324 · Yehudit Ronen
Notes
- For background on the Lockerbie dispute, the resulting sanctions, and
their destructive effect on Libya, see Yehudit Ronen, “The Lockerbie Endgame:
Qadhafi Slips the Noose,” Middle East Quarterly 9, no. 1 (Winter 2002): 53–59;
Geoff Simons, Libya and the West (Oxford: Centre for Libyan Studies, 2003), 141– - On Libya in the “New World Order,” see Yehudit Ronen, Qadhafi’s Libya in
World Politics (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2008). - For a discussion of Saif al-Islam’s political position, see Yehudit Ronen,
“Libya’s Rising Star: Saif al-Islam and Succession,” Middle East Policy 12, no. 3
(Fall 2005): 136–44; Hanspeter Mattes, “Saif al-Islam al-Qaddafi,” Orient 1, no.
46 (January 2005): 5–17. - Jamahiriyya Review, Tripoli (monthly), e.g., October, November, and De-
cember 1982. The “two-armed devil” perception was not Qadhafi’s invention,
and it has been prevalent in other Arab and Muslim circles. One telling example
was the nickname “Jews,” which Iraqi people have used when referring to the
American soldiers fighting in Iraq. See Thomas L. Friedman, “Jews, Israel, and
America,” New York Times, 24 October 2004, quoting Scott Pelley of CBS’s 60
Minutes, reporting from Baghdad. Other examples of this “two-armed devil”
concept, randomly selected, include a Friday sermon delivered at the mosque
of Um al-Ma ̔arik [mother of all battles] in Baghdad, calling on Allah to destroy
the “Jewish and American idolatry forces.” Iraqi TV, 31 January 2003, quoted
by Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), no. 464, 2 February 2003; a
Friday sermon delivered in Teheran by Ayatollah Mohamed Emami Kashani
in which he stated that “Zionism, which partly exists in Tel Aviv but is mainly
based in the White House, acts to harm Islam,” quoted in al-Ahram Weekly,
Cairo, 19–25 May 2005; and the oath of al-Qaida’s “Jihad Fighters” in Afghani-
stan to slit the throats of “the two enemies of Islam,” the Americans and the
Jews, al- ̔Arabiyya TV, 5 August 2005, quoted by MEMRI, no. 953, 9 August
- R. Bayda, Tripoli, 7 September 1970, Daily Report, monitoring reports of
Middle Eastern and African broadcasts, published by the United States. - For details on how and why Libya distanced itself from the Arab arena, see
Yehudit Ronen, “Disillusionment with Arab Solidarity: Political Pragmatism in
Libya’s Relations with Egypt,” Review of International and Strategic Affairs 1, no.
1 (2001): 21–30. - E.g., R. Bayda, 30 November 1970, Daily Report, and Akhbar al-Yawm, Cairo,
30 June 1973, quoted by Gideon Gera, Libya under Qadhafi (Tel-Aviv: Hakibbutz
Hameuḥad and Tel-Aviv University Press, 1983), 198. - Jamahiriyya Mail, Tripoli, 18 September 1982, and R. Tripoli, 1 September
and 17 November 1982, Daily Report. - Washington Post, Reuters report, 13 April 1985, as quoted by Robert O.
Freedman, “Moscow and the Middle East,” in Middle East Contemporary Survey,