You might remember that a couple of years ago, in a total change of face, Muammar Gaddafi traded his weapons and program of state sponsored terrorism for trade. Many credited the war in Iraq for this change of face. The logic was that because the US showed what it did to states that misbehaved, Gaddafi gave in to avoid the end to his regime. Andrew Sullivan mentions how The One Percent Doctrine reports that this was hardly the case:
The second fascinating and completely convincing narrative is about the remarkable decision of Muammar Ghadafi to give up his entire WMD program. At the time, the president credited it to the psychological impact of the war to depose Saddam. He claimed it scared Ghadafi into compliance. Back in the days when I trusted president Bush's words, I echoed this analysis. It was a lie. I apologize to my readers for echoing it. It turns out Ghadafi had been entrapped by careful intelligence work long before the Iraq war was launched. The timing of the announcement was choreographed coincidence.Pretty interesting stuff. Lots of people have been talking about this book. Perhaps worth checking out.
