Letter from Washington

Insiders of all ideological stripes are counseling restraint in the use of force against Libya. “Both the U.S. and Israel have their hands tied,” says a Reaganite senator who follows the Middle East closely. “An attack on Libya would only build Qaddafi at a time when his hold on power is collapsing. An attack would defuse intense domestic pressures that now threaten his rule.”

“Qaddafi’s days are numbered,” says a senior congressional staffer, reflecting widespread Hill sentiment. “He’ll be overthrown within a year.” The Libyan economy is in shambles, with the people resenting the waste of their nation’s oil fortune. A case in point is Qaddafi’s $25-billion boondoggle whereby water was to have been piped from underground springs in Libya’s southeastern desert to the capital city of Tripoli. Another is the purchase of $16 billion worth of Soviet military equipment that sits in the desert, sun-baked and covered with sand. Qaddafi’s lunacies have driven fifty thousand (of a total population of 3.5 million) of the country’s best and brightest into exile since he seized power 16 years ago. As the economy worsens, opposition continues to grow.

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Insiders of all ideological stripes are counseling restraint in the use of force against Libya. “Both the U.S. and Israel have their hands tied,” says a Reaganite senator who follows the Middle East closely. “An attack on Libya would only build Qaddafi at a time when his hold on power is collapsing. An attack would defuse intense domestic pressures that now threaten his rule.”

“Qaddafi’s days are numbered,” says a senior congressional staffer, reflecting widespread Hill sentiment. “He’ll be overthrown within a year.” The Libyan economy is in shambles, with the people resenting the waste of their nation’s oil fortune. A case in point is Qaddafi’s $25-billion boondoggle whereby water was to have been piped from underground springs in Libya’s southeastern desert to the capital city of Tripoli. Another is the purchase of $16 billion worth of Soviet military equipment that sits in the desert, sun-baked and covered with sand. Qaddafi’s lunacies have driven fifty thousand (of a total population of 3.5 million) of the country’s best and brightest into exile since he seized power 16 years ago. As the economy worsens, opposition continues to grow.