US and Libyan Relations

<p>For many years Libya was a pariah state under United Nations sanctions. However since 1999 relations between Libya and the Western world underwent a remarkable turnaround. Libya gave up its weapons of mass destruction program ended its longstanding sponsorship of terrorism and made amends concerning the Lockerbie bombing. Yet despite these noteworthy accomplishments Muammar al-Qaddafi managed to destroy years of good will with the international community in only a matter of days by his brutal tactics to maintain power during the Libyan peoples' uprising in early 2011. Libya finds itself at a crossroads. One road leads towards freedom and the other back towards authoritarian rule. Which road it takes will depend heavily on how the United States involves itself in the crisis. This research paper will examine the recent uprising in Libya its ramifications to the United States and Africa and the possible options available to help guide Libya towards democratization.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p>