Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi is rapidly losing his already frail grip on reality, increasing the odds that he could unleash chemical weapons on his own people or launch a terrorist attack on the United States, a leading expert on the Middle East tells Newsmax.TV.
There is an “increasing slippage between him and reality,” says Jamsheed Choksy, a Middle Eastern and Islamic studies professor at Indiana University. Even if Gadhafi and his son Saif were “mentally stable,” he adds, “They certainly are not the sort of individuals who should be running any country ever.
“We all know Gadhafi has sponsored terrorism before,” explains Choksy, the author of several books on the Middle East. “The Pan Am flight over Lockerbie that he was involved in bombing. There was a UTA French flight over the Sahara; there was the bombing of the night club in Berlin, all of which lead right back to Gadhafi.
“Gadhafi has planned and tried on occasion to assassinate other Middle Eastern and Africa leaders. So right now, he has nothing to lose by returning to his old ways. That’s the grave danger.”
That's why Choksy believes the United States and its European and Arab allies should do just enough to let Libyan rebels deal with Gadhafi on their own terms.
“It is always better if a people oust their own leader as opposed to outsiders ousting a leader,” he said. “What we should be doing is supporting the rebels and, in fact, we have, shall we say, gotten into the game a little too late. The rebels had control of most of the country and let Gadhafi push them back and now we are trying to reverse the process it may or may not be successful.”
The Obama administration must tread very carefully in what easily could turn into a third major foreign war for the United States. Gadhafi is a ruler who has made clear though his actions that he is willing to risk a greater war by striking the United States and European nations on their own soil.
Like former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, he is certainly not beyond using chemical weapons such as mustard gas “against the rebel troops if he had to,” Choksy says. His desire to keep absolute power in Libya also could lead to a wider conflict in the Middle East should the dictator attempt to take vengeance against rivals such as the Egyptian Army, which funneled weapons to the rebels.
Before renouncing weapons of mass destruction in 2003, Gadhafi had a robust nuclear, chemical, and missile program that could be restarted easily. He still retains a stockpile of mustard gas, a substance that can cause blindness, respiratory bleeding, and skin burns. He also has several thousand metric tons of chemicals that can be used to produce nerve gas.
“The danger is if he were to return or remain in power, he would probably return to developing weapons of mass destruction, namely atom bombs, biological and chemical weapons and the question then is how and where and if he would use them,” he said.
“After cleansing Libya,” Choksy writes in an article carried by Radio Free Europe, “Libya’s leader will turn his attention to the foreign countries he believes fueled the rebellion against him. Gadhafi is well aware of the global turmoil he can cause by abrogating the 2003 WMD agreement he reached with the West.
Choksy also states in an article he co-wrote that appeared on the World Politics Review website: “Although he initially blamed al-Qaida for the populist uprising in Libya, Gadhafi is now threatening to team up with the group to wage an asymmetric war against the West.”
“It would appear that he is probably even more unstable than he has been, and I’m not referring to politically unstable, he is not quite in touch with reality,” Choksy told Newsmax “So there is a grave danger that he may in fact be tempted to use these items on his own people or to begin to be adventurous again abroad. So certainly the gravest danger is to his own people.”
“We do know that he’s had an interest in chemical weapons over a period of time, but I don’t recall hearing anything about biological weapons,” Rumsfeld told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren. “I just don’t know the answer, but there’s no question he’s a person who’s engaged in terrorist acts. He’s sponsored them, dealt with terrorist organizations. And he … obviously didn’t stay in power for 40 years by being stupid.
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