The headlines showing Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi brutally repressing his people as they protest for freedom are no surprise, but Col. Gadhafi’s long and checkered dealings with the West might surprise some.

Twenty-five years ago, Col. Gadhafi was bad-guy No. 1 on the world stage, and the self-professed “Arab socialist” with his Hermann Goering-esque uniforms and menacing looks fit the bill perfectly. President Reagan labeled Gadhafi “the mad dog of the Middle East” as the United States and Libya began a series of tit-for-tat escalations throughout the 1980s that culminated in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am flight 103 and the loss of 270 innocent lives over Lockerbie, Scotland.

What a difference two decades and record oil prices make. First came the resumption of relations between the United States and Libya by the normally virulently anti-terrorist President George W. Bush. Then, in 2009, the British government in a surprise “humanitarian” gesture released the only terrorist ever convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, a Libyan intelligence officer.

The terrorist was supposed to have mere months to live when he returned to a hero’s welcome in Libya. (He is alive and well today, enjoying his freedom at a luxury villa.)

Thanks to leaked cables we can now speculate on the reasons for this travesty. It turns out none other than British Petroleum exercised its considerable influence on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to gain the bomber’s release in exchange for the promise of prime drilling and exploration rights in oil-soaked Libya.

My only hope is that if Col. Gadhafi is overthrown by his long-oppressed people, they will have the courage to hold him and his regime accountable the way the West never has. It will be nice to see justice triumph over the cold, amoral bottom line.

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Jeremy Smith

Old Orchard Beach

 

David Ignatius’ column (“So far, so good on Muslim Brotherhood,” Feb. 21) indulges in what can most nicely be characterized as the naivete of much of the U.S. press.

The word “Israel” appears nowhere, thus allowing Mr. Ignatius to ignore the Muslim Brotherhood’s commitment to the destruction of its neighbor – which wouldn’t fit in too neatly with their image as “reassuring.”

He also fails to mention the Muslim Brotherhood’s commitment to Sharia law (which their official spokesman explains is just what the people of Egypt want), hardly a set of precepts that would evidence their “reaching for a more modern identity.”

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That these important pieces are missing from his analysis lead to the impression that, willingly or not, Mr. Ignatius has been snookered. And it is reports such as these that, wittingly or not, are helping a movement that would lead Egypt in a direction which will be oppressive to women (as well as to the few non-Muslims who remain in Egypt) and even hospitable to Islamic extremism.

Judith Friedlaender

Yarmouth

 

The popular revolutions we witness in the Middle East, while inspired by a desire for personal freedom and self-determination, are certainly sustained by a pervasive hunger pandemic, particularly among the world’s less-privileged populations.

Since last December, skyrocketing demand for food and dwindling supplies have driven the global Food Price Index to new records. Supplies have suffered from catastrophic floods and droughts linked to global warming and from gradual depletion of groundwater aquifers.

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Demand has been fueled by unchecked population growth and by diversion of massive amounts of grains into biofuel and meat production.

Hunger afflicts nearly 1 billion people worldwide, mostly women and children. It feeds massive popular migrations and unrest that, sooner or later, will affect us all.

Some of the causes of global hunger are beyond our personal control. But, as the world’s highest meat consumers, we have a special obligation to free up some grains for the hungry by limiting our own consumption.

With the broad availability of delicious and nutritious meat and dairy alternatives in every supermarket, there is no reason to delay. Entering “live vegan” in a search engine returns lots of good guidance.

Paul Mahn

Portland

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Egyptian citizens have spontaneously moved to demand an end to their suffocating political powerlessness.

They undertook a nationwide revolt against their established government, creating a unified front from a broad number of different interests, with the single goal of transitioning to a democratic society.

Singularly effective, professional coverage provided by Al-Jazeera has shown the entire world just how committed Egyptians were in making their demands, how relentless their message continues to be. No one anywhere can doubt that an incredible, historic event is taking place.

It is noteworthy that this was not an armed uprising. Even though Egyptian gun law permits licensed individuals to carry a sidearm, press coverage doesn’t seem to indicate that the hundreds of thousands of people in the streets across the country are armed, or threatening to resort to gun violence to obtain their objectives. Tempers have flared, the rage of the people is obvious and violence has occasionally broken out, but overall the demonstrations have been quite civilized.

The people are galvanized, they are excited and seem to be relying solely on their unified will and force of intent to achieve their goal to oust their current government. We each take away what we want from events like this, but undoubtedly there is an enlightening message here that an armed citizenry is not needed to effect such great change.

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Bill Carter

Yarmouth

 

Red light cameras needed to nab scofflaws

 

I heard on the news how the Maine Civil Liberties Union thinks it would be wrong for “red light cameras” to be turned on, because it would be “Big Brother” watching!

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That is a lot of baloney. I cannot believe how running red lights has become an epidemic! There is total disregard for the red lights, in my estimation. It appears that it will take a major accident to actually get someone’s attention.

I have seen a person pass a line of four cars to blow through a red light before the opposing lane could go.

Sooner or later, someone, or more than one, will be killed. What about our rights to expect people to obey the laws? This is just another sign of lawlessness and disrespect of the rights of others. Let the cameras roll and the lawbreakers beware!

Please, do this for all of our sakes.

Michael J. Price

Gray

 


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