Libya’s transitional leader declared his country’s liberation on Sunday, three days after the hated dictator Moammar Gadhafi was captured and killed.
He called on Libyans to show “patience, honesty and tolerance” and eschew hatred as they embark on rebuilding the country at the end of an 8-month civil war.
The transitional government leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil set out a vision for the post-Gadhafi future with an Islamist tint, saying that Islamic Sharia law would be the “basic source” of legislation in the country and that existing laws that contradict the teachings of Islam would be nullified. In a gesture that showed his own piety, he urged Libyans not to express their joy by firing in the air, but rather to chant “Allahu Akbar,” or God is Great. He then stepped aside and knelt to offer a brief prayer of thanks.
So? Our good friends the Saudis have their laws based on Sharia.
Trust me, the Libyans want to make $$$ selling that light-sweet crude to France and Italy and could give a rat’s ass about appeasing Iran.
And if they do cross us and NATO, we’ll just bomb them again.
Problem solved.
Of course on the surface, they don’t give a “rat’s ass” about Iran, Ivan. 97% of their population is Sunni, not Shia.
They are more buds and pals with Hamas… almost exclusively Sunni, and where lots of those MIA weapons happen to be going.
Then again, to show how complex jihad Islamists are – and how they do work across Sunni/Shia lines when it benefits a mutual purpose (i.e. elimination of Israel and defeat of the Great Satan) – Hamas is heavily funded by Iran… a Shi’ite nation.
The concern with what Libya becomes is because now we have to replace the lost jihad intel… as we used to have… as well as hope for a leadership that keeps their jihad elements under control… as we used to have.
So far, it ain’t lookin’ good. The new Libya looks a lot like the old Libya… just more despots spread around at the top, and a sheeeeet pile more arms doled out to the warring tribes, who now feel empowered. The unease among the populace is that now the war between the tribes begins instead.
I don’t think it will go down that way, Mata. I suspect, and that is all we can do is speculate, that NATO and the EU will make sure the radicals don’t take over.
Time will tell though.
Yes, Ivan… time will be the deciding factor. And we’ll know how “arab spring” goes when Tunisian and Egytian election results are in. I agree that if both, and ultimately Libya, vote for radicals in control… just as when both Hamas and Hezbollah gained legislative power in Palestine and Lebanon… then that’s the ticket. That, however, will not be boding well for the future intel and security of the west against the global Islamic jihad movements.
Thus the reason we should have stayed out of Libya, and not picked sides. It’s one thing for them to trod the path that ends up detrimental to our interests by their own choice. It’s another when we help them do it.
Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the chairman of the National Transitional Council and de fact president, has declared lifting immediately, by decree, one law from Col. Gaddafi’s era that he said was in conflict with Sharia – that banning polygamy.
He also announced that in future bank regulations would ban the charging of interest, in line with Sharia. “Interest creates disease and hatred among people,” he said.
The sale of and possession of alcohol is also banned.
All of this before any election of those who would write the Libyan constitution.
From The Telegraph.
In other news, there is a rumor that Hosni Mubarak (ex-leader of Egypt, on trial) died in custody.