issues ranging from U.S.-China efforts to curb North Korea's nuclear program to the $100 billion U.S. trade deficit with China.

But the main focus was rising Taiwan-China tensions. Using blunt words that angered pro-Taiwan conservatives and marked an unusually direct rebuke to Taiwan by a U.S. president, Bush said he opposes "any unilateral decision by China or Taiwan to change the status quo." Bush specifically criticized comments by Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian, who is in a heated re-election campaign.

China has warned of a possible war if Chen holds a March 20 referendum on whether the Taiwanese people want China to withdraw hundreds of missiles aimed at Taiwan. Wen said the referendum is separatist activity that China "can absolutely not accept."

China has regarded Taiwan as a renegade province since it split with the mainland in 1949. For decades, U.S. leaders have held a "one China" policy while pledging to defend Taiwan from forced reunification.

U.S. officials acknowledged growing concern about China-Taiwan tensions, but they denied that Bush's words marked a change. A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said although Bush is concerned about the Taiwanese referendum, he also warned Wen that "we ... would have to get involved" if China used force against Taiwan.

Many Taiwan experts agreed. "It's consistent ... with things that the State Department has been saying for some time," said Richard Bush, an analyst at the Brookings Institution, a liberal-leaning think tank.

But the president's words angered Taiwan supporters, who said he sold out Taiwan to curry favor with China. "It's a dangerous precedent," said John Tkacik, an analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. "He's basically telling them that they shouldn't exercise legitimate instruments of democracy." Taiwan had no immediate reaction.

Bush met with Wen, China's second-most powerful official, for about 40 minutes. Bush, who said he and Wen discussed North Korea at length, rejected a North Korean proposal to freeze its nuclear program in return for U.S. concessions, including removal from a U.S. list of terrorist states. The administration Monday offered written security assurances to North Korea if it dismantles its nuclear program, an offer the North called "disappointing." Six-nation talks set for Beijing next week likely will be postponed.

U.S. officials said Bush and Wen also agreed to meetings in Beijing next month to discuss currency issues. U.S. officials want China to allow the value of the yuan to rise against the dollar. That would help U.S. manufacturers compete by making exports to China cheaper and Chinese imports more expensive.

Contributing: Richard Benedetto


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.  

some people have absolutely no clue on how international politics, or politics in general works....

hhhmmmm, a country yearning for democracy or a communist regime......

Who do you support?

The Heritage Foundation is clueless too?


[lol]

Dave, what is this with you and China?

China cannot even cross the three miles of water between the mainland and Roi and Namur islands much less cross the Straits of Taiwan.

The reason the President of Taiwan feels safe to pipe up is that he knows China is impotent and the best they could do is throw some missiles at Taiwan. They cannot take Taiwan period. And he knows that the US will defend Taiwan virtually regardless- he is just copying Arel Sharon.

Bush wants him to shut up because we want China to join with us in pressuring North Korea- and attacking them if the pressure fails.

They don't have anything we need.  Well maybe some cheese.

We need oil and they have billions of barrels under them.  They need us - their oil production facilities are 25 years out of date.

Glad to know they finally saw the light though.

i meant your assumption that what is said in public is what is really going on...

Yes, I am afraid it will.  Being able to cut and paste the news apparently doesn't give one the tools with which to analyze it.

You guys are too much, you think you know what bush really means when he says crap like he did, yet you say he does what he says.

You can't have it both ways.

Make up your minds.......

1) Libya:

MQ apparently has been given 'an offer he couldn't refuse'...

Trade your weapons of mass destruction for protection by a force many times more destructive than any of your little toys...

or be destroyed by it...

MQ lives in a complex across from his former palace, which was never repaired after the 'El Dorado Canyon' raid... If he's a good little dictator, and really destroys his stuff, then he gets an arangement like Taiwan, Israel, or Saudi has now... And given our current foreign policy, the ability to say 'The US has promised to protect us' has weight of it's own... No one wants to risk being the next Saddam (except maybe Kim Jong Il, but that's for part 2)...

2) Taiwan/China/North Korea:

Our deal with Taiwanese independance is more about reminding the Taiwanese that there is a time for making political statements, and there is a time to let sleeping dragons lie...

Due to the current situation in North Korea, we (or our un-official allies) do NOT need to go around pissing off the PRC... If TSHTF in Korea, we need China to remain neutral, we do NOT need a repeat of the first Korean War (where they came pouring over the border)... The absolute WORST tactical situation is facing down a human-wave army on it's own doorstep...

We never promised to help Taiwan become independant...

We promised to keep the Chinese on their side of the strait...

Due to (a) possibility of needing China's help or neutrality if things go south in Korea, and (b) the US military being busy enough without having to send 2-4 CVBGs to bail out the Tiawanese president after he stomps on the red dragon's tail...

Khaddafy is most likely just tickled shitless Bush is coming and not more F-111s......There is just something about bombers coming to bomb you personally that just changes your whole outlook on life.

Obviously, we are too much for you.  But that's nothing to be ashamed of.  

At least Bush is consistant in his violations of peoples rights......

He told America, basically the same thing, when he signed the Un-constitutional "Campaign Finance reform".  [rolleyes]

At least you're consistent in your paranoid bashing of him. [rolleyes]

Oh, so he DIDN'T sign the bill?? I'm sooooo relieved rik!!  [rolleyes]

Bush has already signed unconstitutional legislation. He has EXPANDED the "education" dept, in violation of the 10th Amendment, with Ted Kennedy standing next to him, and has EXPANDED one of the largest Socialist programs in world history...

It is his stated intention to violate the 2nd by signing an AWB renewal.

It figgers, that you are a cheerleader for him...

Or am I just paranoid rik??  [devil]

[rolleyes]

Heh, heh.... We Adams's have seen the rolleyes on many occassions...

The Tories used to do it all the time too, when they were unable to counter our arguments, in the 1700's!!!  [snoopy]

Thank you!!!

Yes, you are.