Reply #107: Libya's tale of two cities [View All]

I have visited Libya twice in the last six months: Tripoli in December, and Benghazi last week. I might as well have visited two different planets.

My visit to Tripoli in December was full of dark threats and ominous portents. The fear was palpable. One Libyan official told me that if you so much as dared to speak of Qadhafi’s paranoia and quirks you would be killed. Qadhafi’s thugs had taken to harassing our embassy personnel. It was a harbinger of worse things to come – violence and vicious threats directed not at foreign officials, but at Libya’s own citizens. Then in March, Qadhafi launched attacks on peaceful protesters and threatened to hunt them down “like rats.” The international community had no choice but to respond.

Last week in Benghazi, though, I saw what Libya could become – and it was clear as day why it is in the U.S. interest to see the Benghazi vision for Libya succeed over Qadhafi’s. The collective sense of joy and opportunity was unlike anything I have experienced in my diplomatic career – and that includes my posting in Budapest in 1989.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/56221.html#ixzz1OGWbG5Og